Stormy Daniels case | Donald Trump is indicted by a grand jury, a first for an ex-president

(New York) Donald Trump is charged in a case of buying the silence of a porn star in 2016 and will have to appear before the New York criminal justice system, an unprecedented historical fact for a former American president, who denounced Thursday a “political persecution”.

Trump was called to appear on Tuesday, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.

“We expect the indictment to be read on Tuesday,” Susan Necheles said in an email, without giving further details.

The former tenant of the White House, who dreams of winning it back in 2024, is officially charged by Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, dependent on the justice of the State of New York, for a case of payment and reimbursement, just before the November 2016 presidential election, US$130,000 to porn actress and director, Stormy Daniels.

“We contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney tonight to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan District Attorney for a arraignment hearing before a Supreme Court,” a court, a prosecutor’s office spokesperson said in a statement. local, after a grand jury – a panel of citizens with investigative powers that works in concert with prosecutors – voted to indict the former president of the United States.

This act and the lawsuits remain for the moment “under seal” and the date of the hearing is not yet known.

CNN mentions about thirty charges revolving around fraud to conceal the circulation and accounting at the end of 2016 of the 130,000 $ US.

The 45^e President of the United States has derided in a press release a “political persecution and interference in the presidential election” of 2024.

He denounced a “witch hunt” which “will turn against Biden”, the Democratic president elected in November 2020 and whom Mr. Trump has accused for more than two years of having “stolen” his victory.

‘Contrary to American values’

On his social network Truth Social, the billionaire, who has upset the political system and the balance of power in the United States since 2015, torpedoed opponents he did not name: “They are chasing me in a bogus way and shameful because they know I stand with the American people and cannot get a fair trial in New York! “, his majority Democratic hometown.

One of Trump’s 2024 Republican rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, called the indictment “contrary to America’s values” and assured that his state, where the former president resides, would not respond favorably “to an extradition request” from the State of New York.

Same unwavering support from the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, for whom “the American people will not tolerate this injustice” and an “unprecedented abuse of power” by Prosecutor Bragg.

‘No one above the law’

Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, who has worked with justice for almost six years, exclaimed on Twitter that she did not want “to spill her champagne”. His attorney Clark Brewster said, “No one is above the law.”

On the side of the Democrats, parliamentarian Adam Schiff, judged that “the indictment and arrest of a former president was unique in all of American history”.

For years, New York justice has sought to determine whether the 76-year-old former Republican president was guilty of misrepresentation, a minor offense, or breach of campaign finance laws, a criminal offense, in having paid money to Stormy Daniels, just before his presidential victory in November 2016.

What purpose ? So that she conceals a supposed extramarital relationship dating from 2006.

In the coming days – perhaps next week according to local media – Mr. Trump will therefore have to “go” to the Manhattan court to be served with his indictment by a judge, to be briefly and symbolically placed “in a state of arrest”, photographed and his fingerprints taken.

He will have to plead guilty or not guilty.

The key man in the case is called Michael Cohen: former lawyer for Donald Trump who became his enemy, he had paid Stormy Daniels in 2016 and had been reimbursed. After prison, he collaborated in the investigation from the end of 2018 and testified several times before the grand jury.

” Scam ”

The press was buzzing with rumors in March of an indictment of the Republican billionaire, also surrounded by other legal files.

He had pulled off a political coup on March 18, saying on his Truth Social network that he would be “arrested” and appear in New York three days later.

But nothing had happened.

After keeping America in suspense, all the newspapers in New York and Washington still affirmed with one voice on Wednesday that justice should not decide before April 24.

For his part, Donald Trump, who has always denied “any crime” and any connection with Stormy Daniels, had described Mr. Bragg’s investigation on Sunday as “dead”, a “scam” orchestrated by “thugs” before 2024 .

Accused by the former president of being an “animal” and a “racist”, prosecutor Bragg, an African-American magistrate classified on the left, in office since January 2022, had replied to him that he had “created a false expectation media on his charge and denounced an “interference” in the investigation.

In Manhattan, where the former populist president was only able to rally a few dozen supporters last week, the area around the court and the Trump Tower were very quiet Thursday evening.

Other investigations around Donald Trump

Donald Trump became the first president in history to be indicted on Thursday, in the case of buying the silence of a porn actress in 2016.

Here is a point on the other disputes with the justice of the one who seeks a second term in 2024.

The Capitol Assault

A parliamentary committee, dissolved by the new Republican majority, investigated the Republican’s role in the attack by his supporters on the seat of Congress on January 6, 2021, when elected officials certified the victory of his rival Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential.

In high-profile hearings, the Democratic-majority panel said the former president fired up his supporters before the coup and “failed in his duty as commander-in-chief” during the assault.

In its final report, the commission said Donald Trump should never be able to hold new public office after inciting his supporters to insurrection.

Its members also recommended that criminal proceedings be launched against him by the federal courts, in particular for calling for insurrection.

This is the file likely to lead to the most serious charges.

A special prosecutor, Jack Smith, is also looking into the role of the former president in the attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election of 2020. At the end of his investigation, he could recommend whether or not to indict him.

But the last word will go to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The 2020 election in Georgia

A Georgia state prosecutor has been investigating since 2021 “attempts to influence the electoral operations” of this southern state, won by a short head by Joe Biden in 2020.

In a phone call, the recording of which has been made public, Donald Trump had asked a senior local official, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” nearly 12,000 ballots in his name.

Fani Willis, district attorney for Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, appointed a grand jury to determine if there was enough evidence to indict the real estate magnate. She managed to collect testimonies from her relatives, in particular from her ex-personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

This grand jury recommended indictments against several people without revealing whether the former president was among them.

The White House Archives

Leaving the White House, Donald Trump took entire boxes of documents. However, a 1978 law obliges all American presidents to transmit all of their e-mails, letters and other working documents to the National Archives.

In January 2022, he returned 15 boxes. After examination, the federal police estimated that he probably kept others in his luxurious Mar-a-Lago residence.

FBI agents then carried out a spectacular search there on August 8 on the basis of a warrant for “withholding classified documents” and “obstructing a federal investigation”, and seized around thirty other boxes.

An intense legal battle then opened to determine the nature of the documents seized (classified? personal? declassified?) which slowed down the procedure but, here again, a federal indictment remains possible.

Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is also investigating the case.

His financial affairs in New York

In January, the Trump Organization was fined in New York up to US$1.6 million for financial and tax fraud, a criminal first for the group, which is awaiting an even larger civil lawsuit in autumn.

At the head of the justice of the State of New York, Letitia James, an elected Democrat, has indeed filed a complaint against Donald Trump, his children and the Trump Organization.

She accuses them of having “deliberately” manipulated the valuations of the assets of the group – which includes golf clubs, luxury hotels and other properties – to obtain more advantageous loans from banks or reduce its taxes.

She is claiming 250 million US in damages on behalf of the state, as well as bans from running companies for the ex-president and his relatives.