Donald Trump is officially charged with criminal charges for the payment of bribes and tax evasion. Here are 4 questions to understand what happens next.
• Read also: We summarize the saga involving Donald Trump and ex-porn actress Stormy Daniels
What is Trump accused of?
Donald Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business documents. He is accused of having paid money to people who had compromising information about him to buy their silence at the dawn of the 2016 presidential campaign.
The payment at the center of the case: the $ 130,000 paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he would have had an affair.
Two other payments were cited by New York prosecutors:
– The first, of $ 150,000, would have been used to hide an extramarital relationship with model Karen McDougall
– The second would have been paid to a doorman of the Trump Tower who had information on an illegitimate child of Trump.
Prosecutors say the payments were part of a scheme to conceal information that could have influenced the 2016 election. The payment to Stormy Daniels also allegedly violated campaign finance laws.
How is Trump reacting to these accusations?
Donald Trump wasted no time in counterattacking.
“I never thought this was possible in America,” he said in a raging, lie-laden speech to his supporters at MAR à Logo in Florida on Tuesday night.
Photo: AFP
He then attacked Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg: “The criminal is the prosecutor. He is the one who should be tried or at least resign.”
The boiling billionaire also mentioned other investigations of which he is the subject, each time criticizing political and fraudulent accusations. The speech contained so many falsehoods that some American networks broadcast banners that gradually corrected the facts.
Could the charges whip his supporters?
Let’s get one thing clear first: These charges won’t stop Donald Trump from running in the 2024 election.
The billionaire remains the leader in the race for the leadership of the Republican Party, according to the most recent polls. The position of victim he takes in this affair also seems to resonate with his base, notes the researcher at the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair, Julien Toureille.
“Donald Trump supporters, like the most influential Republicans, buy into the argument that the prosecution against him is politically motivated, whether it is a witch hunt. He has also collected a lot of money since he mentioned his indictment on social networks, ”he says.
Getty Images via AFP
However, this situation could put the party in a delicate position.
“Republicans don’t want to alienate Trump’s base,” he said. [Ce sera intéressant de voir] how they will try to widen the gap between the indicted Trump and their own candidacy, without harming the party too much, ”explains Julien Toureille.
Could he go to jail?
Technically, Donald Trump could serve up to 4 years in prison if found guilty. However, the challenge will be significant for the legal authorities of New York.
“If ever there were to be a trial, which is not certain, because it will be up to the judge to decide that, he would have to be convicted by the jury. Criminally, it’s unanimous and beyond a reasonable doubt. It seems unlikely to me. Not impossible, but unlikely. We risk being in a judicial guerrilla for several months, even years, ”says Julien Toureille.
Prosecutors will also have to move quickly if they want to send Trump to jail. An American president in office does not have to answer in court, even if the facts of which he is accused took place before his election.
If Donald Trump were re-elected in November 2024, the legal proceedings would therefore have to be put on hold for the duration of his 4-year term.
Another difficulty for prosecutors: never before Donald Trump has anyone been accused in this way. We will therefore be in unknown territory, legally speaking.
Could Donald Trump rule in prison?
A possible incarceration of Donald Trump raises many questions.
“Can we preside from a cell? It’s quite a question, underlines Julien Toureille. Would he be freed to carry out his task? Would he be removed based on the 25th Amendment which ensures that a president is removed from office because he does not have the capacity to exercise?