Donald Trump, first ex-president in U.S. history to be indicted, calls it “Political Persecution’
By EEW Magazine News
No other president in U.S. history, current or former, has ever faced criminal charges. Donald J. Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election, is the first.
The previous POTUS who was defeated by Joseph R. Biden, Jr., in 2020, is charged by a New York grand jury in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to sex worker Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
The number of charges Trump faces in the indictment was not disclosed Thursday, the day the news broke. And it was not known whether the indictment was limited to conduct related to the payment to Daniels or if it also includes conduct surrounding a separate hush money payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal by the publisher of The National Enquirer.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told NBC News that Trump is expected to surrender to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office early next week and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday, according to Susan Necheles, another Trump lawyer. The former president is tentatively expected to appear before Judge Juan Merchan after 2:15 p.m. that day in Manhattan, two officials told NBC News. That is subject to change.
As Trump’s history-making indictment reverberates around the country, he issued a statement saying, “This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
Blasting his democratic rivals, he continued, “The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable — indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.”
The charge stems from the district attorney’s investigation into how the Trump Organization recorded a reimbursement to Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen after Cohen paid Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford, to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump was filming his TV show, “Celebrity Apprentice,” at the time of that purported tryst, and was married to his current wife, Melania Trump, who had given birth to their son, Barron, a few months earlier.
The Trump Organization in business records described the reimbursement to Cohen as a legal expense. Falsifying business records is normally a misdemeanor under New York law, but can be elevated to a felony if the misstatement was done to cover up another crime.
Trump denies having sex with Daniels or committing wrongdoing of any kind.
Tacopina and Necheles said: “President Trump has been indicted. He did not commit any crime.”
“We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in Court,” the defense lawyers said.
Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in the indictment, CNN reported. It remains under seal.
Cohen, in a statement to NBC News, said: “For the first time in our Country’s history, a President (current or former) of the United States has been indicted. I take no pride in issuing this statement and wish to also remind everyone of the presumption of innocence; as provided by the due process clause.”
“However, I do take solace in validating the adage that no one is above the law; not even a former President,” Cohen said. “Today’s indictment is not the end of this chapter; but rather, just the beginning. Now that the charges have been filed, it is better for the case to let the indictment speak for itself. The two things I wish to say at this time is that accountability matters and I stand by my testimony and the evidence I have provided to” the Manhattan district attorney, he said.
