Donald Trump became the first former US president to be charged with a crime on Thursday after a New York grand jury indicted him for hush money payments made to a porn actress during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The 76-year-old Republican’s historic indictment, which comes despite his denial of any wrongdoing in relation to the payments made before the election that propelled him to the White House, is certain to upend the current presidential campaign in which Trump hopes to win re-election.
And it will eternally symbolize the legacy of the former president, who overcame two impeachments, resisted prosecution in cases involving the US Capitol riot and missing classified documents, only to find herself in court for a sex scandal involving 44-year-old adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles told AFP she anticipates arraignment to take place on Tuesday of the following week.
Trump’s attorneys were called Thursday evening to “coordinate his surrender” in New York, with the felony charges against him to be made public at that time, according to the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
Trump slammed the indictment as “political persecution and election interference,” raging against prosecutors and his Democratic opponents and vowing that it would backfire on his successor, President Joe Biden.
As reported by CNN, surrendering for arraignment over up to 30 charges of business fraud would typically entail being fingerprinted, photographed, and possibly even handcuffed.
In the Republican camp, Trump’s friends and sons blasted the indictment as “un-American,” while his anticipated opponent for the party’s nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, blasted it as a vendetta meant to derail his 2024 campaign.
Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, said the indictment had “irreparably damaged” the country. Trump’s former vice president and possible 2024 challenger Mike Pence called it an “outrage” that would only “further serve to divide” the United States.
But the top Democrat Adam Schiff — lead prosecutor of Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 — called it “a sobering and unprecedented development.”
“The indictment and arrest of a former president is unique throughout all of American history,” Schiff said in a statement. “But so too is the unlawful conduct for which Trump has been charged.”
Daniels welcomed the development with her characteristic aplomb.
“I have so many messages coming in that I can’t respond…also don’t want to spill my champagne,” she tweeted while also plugging her #TeamStormy merchandise.
