Donald Trump is the first former president of the United States to be charged with a felony for his alleged role in covering up a hush money payment before the 2016 presidential election.
Here’s what you need to know about the charges and the case:
What is a charge?
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, an indictment is the process when a person receives “formal notice that they are believed to have committed a crime.”
The indictment contains the basic information that informs the person about the allegations against him.
It takes place after a grand jury has examined all possible evidence to decide whether a crime has been committed. If the jury decides there is enough evidence, there will be an indictment.
In this case, the New York City grand jury, which has been convening since January, has indicted Trump after hearing testimony from a number of witnesses. The specific charges are not yet known and the charges are likely to be announced in the coming days.
What was Trump indicted for?
The grand jury voted to indict Trump after hearing months of evidence about a $130,000 payment to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels in the twilight of the 2016 election campaign. The money was reportedly intended to buy her silence about the meeting that she had had years earlier.
Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen has said he coordinated with Trump over payments to Daniels and to a second wife, former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The former president has denied the affair and all wrongdoing. He has said the payment was to protect his reputation from a false accusation.
While the specific charges were not clear, several U.S. media outlets had reported before Thursday’s indictment that the possible charges related to Trump’s repayment of Cohen, with prosecutors alleging he had falsely labeled the payments as legal fees.
The charge, normally a misdemeanor, could be upgraded to a misdemeanor if prosecutors link the payment to violations of the election law, which limits donations to political candidates to $2,700 per person and demand they be made public. The payment to Daniels just before the 2016 election could be considered an illegal campaign contribution.
What did Trump say?
Trump has denied Daniels’ claim and his attorney has charged Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, with racketeering.
Calling himself “a completely innocent person,” he cast the charges as the latest in a series of actions he says are designed to “destroy” his Make America Great Again movement.
The former president also accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democrat who led the investigation, of trying to damage his electoral chances.
“This is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said in a statement, calling Bragg an “disgrace.”
Is this the only investigation Trump faces?
In addition to the Manhattan case, Trump faces a series of other investigations.
At the federal level, the Justice Department is investigating the preservation of top-secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The efforts of many of the same players in the latest case were also the subject of a special grand jury investigation in the state of Georgia. The panel’s foreman said the special grand jury recommended multiple criminal charges.
With many serious cases looming around the other investigations, some legal experts have questioned the wisdom of the Manhattan case that led to charges first.
Republicans viewed the indictment as a political prosecution and accused Bragg of arming the criminal justice system.
Democrats have been less vocal in the hours since the indictment became known, but some critics of the former president have described the case as a long-overdue dose of accountability.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat who is expected to announce his re-election next year, has not yet commented.
A judge will likely overturn the charges in Manhattan in the coming days, and Trump will have to travel there to get fingerprints and photos taken, also called a surrender date, which a court official said was expected Tuesday.
He will then appear before a judge and be formally charged, followed by a decision on whether he should be released on bail or taken into custody.
If Trump does turn himself in, a relatively swift trial and release is expected. A former president is unlikely to be paraded handcuffed down a sidewalk or through a crowded court.
Legal experts say any possible trial is at least a year away, raising the possibility that the former US president will face a jury in a Manhattan courtroom during or even after the 2024 presidential campaign as he seeks a comeback to the White House. .