As was widely anticipated, Donald Trump has been indicted in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. A Manhattan grand jury handed up the indictment. The indictment remains under seal so specific charges remain unknown at the present time. It is anticipated that the indictment will be read and, therefore, become public when Trump is arraigned before a judge. The indictment of a former president is unprecedented in U.S. history.
The grand jury, meeting at the behest of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, was scheduled to be taking the month of April off. It had been on a schedule of hearing cases on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
A spokesperson at Bragg’s office on Thursday night issued the following statement:
“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump”™s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.”™s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.”
Sources indicated that Trump will surrender in New York on Tuesday April 4 and be arraigned in the afternoon.
Trump’s indictment had previously been confirmed by his attorney Alina Habba and then a few minutes later by Trump himself in a statement that was sent to news organizations. The complete statement follows:
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history. From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement. You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this.
“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.
“Never before in our Nation”™s history has this been done. The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever.
“Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he”™s doing Joe Biden”™s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time!
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden. The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
According the New York Times, prosecutors walked into the building where the grand jury was sitting at about 2 p.m. today and at around 5 p.m. walked into the court clerk’s office “to begin the process of filing the indictment.”
The grand jury was presented with evidence that Trump conspired with his former Attorney Michael Cohen to pay Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about a sexual relationship they had. Cohen advanced the money on behalf of Trump. The money was paid to Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
Trump denied that the payment was to benefit his chances for being elected president and that the payment was just to keep his wife from finding out about his involvement with Daniels. Cohen was convicted of federal charges in connection with the payoff and served time in federal prison in Otisville, New York. When Cohen was originally charged, the prosecution alleged that he conspired with someone identified by prosecutors as “Individual 1.” Cohen identified “Individual 1” as being Trump. Trump subsequently made payments to reimburse Cohen. The payments made to Cohen were recorded as legal fees rather than reimbursements for the hush money payments advanced by Cohen. The checks made out to Cohen were signed by Trump.
It is believed that Trump will voluntarily fly to New York from Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where he has been living, in his private jet bearing the Trump name. The airplane was parked at Palm Beach International Airport as of Thursday evening. Trump would be booked and then arraigned before a judge. He is expected to plead “not guilty.”
