Former President Donald Trump announces his third term of running for president on November 15, 2022 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
A grand jury in Manhattan has voted to make former President Donald Trump the first US president in history to face indictment in the first of three investigations, in a development first reported by the New York Times was reported.
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, made a statement to Law&Crime.
“A past president, a current candidate and my friend President Donald J. Trump is a victim of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history,” Habba said in a statement. “He will be confirmed.”
Manhattan DAs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Times says the case will be announced in the coming days.
Legal experts have long expected some form of criminal charges to be brought against the former president. The New York Times reported that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had invited Trump to testify before the grand jury investigating him, an act widely interpreted as the last step before indictment.
Manhattan prosecutors have been investigating Trump since 2019 after his ex-fixer Michael Cohen testified that the former president misrepresented his wealth to reap tax benefits. The investigation began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance, and has seen numerous twists and turns, including the resignation of two senior prosecutors and the guilty plea from a trusted Trump aide.
New York prosecutors previously charged the Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg with fraud and successfully convicted both. But at least until now, Bragg’s office has declined to impeach Trump, infuriating the office’s former chief prosecutors Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne.
In February 2022, both men resigned, and Pomerantz wrote a book entitled: “People v. Trump”, named after a criminal case that never existed, at least at the time. Cohen, who has met with the DA’s office at least 20 times, repeatedly swiped Bragg as a prosecutor. Then the two apparently repaired their relationship. Faced with fierce criticism from Trump opponents, Bragg has long insisted that his investigation into Trump remain active. News reports suggest the district attorney’s sights have shifted from the tax issue to alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
When Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations by paying Daniels $130,000 in 2018 to silence her alleged affair with Trump, federal prosecutors said he did it “in coordination with and on.” Order of Person 1” – a thinly veiled reference to the then President.
To make the payment, Cohen borrowed a home equity line of credit from First National Bank and routed it through shell company Essential Consultants LLC, which in turn paid Daniels’ then-attorney, Keith Davidson. This payment has been marked as an “advance”. The $420,000 in reimbursements were described as “legal fees,” and Cohen produced one of the checks signed by Trump that he received in Congress.
However, the Justice Department has never prosecuted Trump and has given the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., a non-prosecution agreement.
However, Manhattan prosecutors were reportedly focused on whether Trump and his company falsified internal records to hide the reimbursement to Cohen. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor under New York law that can be made a felony if prosecutors prove Trump’s “intent to defraud” included intent to commit or conceal a second crime.
Once unsealed, the indictment will be the first run of the gauntlet by any prosecutor investigating the 45th President. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating the handling of classified information and his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis spent the best part of a year investigating attempts by Trump and his allies to undermine President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. The special jury recommended indictments, but the details of those indictments remain classified.
In a courtroom hearing, Willis told a judge that her prosecution decisions were “imminent.”
She made the comment on January 24, 2023 without showing her hand since.
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