Former President Donald Trump, who has been under multiple criminal investigations for attempted coups, has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his role in the payment of $130,000 to a porn star in the days before the 2016 election.
The New York Times was the first to report the indictment, which remains sealed.
Trump’s campaign staff did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s inquiries Thursday. But Taylor Budowich, a former Trump aide and now head of a pro-Trump super PAC, statement in a Twitter post that the indictment was evidence of a “failed nation,” and predicted it would help Trump.
“The political and government elites have the weapons to try to stop him. They will fail. He will be re-elected in the largest landslide in American history,” Budowich wrote.
Trump, who is running again for the Republican nomination for president, has now increased his appeal to his supporters to fight the prosecutors in New York and elsewhere – like the inflammatory language until January 6, 2021, the attack on the US Capitol by a mob of his followers.
“IT’S TIME!!!” Trump wrote in one post in all caps earlier this month. “I CAN’T DO THIS. They are killing our nation while we sit back and watch. We must save AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”
In another post, Trump predicted he would be arrested on Tuesday, March 21, forcing New York City police to increase security at the courthouse. Then, when there were no indictments, Trump and others suggested that District Attorney Alvin Bragg should resign.
Trump tweeted, again in all capital letters, on Wednesday: “I HAVE GOT RESPECT FOR THIS GRAND JURY, & MAYBE THE GRAND JURY SYSTEM. THE EVIDENCE IS MORE THAN THIS, & IS TOO MUCH TO BE PARTISAN & COUNTY DISTRICT OFFICIALS, TO THE GRAND JURY THANK YOU, HOLD ON, WE ARE NOT A RUBBER STAMP, WHICH MOST JURORS ARE. WILL NOT VOTE AGAINST THE PREPONDERANCE OF THE EVIDENCE OR US THE GENERAL JURISDICTION THAT THERE IS NO CASE HERE. DROP THIS LABOR OFFICE, NOW!”
As of late Thursday afternoon, Trump had not posted anything following news of the indictment.
The indictment in New York City gives Trump, who has often claimed that his actions as president were “historic,” another claim to history: He is now the first of 44 ex-chief executives to be charged with a crime. He previously entered the history books by becoming the only president to be impeached twice.
One of his attorneys at the time, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating campaign finance laws by making checks to Stormy Daniels to buy silence about her relationship with Trump in 2006. Cohen served 13 months in prison and another year and a half in home confinement. for that and various unrelated charges.
Cohen may be a key witness against Trump in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution. They said Trump returned $130,000, as well as $150,000 to the second woman, in several payments, and that evidence during the case showed the money came from Trump’s business as “legal fees.”
Trump has said the Bragg investigation is part of a “witch hunt” against him — the same claim he has used about other criminal investigations he faces, as well as two unprecedented impeachments by the House of Representatives. He also called Bragg, who is black, a “racist”.
Trump initially denied that he had any knowledge of the payments to Daniels, who goes by the name of Stephanie Clifford. Later, after Cohen released a tape of his conversation with Trump about the matter, he said that what Cohen did was not illegal.
Most recently, after she was given the opportunity to testify before a New York City grand jury heard evidence against her, she came up with a new claim: that Daniels actually blackmailed her.
“I am relying on your advice to solve this extortion from me, which has been going on for a long time,” he said in a March 9 post on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump’s staff did not respond to HuffPost’s inquiries about the claim.
The former president is also being investigated by the Fulton County District Attorney in Atlanta and the US Department of Justice in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election he lost by forcing his own vice president to throw out the results of key states and give Trump a second run. term – attempt to cause violence committed on January 6, 2021.
The Justice Department is also conducting an investigation into Trump’s refusal to turn over classified documents stored at his country club in Palm Beach, refusing a subpoena.
Despite his unprecedented actions to end American democracy and despite all the criminal investigations, Trump is seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and the most polls.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.