A Manhattan grand jury has reportedly voted to indict former President Donald Trump over his alleged role in a payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, making him the first former president to face criminal charges.
The felony indictment is under seal but the exact charges are likely to be announced soon. A source with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed the indictment to Just the News.
Trump has not yet been arrested but he will face arraignment on the charges, be fingerprinted, and may be handcuffed. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has pursued the case, drawing scrutiny from legal experts and political pundits for pushing an alleged political prosecution.
Federal prosecutors previously declined to pursue charges related to the Daniels payment.
The indictment drew scrutiny from George Washington University Professor Jonathan Turley, who called it an "inglorious moment where even some of the left have criticized the effort."
"Bragg and NY AG James ran on bagging Trump," he continued. "This has fulfilled that pledge but, if the indictment follows the course described in coverage, it is deeply flawed theory."
The case involves a payment of $130,000 that Trump's then-personal attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels. Trump later paid the same amount to Cohen and listed that payment as a legal fee.
Bragg's case may hinge upon the categorization of that listing as a falsified business record. He would further need to convince a jury that the payment constituted a campaign finance violation.
Bragg needs to prove both points in order to show that the allegedly falsified business record was altered to conceal a separate, underlying crime. Merely asserting the first point would constitute a lesser charge that carries a two-year statute of limitation, which has already passed.
