Manhattan grand jury votes to indict former US President Donald Trump

According to The Washington Post, citing his lawyers, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict former US President Donald Trump.

The indictment makes Trump the first person in US history to be charged with a felony while serving as commander-in-chief. This comes after weeks of discussion about whether or not Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will take action. The indictment was unsealed, implying that the particular charge or counts are not yet known to the public. According to the news story, the grand jury was hearing testimony about hush money given to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.

According to The Washington Post, Alvin Bragg and his investigative team were looking into whether Trump manipulated company records relating to the payments in order to commit a campaign finance violation.

On Thursday, former US President Donald Trump was at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and private club, when his lawyers announced that he had been indicted. It was unclear how or when Trump may be hauled to New York to answer the charges. According to the source, security will be a worry because Trump has a strong Secret Service detail as a previous president.

Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina, the lawyers who have been representing Trump in the Bragg case, in a statement, said that their client was indicted. They further said, “He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in Court,” according to The Washington Post report.

Trump has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing and stressed that those probing him were making politically motivated accusations.

An arrest warrant is typically issued automatically after an indictment is filed against a defendant who has not been charged previously in a criminal complaint.

In the case of Donald Trump, the indictment was filed behind closed doors at the lower Manhattan courthouse after the clerk’s office was closed for the day.

Bragg’s investigation seems to have focused on USD 130,000 paid by Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who has said he fronted the money involved in the Stormy Daniels transactions to ensure her silence ahead of the election in 2016, as reported by The Washington Post.