Trump indicted by N.Y. grand jury, first ex-president charged with crime
Trump indicted by N.Y. grand jury, first ex-president charged with crime - The Washington Post
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, multiple people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, making him the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his investigative team were probing whether Trump falsified business records connected to the payments in a way that could constitute a campaign-finance violation.
What happens after a grand jury
investigation
The common steps in a criminal case, from investigation to sentencing.
GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION
INDICTMENT
NO INDICTMENT
No charges filed
VOLUNTARY SURRENDER
ARREST
PROCESS AS A DEFENDANT
Fingerprinted, photos taken.
ARRAIGNMENT
Public court appearance, charges unsealed
if they are not already publicly viewable.
Defendant generally enters not guilty plea.
PRETRIAL HEARINGS
Defense motions to dismiss charges or exclude
evidence; requests to the judge on scheduling,
witnesses.
GUILTY PLEA
TRIAL
DEFENDANT FOUND
GUILTY
DEFENDANT FOUND
NOT GUILTY
Acquitted of charges
SENTENCING
Source: Justice Department
NICK MOURTOUPALAS/THE WASHINGTON POST
What happens after a grand jury
investigation
The common steps in a criminal case, from investigation
to sentencing.
GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION
INDICTMENT
NO INDICTMENT
No charges filed
VOLUNTARY SURRENDER
ARREST
PROCESS AS A DEFENDANT
Fingerprinted, photos taken.
ARRAIGNMENT
Public court appearance, charges unsealed
if they are not already publicly viewable.
Defendant generally enters not guilty plea.
PRETRIAL HEARINGS
Defense motions to dismiss charges or exclude
evidence; requests to the judge on scheduling,
witnesses.
GUILTY PLEA
TRIAL
DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY
DEFENDANT FOUND NOT GUILTY
Acquitted of charges
SENTENCING
Source: Justice Department
NICK MOURTOUPALAS/THE WASHINGTON POST
What happens after a grand jury investigation
The common steps in a criminal case, from investigation to sentencing.
GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION
INDICTMENT
NO INDICTMENT
No charges filed
ARREST
VOLUNTARY SURRENDER
PROCESS AS A DEFENDANT
Fingerprinted, photos taken.
ARRAIGNMENT
Public court appearance, charges unsealed if they are not
already publicly viewable. Defendant generally enters not
guilty plea.
PRETRIAL HEARINGS
Defense motions to dismiss charges or exclude evidence;
requests to the judge on scheduling, witnesses.
GUILTY PLEA
TRIAL
DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY
DEFENDANT FOUND NOT GUILTY
Acquitted of charges
SENTENCING
Source: Justice Department
NICK MOURTOUPALAS/THE WASHINGTON POST
Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House in 2024 and leading in most polls of Republican voters, is also the focus of criminal probes in Georgia and Washington, related to his efforts to overturn President Biden’s 2020 election victory and his handling of classified material at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home and private club.
He has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing and maintained that those investigating him were making politically motivated accusations— a posture that energizes the most loyal segments of his base, even as some more mainstream Republicans have expressed interest in finding a new party standard-bearer.
Bragg’s investigation appears to have focused on $130,000 paid by former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who has said he fronted the money involved in the Daniels transactions to ensure her silence ahead of the 2016 election, and was later reimbursed by Trump. The reimbursement payments were erroneously classified as legal fees, previous investigations have found.
Cohen served time in prison after pleading guilty in two federal criminal cases — including one that involved campaign finance violations related to Daniels and another woman who alleged an affair with Trump. He also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, and his credibility has been attacked by Trump’s defenders, which could undermine his strength as a witness.
Bragg’s office already has won a conviction against Trump’s family business, successfully prosecuting the Trump Organization on tax fraud and related counts at a criminal trial in New York Supreme Court late last year. In that proceeding, longtime Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg testified against the Trump family’s company under a plea agreement that called for him to serve five months in prison in exchange for his assistance at the trial. He had been facing up to 15 years in prison after dodging taxes on $1.7 million in income.
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Ongoing investigations involving Donald Trump
Donald Trump is facing historic legal scrutiny for a former president, under investigation by the Justice Department, district attorneys in Manhattan and Fulton County, Ga., and a state attorney general. He denies wrongdoing. Here is a list of the key investigations and where they stand.
Jan. 6 riot and whether Trump or his aides may have
conspired to obstruct the formal certification in Congress of the election result or committed fraud to block the peaceful transfer of power. Attorney General Merrick Garland
appointed veteran prosecutor Jack Smith to oversee both this and the Mar-a-Lago investigation.
100 classified documents during a
search of Trump’s residence at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 8 as part of a criminal probe into possible mishandling of classified information. A grand jury is hearing witness testimony as prosecutors weigh their next steps.
meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia. A Georgia judge on Feb. 15
released parts of a report produced by a special-purpose grand jury, and authorities who are privy to the report will decide whether to ask a new grand jury to vote on criminal charges.
hush-money payments to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump was recently
offered a chance to appear before the grand jury, a sign the probe was nearly finished.
filed a lawsuit Sept. 21 against Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization, accusing them of flagrantly manipulating the valuations of their properties to get better terms on loans and insurance policies, and to get tax breaks. The litigation is pending.
1/6
As a result of the December conviction, the Trump Organization was ordered to pay a $1.6 million fine to the state, the largest amount allowable under New York law. Trump was not charged in the case.
The district attorney’s investigation of Trump began in 2019, under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr.. It resulted in a Supreme Court legal battle over access to Trump’s tax returns and associated records, which were ultimately turned over to Vance’s office.
At the start of Bragg’s tenure in 2022, he declined a push by senior prosecutors to ask a previous grand jury to indict Trump for defrauding lenders and insurance companies by lying about the true value of his properties and other assets. Bragg said at the time that his office would continue to investigate the former president, and a fresh roster of lawyers got involved in the case.
Vance had earlier considered pursuing charges against Trump related to Daniels. But his office ruled that out as a viable option and moved onto other matters, including the Trump Organization’s tax practices and asset valuations.
Federal prosecutors also declined to prosecute Trump in connection with the Daniels payments, even though they did charge Cohen.
Trump said recently that Bragg was falling back on an “old and rebuked case which has been rejected by every prosecutor’s office that has looked.”
This is a developing story. It will be updated.