Here we go!
Donald Trump has been criminally charged in New York in connection to a years-old scandal involving hush money illegally provided to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election covering an affair she purportedly had with the now former president. Trump had spent a while before this indictment was revealed in Thursday reports ranting against the possibility of such actually emerging, eventually turning to rhetoric taking the lack of action as some kind of substantive delay somehow indicative of the case collapsing or at least starting to fail. In reality, it doesn’t appear there were ever any indications of such a prospective walk-back of the case, and Trump was just grasping at what was basically nothing.
He could face jail-time if found guilty for his acts, which available details have indicated center, as alleged and relevant in this case, on falsified business records prepared in association with reimbursements to Michael Cohen for the money he provided for Daniels those years ago. The New York Times noted in early updates on the situation that the specific charges of which Trump was accused weren’t immediately clear but would emerge in connection to what would be his forthcoming arraignment, per the routine legal procedure. The indictment, the contents of which were in general not immediately available, was approved by members of a jury Thursday.
Also at issue in coming days will be Trump’s potential surrender for processing amid the case. This area isn’t even the only matter in connection to which charges could emerge, as it’s seemed the investigation by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is responsible for this case, into financial misconduct at the Trump family business involving issues like false valuations of assets across the company has continued. Other reports also indicated an interest in money made available to a second woman who was also alleged to have had an affair with Trump: Karen McDougal. That money didn’t come from Donald or direct associates but was arranged in close tandem with his team.
This story has been updated.
