OAN’s Sophia Flores
3:56 PM – Thursday, March 30, 2023
A Manhattan Grand jury has voted to indict 45th President Donald J. Trump. The decision makes Trump the first president in American history to be criminally charged.
The Thursday decision is over an alleged hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels. The case involves a $130,000 payment given to Daniels by Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, during the 2016 presidential campaign in order for her to stay quiet about her alleged relationship with Trump.
Cohen claimed that he paid Daniels with his personal money and that he was reimbursed by the Trump Organization under the guise of legal expenses. This statement led Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, to claim that this case is a crime of falsifying business records.
Trump released a statement soon after the news broke.
Prior to the announcement, the Republican has referred to the investigation as a “political Witch-Hunt trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party.”
Trump has continued to maintain that he has done nothing wrong and continues to deny the affair.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 for crimes released to the Daniels payment and was imprisoned for three years.
The former lawyer released a statement on social media soon after the news broke.
Insider sources intentionally misled the press and media employees by alleging that the NY Grand jury would be waiting a month or more, whilst on vacation, before they came to any consensus of Trump’s indictment charges.
At this time, the indictment remains under seal. It is not clear which crimes he has been charged with.
If convicted, the 45th president could face up to four years in prison.
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