Trump’s Indictment

On March 30th, 2023, former president Donald J. Trump was indicted on three official charges by a Manhattan grand jury. This is the first time in U.S. history that a former president is facing criminal charges. The case concerns Trump’s alleged role in an illegal $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. This payment was part of Trump’s plan to suppress unfavorable information about him before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors stated that with the hush money payment, Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the election by buying the silence of any information that would hurt his campaign. 

 In response to the indictment, Trump released a statement claiming it was “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.” The case now lingers over Trump’s 2024 candidacy as he continues to fight the charges both in public and behind courtroom doors. “We are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” announced the former president. 

For a long time, Trump has evaded legal consequences in his professional, personal, and political lives. He has settled several private civil lawsuits and paid off disputes concerning his namesake company, the Trump Organization, though in December 2022, the Trump Organization was convicted on multiple charges of tax fraud. However, the former president himself was not charged. While in office, Trump was impeached twice by the Democratic majority House of Representatives, but narrowly avoided conviction by the Senate. 

Trump’s defense lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said the former president was initially asked to turn himself into authorities in New York on March 24th but refused. The former president eventually surrendered and was placed under arrest on the Tuesday before his arraignment. 

On April 4th, Trump attended a plea hearing and pleaded “not guilty” to the 34 counts of falsifying business records, which he denied any knowledge of. The case will now move to trial. If Trump is found guilty, he will be sentenced and will have to serve time. If he is found to be not guilty, the charges against him will be cleared.