Former US President Donald Trump has become the first ex-president to face criminal charges after a Manhattan court formally accused him of concealing financial information, writes Reuters.
At the moment, the exact wording of the indictment is not known, but the CNN television channel reported on Thursday, the 30th of march, that Trump faces indictments in more than 30 episodes. The former president, on the other hand, has declared that he is completely innocent and is not going to give up the fight for the position of president in next year’s elections. He accused the Democratic Party of trying to destroy his chances in the elections:
«This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.»
Trump is one of the leading Republican candidates in the upcoming election and has already received endorsements from potential rivals, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence. Pence has indicated that the charges against Trump will only further divide the country.
The exact charges will likely be known in the coming days when the judge makes them public. Then Trump will have to go to New York to give his fingerprints and arrange other documents.
Trump’s lawyers have said they will vigorously fight the charges.
The investigation in Manhattan court is just one of several legal proceedings Trump faces. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year successfully convicted a Trump-owned company of tax fraud and fined the company 1.61 million dollars.
There is a chance that Trump will use the case to inflame the anger of his core supporters, but other Republican voters may be tired of the drama the businessman has created. According to a mid-March poll, about 44% of Republican supporters believe Trump should withdraw from the presidential race if indicted.
The current case is based on the sum Trump ordered porn star Stormy Daniels to pay for her silence. It is believed that the two had an affair in 2006, and to hide it, Trump paid Daniels 130 thousand dollars through his lawyer Michael Cohen.
In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance rules and spent more than a year in prison. Federal prosecutors believe the violations were committed at Trump’s direction.
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