Donald Trump Indicted: All That Happened in 2006, Hush Money Probe and Why Stormy Daniels is in Spotlight

Donald Trump has become the first former US president to be charged with a crime after he was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury over hush money payments made to a porn star during his 2016 campaign.

The grand New York jury on Thursday voted to indict 76-year-old Trump, a Republican, for his role in paying money to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to buy her silence over an alleged affair.

The report termed it “a historic development that will shake up the 2024 presidential race and forever mark him as the nation’s first former president to face criminal charges.”

Trump is expected to fly from his home in Florida to New York on Monday and be arraigned in court on Tuesday, according to reports.

WHAT IS DONALD TRUMP BEING INDICTED FOR?

The grand jury in Manhattan had been probing hush money payments during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, one of the witnesses who testified, says he orchestrated payments totalling $280,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors said the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office appeared to be investigating whether anyone committed crimes in arranging the payments, or in the way they accounted for them internally at the Trump Organization. But the specific charges remained under seal late Thursday.

ALL ABOUT STORMY DANIELS

Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, is a former adult film actress whose relationship with Trump has brought her to the news.

In her 2018 tell-all book “Full Disclosure,” Daniels recounts her fateful encounter with Trump at the Nevada golf resort on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

According to an AFP report, Trump met the adult film actress in July 2006 at the Nevada golf resort on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

A picture taken at the time shows them posing together — Trump in a red hat, Daniels in a black top — at a porn studio booth where Daniels was working as a “greeter.” Daniels was 27 at the time and Trump 60. His third wife, Melania, had given birth to their son Barron about four months earlier.

Trump has denied they ever had sex and has accused Daniels of “extortion” and a “total con job.”

HUSH MONEY PAYMENT

Later in 2016, Trump became the Republican presidential nominee.

The National Enquirer, a tabloid newspaper owned by a Trump ally, discovers that Daniels is seeking bidders for her potentially politically damaging story about her relationship with Trump.

The tabloid put her in touch with Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer. Cohen, who has since turned against Trump, has acknowledged arranging a $130,000 “hush money” payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about the 2006 tryst. Cohen also paid hush money to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments.

The payment was revealed by The Wall Street Journal in January 2018 and forms the basis for the charges Trump faces.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claims that he is the victim of a political “witch hunt” by the Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, intended to derail his 2024 White House campaign.

WHAT DOES INDICTMENT MEAN FOR TRUMP?

Trump is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

“THIS IS AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

Trump is “ready to fight,” his attorney, Joe Tacopina, said on Fox News.

For now, it remains unclear how the development will resonate with voters. Polls show Trump remains the undisputed frontrunner for the Republican nomination, and his standing has not faltered, even amid widespread reporting on the expected charges.

Trump’s campaign and his allies have long hoped an indictment would serve as a rallying cry for his supporters, angering his “Make America Great Again” base, drawing small dollar donations and forcing Trump’s potential rivals into the awkward position of having to defend him — or risk their wrath.

(With inputs from agencies)

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