Donald Trump is officially charged with bribes and tax evasion. Here are four questions to understand what happens next.
• Also read: We recap the saga of Donald Trump and ex-porn actress Stormy Daniels
What is Trump accused of?
Donald Trump is accused of forging business documents in 34 counts. He is accused of paying money to people who had compromising information about him at the start of the 2016 presidential campaign to buy their silence.
The payment at the heart of the case: the $130,000 paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels, with whom he is said to have had an affair.
AFP
Two other payments were cited by New York City Attorneys:
– The first of $150,000 would have been used to hide an extramarital relationship with model Karen McDougal;
– The second would have been paid to a Trump Tower bouncer who had information about one of Trump’s illegitimate children.
Prosecutors say the payments were part of a plan to cover up information that may have influenced the 2016 election. The payment to Stormy Daniels also allegedly violated campaign finance laws.
How does Trump respond to these allegations?
Donald Trump wasted no time in counterattacking.
“I never thought that was possible in America,” he said Tuesday night in a wild and lying speech to his supporters in Mar-a-logo, Florida.
Photo: AFP
He then attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg: “The criminal is the district attorney. He is the one who should be brought to justice or at least resigned.”
The seething billionaire also mentioned other investigations he is facing, each time criticizing political and fraudulent allegations. The speech contained so many untruths that some American stations aired banners gradually correcting the facts.
Could the charges flog his followers?
First, let’s get one thing straight: These allegations won’t stop Donald Trump from running in the 2024 election.
The billionaire remains the front runner in the Republican Party leadership race, according to the latest polls. The position of victim he takes in this affair also seems to resonate with his base, notes Julien Toureille, researcher at the Raoul Dandurand Chair’s Observatory for the United States.
“Donald Trump supporters, like the most influential members of the Republican community, believe the argument that the prosecution against him is politically motivated or that this is a witch hunt. He’s also raised a lot of money since mentioning his charges on social media,” he says.
Getty Images via AFP
However, this situation could put the party in a precarious position.
“Republicans don’t want to alienate Trump’s base,” he said. [Ce sera intéressant de voir] how they will try to widen the gap between the indicted Trump and their own candidacy without doing too much harm to the party,” explains Julien Toureille.
Could he go to jail?
Technically, Donald Trump could serve up to four years in prison if convicted. However, the challenge will be significant for New York’s judicial authorities.
“If there was ever a trial – which is not certain as that will be up to the judge – he would have to be convicted by the jury. Criminal it is unanimously and beyond any reasonable doubt. It seems unlikely to me. Not impossible, but unlikely. We risk being in a judicial guerrilla for several months or even years,” says Julien Toureille.
Prosecutors must also hurry if they want to send Trump to prison. A sitting American president does not have to answer in court, even if the facts alleged against him occurred before his election.
Should Donald Trump be re-elected in November 2024, the court proceedings would therefore have to be suspended for the duration of his four-year term.
Another difficulty for prosecutors: Donald Trump has never been accused in this way. We are therefore moving into uncharted territory from a legal point of view.
Could Donald Trump rule in prison?
A possible imprisonment of Donald Trump raises many questions.
“Can we preside from a cell? That’s quite a question, stresses Julien Toureille. Would he be freed to complete his task? Would he be removed because of the 25th Amendment, which ensures that a president is impeached for being incompetent?