1 of 1 Former US President Donald Trump announcing that he will run for President in 2024. — Photo: Portal Former US President Donald Trump announcing that he will run for President in 2024. — Photo: Portal
According to The New York Times, former US President Donald Trump was charged on Tuesday (21) in the case of porn actress Stormy Daniels. The newspaper heard from four people who knew the jury’s vote. The public prosecutor’s office should announce the decision in the next few days, the newspaper said. A lawyer for the former president confirmed that he was briefed on the charges.
What is indictment in the US?
Being indicted in a US court means that a person has been formally charged with a felony by a grand jury or district attorney. The charges are the result of a police or FBI investigation that collected sufficient evidence to support the charges. Being accused does not mean that the person is guilty, only that there is a reason to bring them to justice.
What does the complaint say?
According to the complaint, Trump paid the actress US$130,000 (around R$682,000) in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election. that she is silent about an alleged extramarital relationship.
This year he was elected.
- What could happen if Trump is arrested?
- Former President and Porn Star: Why the TrumpDaniels Story Matters
The payment would not be illegal, but in practice the money was justified as legal fees for one of Trump’s attorneys, Michael Cohen it is this attempt to disguise the nature of the payment that can be considered criminal; The public prosecutor assumes that the business registration was falsified.
In addition, the indirect payment would also be an attempt to hide a relationship from voters, prosecutors claim.
The key witness in the case is Cohen, of all people. He was the one who paid Stormy Daniels the money to silence him according to Cohen, it was on orders from Trump himself.
Records of this payment were kept by one of the former President’s companies, the Trump Organization. Only on the balance sheet does the company claim that the money was spent on legal fees.
Will Trump be arrested?
The indictment against Trump will start a trial that could last several months.
Given the nonviolent nature of the allegations and the fact that Trump is a former president, several steps are being taken in the near term, including determining how the arrest or, more likely, the surrender to authorities will take place.
Presumably there are negotiations between the prosecutor’s office and the expresident’s lawyers to extradite him.
“This is unprecedented and there is no set procedure,” said former US Secret Service agent Robert McDonald, now a professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven.
According to the expert, the secret service responsible for the protection of highranking dignitaries will coordinate with the prosecutor Alvin Bragg so that Trump appears in court without his arrival becoming a “spectacle”.
In other words, he will not walk out the front door of the courthouse in handcuffs, McDonald said.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said he hoped Trump would “voluntarily appear in court, get his fingerprints registered and released on bail.”
Given Trump’s notoriety and ongoing candidacy for the 2024 presidential election (he has already started his prerun), it is likely that the judge will not classify the former president as a flight risk and Trump can then leave, possibly on bail. “I assume it won’t be held up overnight,” McDonald said.
However, some believe the former president may refuse to turn himself in and resist the Manhattan District Attorney stopping him.
“You could imagine Trump wanting to do that,” former prosecutor Shan Wu said. “That’s something Bragg’s office would fear.”
security preparations
Authorities are on high alert following Trump’s call for supporters to protest a possible indictment against him. There was already an episode of violence on January 6, 2021, when proTrump protesters, encouraged by thenPresident, rushed into the headquarters of the US Congress building to stop confirmation of the victory of his opponent, current President Joe Biden .
Now security forces, from the federal FBI to the state NYPD, are coordinating to prevent possible disruption.