What is known about the investigation and Trump’s role in the bribery scheme

A year-long investigation into a bribe involving former President Donald Trump and pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels has led to him being formally charged by a Manhattan grand jury with his alleged role in the scheme, according to multiple sources familiar with the case. subject.

The complaint was filed under confidentiality and will be released in the coming days. The allegations are not publicly known at this time, a source told CNN .

In early March, Trump had announced on social media that he expected to be arrested in connection with the case, although a spokesperson for the former president said at the time that his team had not received any updates from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. , who leads the investigation.

The indictment against Trump is historic, marking the first time that a former president of the United States and a major presidential candidate has been criminally charged.

See below for what you should know about investigating bribery.

Where is the investigation at?

Now that the grand jury has formally indicted Trump, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Alvin Bragg will contact the former president’s lawyers to discuss surrender to face the prosecution.

In the weeks leading up to the indictment, prosecutors in Bragg’s office had asked Trump to appear before the grand jury investigating the matter.

The request represented the clearest indication at the time that investigators were nearing a decision on whether to take the unprecedented step of indicting the former president.

The grand jury’s decision is sure to send shockwaves across the country, pushing the American political system — which has never seen one of its former leaders faced with criminal charges, let alone while running again for president — into uncharted waters.

Payments

The Manhattan prosecutor’s investigation began with his predecessor, Cy Vance, when Trump was still in the White House.

It refers to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen , to Stormy Daniels in late October 2016, days before that year’s presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with the former president a decade earlier. Trump denied the affair.

At issue in the investigation is the payment made to Daniels and the Trump Organization’s reimbursement to Cohen.

According to the federal prosecutor’s own court documents, executives authorized payments to him totaling $420,000 to cover his original pay of $130,000 and tax obligations and reward him with a bonus.

The Manhattan prosecutor’s investigation has loomed over Trump since his presidency, and it’s just one of several investigations the former president faces as he makes his third bid for the White House.

Possible crimes at stake

Secret payments are not illegal. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York.

The charges were not made public, but prior to the indictment, prosecutors were weighing whether to charge Trump with falsifying the Trump Organization’s business records for refunding the payment to Cohen who said he advanced the money to Daniels.

Prosecutors are also weighing whether to charge Trump with first-degree falsification of business records for falsifying a record with intent to commit another crime or aiding or concealing another crime, which in this case could be a violation of campaign finance laws. .

This is a Class E felony and carries a sentence of a minimum of one year and up to four years.

To prove their case, prosecutors would need to show that Trump intended to commit a crime. The Trump Organization has noted reimbursements as a legal expense on its internal books. Trump has previously denied knowledge of the payment.

rare case

The grand jury’s decision marks a rare moment in history: Trump is the first former president of the United States and the first major presidential candidate formally charged with a crime.

The former president said he “would not even think of leaving” the 2024 race if he was accused.

The decision to press charges is not risk-free nor does it guarantee a conviction.

Trump’s lawyers may dispute whether campaign finance laws would apply as a crime to make the case a felony, for example.

What Trump Said on the Matter

Trump released a statement in response to the accusation, claiming it was “political harassment and election interference at the highest level in history.”

“I believe this witch hunt is going to massively backfire against Joe Biden,” said the former president.

“The American people know exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see. So our movement and our party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg and then we will defeat Joe Biden and throw every single one of these rogue Democrats out of office so that we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! ”.

Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing in the case.

In a lengthy response on his Truth Social account earlier this month, Trump declared in part: “I have done absolutely nothing wrong, I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels.”

In mid-March, a spokesman said Trump was “rightly highlighting his innocence” by asking his supporters to protest if he was charged.

A Trump lawyer said earlier that month that any lawsuit related to secret payments to an adult movie star would be “completely unprecedented” and accused the Manhattan district attorney of attacking the former president for “political reasons and personal animosity.”

Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina said in a statement shared with the CNN that the campaign finance laws in this case, which relates to allegations from seven years ago, are “murky” and that the underlying legal theories of a possible case “have not been tested”.

“This DA and the former DA have been combing through every aspect of President Trump’s personal and business life for years looking for a crime and they need to stop. This is simply not what our justice system is about,” said Tacopina.

Michael Cohen’s role in the scheme

Michael Cohen the former Trump agent, played a central role in the bribery episode and is involved in the investigation.

He admitted to paying Daniels $130,000 to stop her going public with her alleged affair with Trump shortly before the 2016 election.

He also helped secure a $150,000 payout for karen McDougal kill his story by claiming a 10 month affair with Trump. Trump also denies an affair with McDougal.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to eight counts, including two of campaign finance violations for orchestrating or making payments during the 2016 campaign.

Cohen met with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office earlier this month and praised Bragg for offering Trump the opportunity to testify.

“I have to applaud District Attorney Bragg for giving Donald the opportunity to come in and tell his story,” he told reporters as he entered the courtroom.

“Now, knowing Donald as well as I do, understand that he doesn’t tell the truth. It’s one thing to walk away and lie about his ‘Social Untruth’ and another thing to walk away and lie before a grand jury. Therefore, I do not suspect that he will come.”

What Stormy Daniels said about it

On the other hand, Daniels, also known as Stephanie Clifford said in 2021 that she had not yet testified in the investigation, but that she “would love nothing more” than to be interviewed by prosecutors investigating the Trump Organization.

Daniels said at the time that her attorney had been in contact with Manhattan and New York state investigators and that she had met with them on other issues.

She stated that if asked to speak to investigators or a grand jury, she would “tell them everything I know”.

She wrote a tell-all book in 2018 that described the alleged affair in detail, with her then-lawyer saying the book was intended to prove her story about having sex with Trump is true.