A grand jury in New York has voted to indict former President Donald Trump following an investigation into money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s lawyers have confirmed The Associated Press Thursday that the indictment was delivered, but lawyers insisted the 45th president had done nothing wrong.
“He has committed no crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court,” attorneys Susan Necheles and Joseph Tacopina said in a statement to the PA.
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Trump released his own statement soon after, saying he was the victim of a politically motivated investigation by Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“This is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history,” he said. said. “Since I stepped off the golden escalator of Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as President of the United States, radical left-wing Democrats – the enemy of the hardworking men and women of this country – were engaged in a witch hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement. You remember it like me: Russia, Russia, Russia; The Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1 ; Impeachment Hoax 2 ; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid ; and now this.
He went on to say he was “completely innocent”.
“Democrats lied, cheat and stole in their obsession with trying to ‘get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a totally innocent person in an act of blatant election interference,” Trump added, who hopes to win. return to the White House in 2024.
The investigation focused on money paid to Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election – to keep quiet about an alleged affair, which would likely have tarnished Turmp’s presidential campaign.
The grand jury’s decision makes him the first former president in US history to be charged with a crime.
As of Thursday evening, the prosecutor’s office had not released details of the specific charges.
Trump is expected to surrender to authorities next week, the PA reported.