A Manhattan Grand Jury has voted to indict former US President Donald Trump, CNN reported citing three sources familiar with the matter.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has been looking into Trump’s alleged role in a hush money payment and cover-up involving adult film start Stormy Daniels during the lead-up to the 2016 election.
CNN, citing unnamed sources, said Trump may be facing 34 counts tied to falsifying business records and is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
On Thursday, three lead prosecutors on the probe walked into the building where the grand jury was sitting in before the panel was scheduled to meet at 2:00 p.m. local time.
About three hours later, the prosecutors walked into the court clerk’s office via a back door to begin the process of filing the indictment., the report added.
District attorney Alvin Bragg is next expected to negotiate Trump’s surrender.
The development comes a day after media speculated that Trump’s grand jury had gone on hiatus until late April.
If Trump agrees to surrender, he would then be photographed and fingerprinted at a New York state facility.
According to the New York Times, a conviction of Trump is not a sure thing.
“An attempt to combine a charge relating to the false records with an election violation relating to the payment to Ms. Daniels would be based on a legal theory that has yet to be evaluated by judges, raising the possibility that a court could throw out or limit the charges,” the New York Times said.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has called the probe, like many others, a witchunt. The former president has also rejected allegations of having an affair with Daniels.
Trump in a statement after the news broke said the jury’s decision to indict him was tantamount to election interference.
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said on Thursday. “The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.”
The “witch hunt” will backfire on Biden, Trump said, noting the unprecedented nature of the indictment.
The former president also slammed the district attorney who has been backed by prominent Democrats.
“Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work,” Trump said.
House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik in a statement said such election interference will energize tens of millions of voters to rally and cast a ballot for Trump “to save our great republic.”
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to Twitter with some strong words including calling for an impeachment of Biden.
“Impeach Biden. He’s given us every reason and the family banking records and more are giving us receipts. But now that the gloves are off. Prosecute any and all crimes. Enough of this witch hunt bullshit.”
Trump in another post on Truth Social said the Manhattan DA brought a “fake” charge against him knowing the former president “cannot get a fair trial in New York.”
Meanwhile, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy warned that Bragg will be held to account by the lower chamber for “abuse of power” while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said his state will not extradite Trump because of the questionable circumstances behind the Soros-backed district attorney.
“These Corrupt Democrat Prosecutors, all from poorly run and very dangerous Democrat run cities, are not going to choose the Republican Nominee, or the next President of the United States!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Later in the day, Trump’s defense attorney said the indictment lacks any legal basis.
“What was once the most respected and revered district attorney’s office in the nation has been fully bastardized by an opportunistic politician seeking, like many others, to cash in on the Trump brand,” the former president’s defense attorney Chris Kise told CNN. “The complete lack of legal basis, coupled with the politically targeted nature of the prosecution, should strike fear into every citizen in this country irrespective of their views of President Trump.”