Former President Trump said he expects to be charged Tuesday, March 21st, as he faces an ongoing investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The Trump Organization claims that the $130,000 reimbursement to his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels was for legal expenses. Cohen supposedly paid Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence regarding a one-time sexual encounter she had with Trump. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels, saying the investigation is more political than it is legal. Speaker McCarthy came to the former President’s defense, agreeing with Trump’s view that the case is politically motivated. “This was personal money. This wasn’t trying to hide — this was over seven years ago, the statute of limitation,” McCarthy said of the DA’s probe. Law enforcement, for the most part, remains silent on the case.
CNBC: Trump grand jury live updates: Waiting game on looming indictment in porn star Stormy Daniels payoff
By Dan Mangan; March 21, 2023
If Donald Trump is indicted by a grand jury in New York, as he has said he expects, he will become the first former U.S. president ever to face a criminal charge.
But that has not happened — so far.
Trump is under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office over his company, the Trump Organization, claiming that reimbursement to his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels was for legal expenses.
Cohen paid Daniels that money on the eve of the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence about an alleged one-time sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Trump, who is the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination said last week that he had heard he will be charged Tuesday.
But law enforcement officials have been mum about any timing of news from the grand jury in Manhattan Criminal Court, whose proceedings are held out of public view.
Trump denies having sex with Daniels and claims the investigation is politically motivated.
Stormy Daniels shot back at critics on Twitter, saying she plans to go dancing if Trump gets indicted over the $130,000 payment she received before the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with the former president.
After Trump fan on Twitter implied she was a streetwalker, Daniels tweeted back “I won’t walk, I’ll dance down the street when he is ‘selected’ to go to jail.”
“Tiny paid me to frame himself?” Daniels wrote. “You sound even dumber than he does during his illiterate ramblings.”
Photo: AP