A grand jury has decided to indict Donald Trump over hush money payments to a porn star, making him likely to be the first former US president to be charged with a felony.
The precise charges are unknown because indictments often don’t become public until after a suspect makes their initial court appearance.
Nevertheless, they are connected to a $130,000 (£105,000) payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, on the night of the 2016 presidential election.
Ms. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, asserts that she had an affair with Trump and made an offer to the media to publish her tale.
Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen handed over the money to keep her quiet about the purported sexual encounter said to have taken place after they met at a celebrity golf tournament.
Cohen was later reimbursed more than double that amount by the Trump Organization in the form of bonuses and other payments logged as business expenses.
Earlier that same year, he arranged a second payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also claims to have had an affair with Trump.
The former president denies both affairs and has called the Manhattan investigation a ‘witch hunt’.
Reports suggest he is relishing the prospect of a ‘perp walk’ when he hands himself into authorities in the coming days.
He will have his mugshot and fingerprints taken before being released on bond.
Trump is expected to surrender early next week.
How that happens remains unclear given the unprecedented circumstances, but police sources told ABC News that all NYPD officers have been ordered to show up in full uniform for deployment across the city.
Police chiefs and top safety aides at the mayor’s office have been meeting to discuss how to handle potential protests, amid fears of a repeat of the January 6 rampage.
Trump has already indicated he will not be dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
He accused District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, of trying to hurt his chances of winning re-election against Democratic President Joe Biden.
In a statement, Trump said: ‘This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.’
It went on: ‘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.’
Shortly after, he appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense and has raised over $2 million, according to his campaign.
In the moments after the grand jury’s reported decision, Trump was taking in the development from his Mar-a-Lago home, his aides told the New York Times.
The aides said they were surprised the indictment came on Thursday, a few people close to Trump told the newspaper.
The grand jury’s reported vote comes a day after a report that the jurors would be taking a one-month break and that an indictment would in turn come in late April at the soonest.
A source told Politico that jurors were slated to consider a different case or cases – not Trump’s – on Thursday as well as Monday and Wednesday of next week.
The panelists apparently would then have the Passover holiday off, plus the following two weeks for a hiatus planned since January.
Trump is leading among Republican voters in many polls. His son Eric tweeted: ‘This is third world prosecutorial misconduct.
‘It is the opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.’
Trump first indicated to the public that the case was intensifying on March 18, when he posted on his Truth Social platform that he expected to be arrested.
He wrote at the time that ‘illegal leaks’ from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicate that ‘THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK’.
After the announcement of Trump’s indictment, cities across the US braced for possible protests.
An internal New York Police Department memo obtained by The Times issued shortly after 5.30pm stated that all uniformed members were to ‘remain prepared for mobilization at any time during their assigned tour’.
Some legal experts believe Trump would be released at his own recognizance. Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Ambrosio Rodriguez, formerly a senior deputy district attorney in Southern California, stated that ‘an indictment is not a barrier to re-election at all’.
‘Trump’s attorneys could even ask that his trial be delayed until after the election and possibly until after he serves another term in the White House,’ stated Rodriguez.
‘Whether that request would be granted is another matter, and it’s impossible to understate how much such a ruling would complicate the case.’