By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com
00:03 10 Mar 2023, updated 01:02 10 Mar 2023
- Former President Donald Trump will likely face charges for his role in hush-money payments given in his behalf ahead of the 2016 election
- Porn star Stormy Daniels and Playmate Karen McDougal were paid so they wouldn’t speak publicly of having ‘affairs’ with Trump
- The New York Times reported that Trump’s lawyers were informed an indictment could be coming and gave him the option of appearing before a grand jury
Former President Donald Trump will likely face charges for his role in hush-money payments given to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Trump’s lawyers were informed by the Manhattan district attorney’s office that the ex-president could face criminal charges over the $130,000 payment, citing four sources close to the investigation.
Prosecutors gave Trump the option to appear before a state grand jury that’s been assembled since January and has been hearing evidence in the case, generally a sign that an individual will be indicted.
Several of Trump’s top advisers have been spotted going into the Manhattan district attorney’s office in recent days including former counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway and ex-White House communications director Hope Hicks.
An indictment of Trump will make American history, as no ex-president of the United States has ever been slapped with criminal charges after leaving office.
President Richard Nixon, who left office over his role in the Watergate break-in, was pardoned by his Republican successor, President Gerald Ford, before any criminal charges could be brought.
A Trump indictment could also complicate the 2024 presidential election, as he announced his candidacy in November and continues to lead most GOP polls.
If Trump was convicted – which is a longshot – he would be sentenced with up to four years in prison, though serving time would not be mandatory, The Times said.
Trump already escaped being charged with a crime for his role in the hush-money payments by federal investigators.
Trump’s former lawyer turned critic, Michael Cohen, was the only person ensnared in the federal probe.
He facilitated the payments between Trump and Daniels and also Playboy Playmate McDougal, both of whom claimed to have had sexual relations with the married businessman and reality TV star.
Once the federal investigation concluded, Manhattan’s District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg took the investigation up, to see if any New York state laws were broken.
Bragg’s prosecutors have not concluded their work in front of the grand jury and he could decide against pressing charges, The Times reported.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has already brought six witnesses in front of the grand jury, the newspaper said.
Cohen has met with prosecutors 18 times through several iterations of the probe he told the Associated Press after another meeting with them last week.
He said the investigation was ‘really progressing’ and he expected to soon be called before the grand jury.
‘The level of specificity to which they are attacking the various issues is extraordinary,’ the former Trump lawyer said.
In his book, he also ties Conway – who made news this week due to her divorce from her Trump critic husband George – to the hush-money payment, writing that she was the person who informed Trump that Daniels had been paid off.
Conway, who served as Trump’s 2016 campaian manager, said ‘she’d pass along the good news’ to Trump, once Cohen gave the money to Daniels, Cohen wrote in his 2020 memoir, Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump.
Conway ignored reporters Wednesday when she walked into Bragg’s lower Manhattan office.
Trump’s actions are also under scrutiny in Georgia, as Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis investigates whether crimes were committed when Trump and his allies tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Additionally, Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to oversee the Department of Justice’s investigations into whether Trump mishandled classified documents when he left office and his effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 win.
