Donald Trump continues to be America’s most controversial leader. Now he has become the first former US president to be criminally charged.
Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury over the hush money payment made to an adult star during his 2016 presidential campaign. The indictment is under seal so the charges against him are not made public.
So what happens next? Will Trump be arrested? What does this mean for his presidential bid?
What’s the case?
The case involves an alleged payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election to not publicly talk about an affair she had with Donald Trump years ago. She was reportedly paid $130,000 (Rs 1.06 crore) to remain mum.
The two met at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in July 2006. According to Daniels, Trump who hosted the reality show The Apprentice, invited her to his hotel room and the evening turned intimate. Trump has denied that any of this occurred. Trump and Daniels allegedly met on two more occasions but there was no more intimacy involved. She eventually stopped taking his calls.
The case came to light after a tape released ahead of the 2016 campaign in which Trump spoke about groping women. Trump’s then-private lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through a shell company as hush money.
In August 2018, Cohen admitted that he arranged hush-money payments for the president and the investigation began. He pleaded guilty to federal crimes and told a court that Trump had directed him to arrange hush-money payments to two women. The payments were made during the 2016 campaign to keep the women from speaking publicly about affairs they said they had conducted with Trump.
Soon after Cohen’s admission, the Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation to examine if the payments broke New York state laws.
Now Trump has been indicted by a grand jury over the hush money payments.
More on the Donald Trump hush money case
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What’s an indictment?
An indictment is a charging document presented to a court that accuses one or more people of crimes. It’s a piece of paper that spells out the charges. Indictments reveal who is charged, what charges they face and how they allegedly broke the law.
The grand jury hears evidence from witnesses in a process that could last days, weeks, or months. After this, prosecutors decide whether to ask the jurors to vote on an indictment. A majority must vote to indict the person, according to a report in The Washington Post.
The indictment is not made public until it is filed in court or the defendant makes their first appearance in court.
Will Trump surrender? Or will he be arrested?
Now that Trump is charged he could be handcuffed and arrested. Or he can voluntarily surrender.
On 18, March the former president called upon his supporters to stage protests, saying he “expects” to be arrested in the coming week. He was not. Trump’s lawyer had previously said that if he was indicted then his team would “follow normal procedures”, hinting at a possible surrender.
Anna G Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School, told The Post, that it seems unlikely that the former president would be publicly arrested since his attorneys appear to be in communication with prosecutors and could arrange for him to surrender.
Accommodations may be made for Trump. While it is standard for defendants arrested on felony charges to be handcuffed, it is unclear whether an exception will be made for the former president because of his status. Most defendants have their hands cuffed behind their backs, but some white-collar defendants who are deemed to pose less of a danger have their hands secured in front of them, reports The New York Times.
On Thursday evening, a spokesperson from the Manhattan district court said that the office had contacted Trump’s lawyer to coordinate his surrender for the arraignment. Lawyers of Trump said that he will fly from his Florida estate to New York and is expected to surrender on 4 April.
However, if he refuses to surrender, prosecutors would need to seek permission from Florida officials to extradite him.
This would put Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, his leading but undeclared rival for the Republican nomination, in an awkward political position. Under the law, DeSantis’ role would be essentially ministerial and he would have few legal options other than approving an extradition request from New York, reports NYT.
What happens at the arraignment?
Once Trump surrenders or is arrested, there is a routine process of fingerprinting, taking a mug shot and an arraignment. New York does not release most mug shots after a 2019 law intended to cut down on online extortion, reports CNN.
Arraignment is the first time charges against Trump will be read in the open court. Trump or his attorney would enter a plea. Defendants generally enter a not-guilty plea.
The judge would then determine if Trump would need to pay bail or follow restrictions pending a trial. Trump would not have to post bail given the nature of the charges, according to a report on NBC.
Will Trump be jailed?
He has to be tried first. It will take a while before the case goes to trial. Trump will, of course, fight the charges.
The former president is entitled to “discovery”, the evidence prosecutors have gathered in their investigation, including grand jury minutes, potentially offering a glimpse into witness testimony. Then Trump’s attorneys will likely file pre-trial motions to get the case dismissed on legal grounds before it even reaches a jury, reports NBC.
Richard Hasen, the University of California law professor, told CNN, “Jail time would only come if he were convicted and sentenced to jail time.”
The charge of falsifying business records in the first degree is a low-level felony carrying up to four years in prison.
But Hasen said that the idea of Trump in prison is far-fetched. Secret Service would have to arrange for his protection in jail and the logistics are complicated.
Can he still run for president?
Yes. While this will be a first in America for a candidate from a major political party, Trump can run for president even after the indictment. In fact, even if he is convicted of a crime.
According to a CNN report, the American constitution requires only three things of candidates. They must be a natural-born citizen, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the US for at least 14 years.
How will the indictment affect his bid?
Detractors worry that if Trump were cleared, it would make it easier for him to cast any further indictment as a “witch hunt”, reports AFP. And the charges will also likely juice turnout among Trump’s base, say, analysts, catapulting him to victory in the nomination race.
Nicholas Creel, a political analyst at Georgia College and State University, said Trump’s base in the Grand Old Party was “simply too bought-in” to abandon him. “Even now, we see Trump’s Republican competitors, such as former vice president Pence, actively defending him in this scandal instead of using it to attack him for his own gain,” he told AFP.
Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Mike Pence, told CNN, “… there’s a part of him (Trump) that does view this as a political asset. Because he can use it to paint the other, more serious legal jeopardy he faces either in Georgia or the Department of Justice, as they’re politically motivated.”
With inputs from agencies
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