(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Prosecutors in New York indicated this week that former President Donald Trump may face criminal charges for a case involving a bribe paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg released a report announcing that Trump is invited to defend himself in front of a grand jury, which will hear the evidence before the final indictment is announced, according to the New York Post.
Trump has habitually declined offers to appear in court and is likely to do so again. If indicted, Trump will be the first former president to face criminal charges.
Bragg did not announce what specific charges the former commander in chief will face, but the report indicated that he may have evidence of forged business records in addition to the bribery.
The partisan case, which Bragg opened five years ago, focuses on a $130,000 payment made to Daniels during his 2016 presidential run. Daniels claims to have had an affair with Trump in 2005, and former Trump ally Michael Cohen allegedly made the payment and received compensation from the former president.
Trump responded to the accusations in a post on Truth Social, saying he “did absolutely nothing wrong,” and calling the affair a “witch hunt.”
“I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, nor would I have wanted to have an affair with Stormy Daniels,” he said. “This is a political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party while at the same time also leading all Democrats in the polls.”
Trump added that the statute of limitation on bringing charges against these alleged crimes expired a year ago.
Bragg’s pursuit to bag Trump is one of many partisan efforts to take down Trump. The former president is also under investigation in Georgia for purported interference in the 2020 election, which hit a bump when a jury foreperson went on a media binge. There is also a special counsel looking into the Trump administration’s handling of classified documents as well as his actions on January 6, 2020.
