Friday, March 31, 2023
Trump is indicted in NY. Here's what it means and what happens next - The Washington Post
Trump is indicted in N.Y. Here’s what it means and what happens next.
"When someone is indicted by a grand jury, it means they are charged with one or more crimes. “An indictment is just a fancy way of saying ‘the charging document,’” said Anna G. Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School. “It is a piece of paper that contains the charges.”
The grand jury, which in New York is composed of 23 members of the public, hears evidence from witnesses presented by prosecutors over a period of days, weeks or months. At the end of that process, prosecutors decide whether to ask the jurors to vote on an indictment. A majority must vote to indict the person.
The grand jury process is secret, and the indictment is generally not made public until it is filed in court or — in some cases — until the defendant makes their first court appearance.
What is the case about?
The indictment against Trump is believed to involve a payment made before the 2016 presidential election to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress, to keep her from publicly discussing an affair she said she had with Trump years earlier.
Read more about the case here.
Now that he is charged, will Trump be publicly arrested?
Trump posted on social media on March 18 that he would be arrested, but that won’t happen if he voluntarily turns himself in.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney said Thursday evening that the office had contacted Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender. A person familiar with the matter — speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been publicly announced — said the former president is expect to appear in court for an arraignment on Tuesday, April 4, at 2:15 p.m.
What happens after a grand jury investigation
The common steps in a criminal case, from investigation to sentencing.
GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION
INDICTMENT
NO INDICTMENT
No charges filed
ARREST
VOLUNTARY SURRENDER
Expected Tuesday
PROCESS AS A DEFENDANT
Fingerprinted, photos taken.
ARRAIGNMENT
Public court appearance, charges unsealed if they are not
already publicly viewable. Defendant generally enters not
guilty plea.
PRETRIAL HEARINGS
Defense motions to dismiss charges or exclude evidence;
requests to the judge on scheduling, witnesses.
GUILTY PLEA
TRIAL
DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY
DEFENDANT FOUND NOT GUILTY
Acquitted of charges
SENTENCING
Source: Justice Department
NICK MOURTOUPALAS/THE WASHINGTON POST
And what happens once he is in custody?
Once a suspect who has been indicted is in police custody, police or other law enforcement officials process them behind closed doors, taking mug shots and fingerprints.
The process is identical whether the person has been arrested or has agreed — or negotiated through lawyers — to turn themselves in.
The first court proceeding after an arrest or surrender would be an arraignment hearing in a Manhattan courtroom. At the arraignment, a judge would determine whether Trump would need to pay bail or adhere to certain restrictions pending a trial — or whether he could be released with no bail or restrictions, which is known as being released on personal recognizance.
The Secret Service special agent in charge of Trump’s security detail, Sean Curran, or Curran’s deputy, is likely to personally accompany Trump when he is processed and appears in court.
Who is the prosecutor who brought charges against Trump?
New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, was elected as the Manhattan district attorney in November 2021. He is a former federal prosecutor in the New York attorney general’s office.
Bragg inherited the Trump investigation from his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr. Two senior prosecutors quit his office last year, apparently in frustration that Bragg was not inclined to pursue an indictment of Trump over how he valued properties in his real estate business. Bragg has declined to discuss the investigation, saying only that, “We will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly.”
Read more about Bragg here.
Where would Trump be processed once he turns himself in?
Defendants are typically processed in police precincts. But it is not uncommon for them to be processed at a district attorney’s office if they surrender after a grand jury indictment.
Could Trump go to jail?
This is the question a lot of people are asking. The answer is, it depends — not only on what he is charged with, of course, but also of what, if anything, he is ultimately convicted.
Bragg is believed to have been considering charges of falsifying business records in the commission of another crime, possibly a campaign-finance violation. That would be a low-level felony, according to New York state law, punishable by up to four years in prison.
But charges can be downgraded, sentences vary case by case, and, in general, it is unusual for a person with no criminal record to be sentenced to extensive jail time for a nonviolent, low-level felony violation.
So even if Trump is convicted of a felony, it does not necessarily mean he will spend time in jail.
Can Trump still run for president in 2024?
While it has never been attempted by a candidate from a major party before, Trump is allowed to run for president while under indictment — or even if he is convicted of a crime.
The practical impact of an criminal case on his candidacy — whether it would help or hurt his odds of landing in the White House again — depends on whom you ask. Some of his advisers, according to a recent Washington Post article, said this is favorable terrain for Trump: back in the center of attention as the dominant figure in his party. But advisers also acknowledged the pitfalls of a indictment and said the campaign has not worked out the logistics of simultaneously mounting a presidential run and facing a criminal trial.
What has been the reaction to the indictment?
Many Republican officials — including some rivals for the Republican nomination — leaped to Trump’s defense, denouncing what they called the weaponization of the criminal justice system.
Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican Party, called the indictment “a blatant abuse of power from a DA focused on political vengeance instead of keeping people safe.”
Former vice president Mike Pence — who broke with Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and is eying a 2024 presidential run — also criticized the charges.
“I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage,” Pence said Thursday night in an interview on CNN. “This will only further serve to divide our country.”
Top Democrats said that the grand jury was following the facts and that Trump should respect the legal system.
"The Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law. No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the longtime speaker of the House, wrote on Twitter. "“Hopefully, the former President will peacefully respect the system, which grants him that right.”
Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey in Washington and Shayna Jacobs in New York contributed to this report."
Trump and advisers caught off guard by New York indictment - The Washington Post
Trump and advisers caught off guard by New York indictment
"Advisers had privately counseled Trump that an indictment by a Manhattan grand jury involving hush-money payments to an adult-film star would not come for some time
More than a week after Donald Trump had angrily predicted — incorrectly and with no specific evidence — that he would be arrested, the former president had grown cautiously optimistic.
Advisers had counseled him that a possible indictment by a Manhattan grand jury involving hush-money payments to an adult-film star would not come for some time — if at all — and Trump had even begun joking about “golden handcuffs,” said one person who spoke with him in recent days.
But on Thursday, the news that Trump had simultaneously resigned himself to and believed he could wish away finally broke: A Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict him over hush-money payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign, making him the first ex-president charged with a crime.
Trump’s team had long been preparing for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation to end in a possible indictment. His top political advisers, including Chris LaCivita and Jason Miller, had begun drafting statements to blast out and lines of attack against Bragg and Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, thought to be one of Bragg’s key witnesses.
But when the indictment came, Trump and his advisers were caught off guard.
“It was a surprise to everybody,” said David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser who is not working on his 2024 presidential campaign.
Some of his lawyers had been preparing to take a few days off, not expecting any movement for several weeks, said two people familiar with the matter who, like many in Trump’s orbit, spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly share details of private discussions. Some Trump aides — including adviser Boris Epshteyn, who is taking a leading role on Trump’s legal team — had even begun telling the former president that he would not be indicted at all, people familiar with the comments said.
In a sign of the chaotic scramble, Trump misspelled “indicted” in a post on his social media network Truth Social, writing that “Thugs and Radical Left Monsters” had just “INDICATED” him.
Trump is expected to appear Tuesday in Manhattan, one adviser said. His legal team, speaking by phone late Thursday, scrambled to figure out the logistics and coordinate with the Secret Service on the security specifics for his arraignment.
Trump, for his part, dined at his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., with advisers for his 2024 presidential campaign after the news broke, but his recent good spirits had soured. One adviser described him as “irritated” and “deflated.”
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said in an interview that he spoke with Trump on Thursday evening for a few minutes and that the former president was “upset and disappointed” but also “very calm.”
“They are using the law as a weapon against me,” Trump griped to Graham.
Graham said he counseled calm and that Trump seemed to agree. “He thinks most people will see it as a weaponization of the law,” Graham said. “From a political point of view, it’s going to solidify Trump’s standing with the Republican Party.”
Former vice president Mike Pence and lawmakers from both sides reacted to former president Donald Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury March 30. (Video: Julie Yoon/The Washington Post)
Indeed, Trump almost immediately escalated his fundraising pitches Thursday night, asking his supporters in an email titled, “BREAKING: PRESIDENT TRUMP INDICTED,” to give at least $24 to “defend our movement from the never-ending witch hunts.”
“We are living through the darkest chapter of American history,” read the email, which claimed all contributions would be matched up to 1,500 percent, but failed to say who would match the donations.
One adviser said that while Trump would prefer not to be indicted, the former president planned to “milk it for all it’s worth politically,” using the criminal charges to rally Republicans around him and his 2024 campaign, portray himself as a victim and fundraise.
Trump allies have said his fundraising haul has increased significantly since he posted on Truth Social that he expected to be arrested, taking in more than $2 million. And the biggest fundraising day of his post-presidency so far was the day after the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago last year for classified documents.
The causeway that leads to Mar-a-Lago has long been a rally spot for Trump supporters, especially during his presidency, when they would regularly gather to cheer on his motorcade.
But as the sun set along the causeway Thursday, more people were fishing for sand perch and croaker than had shown up to the support the former president. Shortly before 8 p.m., only a half dozen Trump supporters had amassed in their usual spot.
“A travesty of justice occurred today — our hearts are broken,” said Mary Kelley, 77, of Lake Worth, Fla., who arrived waving a “Trump 2024” flag. “We are here supporting our president. We always have. We always will. And he knows we are here.”
At least one anti-Trump protester was also in attendance. Victoria Doyle, a 57-year-old attorney from Lake Worth Beach, Fla., arrived carrying a sign that included an expletive aimed at the former president.
Doyle said she had made the sign more than a week ago, when Trump first said he expected to be indicted, and agonized for days over whether she would ever be able to carry it.
So when she heard the news Thursday evening, Doyle raced to the causeway to unfurl her sign. Despite some heckling, Doyle held her ground as the lone Trump opponent, pacing and shouting, “Lock him up!” while also expressing her dismay that more had not gathered to share her enthusiasm for the grand jury’s decision.
“I expected to have some fellow celebrators here,” Doyle said. “But that is okay. I will always show up to celebrate justice and consequences. I’m a lawyer.”
Tim Craig in Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report."