Donald Trump to be charged over hush money

Donald Trump deposition Aug 2022
Mr Trump pictured during a deposition made last August as part of a civil fraud investigation

Donald Trump has been indicted over an alleged hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

A grand jury voted to indict Trump over possible crimes related to a $130,000 (£105,000) payment to Daniels towards the end of the 2016 presidential election campaign.

The grand jury has been hearing evidence from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office since January.

The payment was allegedly made in exchange for Daniels’ silence about an alleged sexual encounter she said she had with Trump a decade earlier.

The former US president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has said Trump directed hush payments to Daniels and to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

McDougal said she had a sexual relationship with him. Trump has denied having affairs with either woman.

Amid speculation in recent weeks that he was due to be indicted, Mr Trump urged his supporters to protest against the authorities if he is detained.

He published a long statement describing the investigation as a “political witch-hunt trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party”.

“I did absolutely nothing wrong,” he said, before criticising a “corrupt, depraved and weaponised justice system”.

Other ongoing cases Trump faces include a Georgia election interference probe and two federal investigations into his role in the 6 January 2001 insurrection at the US Capitol.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has spent nearly five years investigating Mr Trump.

 

Source:  Sky News news.sky.com

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