Trump ត្រូវបានចោទប្រកាន់ដោយ Manhattan Grand Jury - សវនាការរំពឹងថានៅសប្តាហ៍ក្រោយ

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A Manhattan grand jury voted Thursday to indict former President Donald Trump over an alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, a source with knowledge of the proceedings told ទស្សនាវដ្តី Forbes, with an arraignment expected early next week—marking the first time in American history a former president has been criminally charged.

ការពិតសំខាន់

The indictment remains under seal in Manhattan state court, and it is not clear what crimes the grand jury decided to charge Trump with—the កាសែត New York Times was first to report the indictment Thursday.

The investigation into Trump—led by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office—centers on a $130,000 payment his former fixer Michael Cohen made to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, to allegedly keep her from going public about an affair she says she had with Trump years earlier, which Trump has denied.

It’s unclear for now what Trump has been charged with, but experts have speculated Trump could be prosecuted for falsifying business records—a criminal misdemeanor—because a set of payments to reimburse Cohen for the Daniels payout were falsely classified as legal services.

Prosecutors could also argue the Daniels payment constituted a felony illegal campaign donation—though this legal theory is largely untested.

Trump’s team has indicated he will surrender to authorities for a coming arraignment in New York, when he will briefly be under arrest at the district attorney’s office—he will likely be fingerprinted and have his mugshot taken before being released from custody after entering his plea.

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told CNN he expects the arraignment to take place early next week, while fellow Trump team lawyer Susan Necheles told CBS News they are “still waiting to learn” details about the charges.

A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said prosecutors contacted Trump’s team Thursday evening to “coordinate his surrender,” adding “Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.”

Trump blasted the indictment as “the unthinkable” in a statement Thursday afternoon, calling it the latest step in what he described as “a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”

សាវតាសំខាន់

The unprecedented decision to criminally charge Trump follows a years-long investigation by the District Attorney’s office in Manhattan that began during his term as president. The probe was launched in 2019, months after Cohen pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges in connection with the Daniels payments, which the Department of Justice cast as illegal contributions to Trump’s presidential bid. At the time of his guilty plea, Cohen alleged that he executed the agreement with Daniels at Trump’s direction, and has since met with the DA’s office more than a dozen times and rebranded himself from Trump loyalist to vociferous critic. But the investigation has proceeded in fits and starts since then. At one point, prosecutors broadened their probe beyond the hush money payments and looked into allegations that Trump lied about the value of his real estate assets, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg reportedly shelved that part of the investigation last year due to concerns about evidence, leading one of the lead prosecutors to resign and write a fiery tell-all book. In recent months, Bragg’s office appeared to return to the Daniels allegations, bringing witnesses before a secret grand jury and inviting Trump to testify himself—a sign the probe was coming to an end.

ប្រធានរិះគន់

Trump has repeatedly claimed he never had an affair with Daniels and has attacked the investigation as a “political witch hunt” by the left-leaning Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump’s lawyers have argued that Cohen’s lack of credibility threatens the validity of the case and that the unprecedented nature of the allegations puts the case on shaky legal footing. Trump and his team have also alleged that the typical five-year statute of limitations for felony cases in New York has expired, though experts say there is legal doctrine that allows some cases to extend beyond the deadline. More than a week before he was indicted, Trump predicted his arrest in a Truth Social post and urged his supporters to protest at the Manhattan Criminal Court. Law enforcement authorities, including the NYPD and FBI, reportedly began preparing for enhanced security protocols, but protest turnout has been lackluster.

ហេតុការណ៍គួរឱ្យភ្ញាក់ផ្អើល

Daniels’ alleged affair with Trump first came to light in a January 2018 កាសែត Wall Street Journal story that revealed the hush money scheme, citing anonymous sources. Three months later, she went public with the alleged affair in an interview with 60 នាទី។ Daniels, who was 27 at the time while Trump was 60, said she met him at a golf event outside of Lake Tahoe in 2006, a year after he married Melania Trump and several months after she had given birth to their son, Barron. When the alleged affair was made public, Trump was facing numerous allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women, including the airing of the infamous ចូលប្រើហូលីវូដ tape in which he can be heard cavalierly speaking about groping women.

អ្វីដែលយើងមិនដឹង

Whether prosecutors will land a conviction in the case, which legal experts have said hinges on proving that Trump was directly involved in both falsifying records and arranging the payments in an effort to benefit his election prospects. Trump’s lawyers could argue that Cohen—who initially fronted the money himself—made the payments as part of his routine job duties, unconnected to Trump’s political activity and without Trump’s knowledge. The former president could also argue the hush money payments weren’t campaign-related because they were intended to prevent personal embarrassment instead of shoring up electoral victory.

អ្វីដែលត្រូវមើល

The outcome of several other investigations against Trump unrelated to the Daniels scheme. The former president is facing two Justice Department probes into his conduct in the weeks prior to the January 6 riot and his handling of classified documents, as well as a probe by state prosecutors in Georgia into his attempts to reverse his 2020 election loss. Meanwhile, Trump and his children are facing a civil lawsuit from the New York Attorney General alleging they illegally inflated the value of their assets to secure more favorable loans.

តង់ហ្សង់។

The charges against Trump mark an unprecedented moment for a former president, especially as Trump ramps up his 2024 campaign for the White House. Many allies rushed to Trump’s defense before criminal charges were announced, and Republicans have ramped up their criticism of Bragg in the days leading up to the indictment, prompting counter-attacks from Democrats and Bragg’s office. A group of House Republicans sent a letter to Bragg demanding his testimony and accusing him of committing an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.” Bragg’s office responded to the testimony by claiming that Congress does not have jurisdiction over the Manhattan DA’s office, while some Democratic lawmakers accused the lawmakers of weaponizing congressional resources by attacking Bragg. The Manhattan DA received a death threat accompanied by suspicious white powder inside an envelope sent to his office last week, NBC News reported, and law enforcement has reportedly seen an increase in threatening and violent rhetoric online in the lead-up to the indictment.

អានបន្ថែម

Here’s What Will Happen If Trump Is Arrested (Yes, He’ll Probably Get A Mugshot) (Forbes)

Trump Denies Affair With Stormy Daniels—As He Could Reportedly Face Criminal Charges In Hush-Money Scheme (Forbes)

នេះគឺជារឿងរ៉ាវកំពុងអភិវឌ្ឍន៍។ ពិនិត្យមើលភាពទាន់សម័យ។