After over a week of postponements and speculations, a Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict Donald Trump on charges of issuing hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to his 2016 presidential election.
Last week, the former president made waves throughout the nation when he claimed he would be arrested on Tuesday, March 21. The New York police responded by erecting steel barricades outside the Manhattan Criminal Court and the country was ultimately made to wait with bated breath after the grand jury postponed their meeting multiple times.
According to sources close to the New York Times and CNN, the grand jury reconvened today and cast their vote to indict Trump, thus making him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.
Despite reportedly requesting to be handcuffed in a public spectacle, Trump has declared himself innocent. He has denied paying Daniels the $130,000 hush money payments, all of which he classified as legal expenses for reimbursement.
For her part, Daniels has issued several public statements on her social media accounts mocking the former president and expressing her excitement at the prospect of testifying against him under oath.
Trump issued a public statement on his Truth Social account following the announcement from the Manhattan grand jury, calling the indictment a “witch hunt” and “political persecution.” The grand jury has not yet disclosed the exact charges of the indictment, but according to CNN, Trump’s defense attorney Joe Tacopina says the former president will likely be arraigned “early next week.”