Democrats got one step closer this week to accomplishing the top item on their seven-year policy agenda: the criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg handed down a breathtaking indictment of 30-plus reported counts against the ex-New York businessman. It’s the first time charges have ever been levied against a former president.
The New York Times broke the story on Thursday, citing “four people with knowledge of the matter,” that Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury over a probe of hush-money payments to a porn star in 2016.
“The felony indictment, filed under seal by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, will likely be announced in the coming days,” the New York Times reported. “By then, prosecutors working for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, will have asked Mr. Trump to surrender and to face arraignment on charges that remain unknown for now.”
It’s no secret the charges are politically motivated. Bragg campaigned two years ago on a platform to investigate Trump, Democrats’ public enemy No. 1 who remains the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The Manhattan prosecutor ran with six-figure funding from liberal financier George Soros, even after Bragg’s own allegations of sexual misconduct that involve potential hush-money payments.
Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, declined to press charges against Trump stemming from the payments to Daniels because the case is so weak. Bragg only resurrected the case in New York as the prospect of another Trump election re-emerges
