Written By: Thomas d’Esperies
Former U.S. President Donald Trump was charged with 34 felony counts for his alleged role in paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
A Manhattan Grand Jury voted to indict former U.S. President Donald J. Trump with 34 felony counts for alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 Presidential election. Ms. Daniels claims to have been paid $130,000 by Mr. Trump’s former lawyer in exchange for her silence on her romantic involvement with the former president. Mr. Trump has denied all allegations regarding any sexual encounter with Ms. Daniels, pleading not guilty to all charges.
Ms. Daniels claims that she was legally and physically threatened to take the money and remain quiet by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who was also later arrested and charged for his involvement in the 2016 Russian election interference. Ms. Daniels has stated she accepted the money out of a fear for her family’s safety.
The alleged affair happened shortly after the pair met at a Charity Golf Tournament in July of 2006. Ms. Daniels claimed the pair had sexual intercourse in a hotel room at Lake Tahoe, a claim Mr. Trump’s legal team strongly denied.
Ms. Daniels is not the only alleged instance of bribery prior to the 2016 election by the Trump Organization. In an April 4th press release, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated three separate instances of hush money payments before Trump’s Presidential Campaign.
A Trump Tower doorman was allegedly paid $30,000 after claiming to have a story about a child Mr. Trump had outside of his marriage at the time. A second instance saw $150,000 wire transferred to another woman who claimed to have a sexual relationship with the former president and, of course, at the forefront of this case, the payment made to Ms. Daniels.
District Attorney Bragg began his Statement of Facts with, “The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.” Former President Trump has been officially charged with 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony.