The historic criminal indictment of Donald Trump this Thursday by a grand jury in Manhattan (New York) means that the former president is formally charged with a crime, and it is the first time this has happened in the history of the United States.
But there are still several steps to go before his case reaches a possible trial.
This is what we can expect in the coming weeks.
what he is acussed?
I do not know the specific charges against him, but they can be up to 30 charges, as reported by CNN.
However, the possible main crime in question would be the alleged improper payment of campaign money to
porn actress Stormy Daniels
, when Trump first ran for president in 2016. This payment of $130,000 was intended to buy his silence for an extramarital affair. that both held in the past.
What's next for Trump?
As with any indictment, Trump is expected to be arrested and taken into custody.
He is currently at his residence in Mar-a-alago, Florida, so he must travel to New York.
His attorney told NBC News that the former president would turn himself in to Manhattan US District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, likely early next week.
A mugshot and fingerprints will likely be taken of him.
[Grand jury indicts Trump on criminal charges for his role in paying a porn actress during the 2016 election]
Trump will then appear in court for arraignment, where he will hear the specific charges against him, make them public, and plead guilty or not guilty.
“Typically in these situations, the person pleads not guilty, then the court sets dates for legal motions to be filed, and finally a date for a trial,” constitutional attorney Joseph Malouf explained to Noticias Telemundo.
Then Trump will be jailed or released while pretrial hearings take place.
New York tightens security after Donald Trump indictment
March 30, 202302:03
The case can then be dismissed or it can go to trial.
If Trump is found guilty at trial, he will be sentenced for the crime.
When will it be delivered?
Two sources familiar with the case told NBC News that Trump's lawyers are already in contact with prosecutors and expect him to be arraigned next week.
[Trump calls Stormy Daniels investigation "election interference" by Democrats]
He is expected to be turned over to the Manhattan district attorney's office early next week, his attorney Joe Tacopina told NBC News, possibly as early as Tuesday.
How did Trump respond?
Trump has maintained that the money for Daniels was not a campaign contribution when he ran for president in 2016, which is the circumstance that would make the payment illegal.
Trump calls Stormy Daniels investigation "election interference" by Democrats
March 28, 202301:55
After learning of the indictment, Trump said on Twitter and on his Truth Social social network that this "was a witch hunt" and "an attack on the country", adding that prosecutor Bragg was "doing Joe Biden's dirty work ", President.
This week, on Fox News, his favorite network and which often refers to him favorably, he also tried to paint the investigation as a new form of electoral interference with his aspirations for re-election in 2024.
Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Tuesday that the Bragg investigation was an effort by his opponents to cheat the election.
“It's called election interference,” he said.
Can you still run for re-election in 2024?
Lawyer Malouf explained that, under the US legal system, Trump is presumed innocent, and therefore,
"legally he has no problem running [for re-election], but politically it is a problem
," he said.
[Why isn't Biden talking about Trump's possible impeachment?]
Republican politicians have supported him so far, such as his former presidential rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, or his current rival Ron Desantis, the governor of Florida, who has vowed not to extradite him to New York if Trump does not turn himself in.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the South Carolina State House, on Jan. 28, 2023, in Columbia, South Carolina. Alex Brandon / AP
His presidential campaign has actually predicted even greater electoral gains for Trump, following this impeachment.
“There was no crime, instead this news is the indictment of a failed nation,” Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc., Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said in an email statement. “Political elites and the powerful have turned the government into a weapon to try to stop it.
They will fail.
He will be re-elected in the largest electoral landslide in the history of the United States.
Some 20 Trump supporters gathered Thursday night outside his Mar-a-Lago residence to support him, according to The New York Times.
One of them, Nancy Sparks, 83, of Lake Worth, said this indictment was sparked by Trump's presidential run.
“They said they were going to catch him and they are trying.
It's going to backfire and the Democrats will wish they hadn't messed with it,” she declared.
