Former president Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, becoming the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime.<\/p>\n
The indictment remains under seal, so the specific charge or charges have not been made public. Trump is expected to appear in court in Manhattan on Tuesday for his arraignment.<\/p>\n
What is an indictment?<\/strong><\/p>\n When someone is indicted by a grand jury, it means they are charged with one or more crimes. \u201cAn indictment is just a fancy way of saying \u2018the charging document,\u2019\u201d said Anna G. Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School. \u201cIt is a piece of paper that contains the charges.\u201d<\/p>\n The grand jury,\u00a0which in New York is composed of 23 members of the public, hears evidence from witnesses presented by prosecutors over a period of days, weeks or months. At the end of that process, prosecutors decide whether to ask the jurors to vote on an indictment. A majority must vote to indict the person.<\/p>\n The grand jury process is secret, and the indictment is generally not made public until it is filed in court or \u2014 in some cases \u2014 until the defendant makes their first court appearance.<\/p>\n What is the case about?<\/strong><\/p>\n The indictment against Trump is believed to involve\u00a0a payment made before the 2016 presidential election to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress,\u00a0to keep her from publicly discussing an affair she said she had with Trump\u00a0years earlier.<\/p>\n Now that he is charged, will Trump be publicly arrested?<\/strong><\/p>\n Trump\u00a0posted on social media on March 18\u00a0that he would be arrested, but that won\u2019t happen if he voluntarily turns himself in.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney said Thursday evening that the office had contacted Trump\u2019s attorney to coordinate his surrender. A person familiar with the matter \u2014 speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been publicly announced \u2014 said the former president is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday, April 4, at 2:15 p.m.<\/p>\n What happens after a grand jury investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n The typical steps in a criminal case, from investigation to sentencing.<\/p>\n Public court appearance. Charges unsealed if they are not already publicly viewable. Defendant generally enters not-guilty plea.<\/p>\n PRETRIAL HEARINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n Defense motions to dismiss charges or exclude evidence; requests to thejudge on scheduling, witnesses.<\/p>\n What happens once Trump is in custody?<\/strong><\/p>\n Once\u00a0a suspect who has been indicted\u00a0is in police custody, police or other law enforcement officials process them behind closed doors, taking mug shots and fingerprints.<\/p>\n The process is identical whether the person has been arrested or has agreed \u2014 or negotiated through lawyers \u2014 to turn themselves in.<\/p>\n What happens at Trump\u2019s arraignment?<\/strong><\/p>\n The first court proceeding after an arrest or surrender is an arraignment hearing in a Manhattan courtroom. At the arraignment, a judge would determine whether Trump would need to pay bail or adhere to certain restrictions pending a trial \u2014 or whether he could be released with no bail or restrictions, which is known as being released on personal recognizance.<\/p>\n Security arrangements for the brief proceeding are still being worked out.<\/p>\n The Secret Service special agent in charge of Trump\u2019s security detail, Sean Curran, or Curran\u2019s deputy, is likely to personally accompany Trump when he is processed and appears in court for the arraignment.<\/p>\n Ongoing investigations involving Donald Trump<\/strong><\/p>\n Donald Trump is facing historic legal scrutiny\u00a0for a former president, under investigation by the Justice Department, district attorneys in Manhattan and Fulton County, Ga., and a state attorney general. He denies wrongdoing. Here is a list of the key investigations and where they stand.<\/p>\n Justice Department criminal probe of Jan. 6<\/strong><\/p>\n The Justice Department is investigating the\u00a0Jan. 6 riot\u00a0and whether Trump or his aides may have\u00a0conspired to obstruct the formal certification\u00a0in Congress of the election result or committed fraud to block the peaceful transfer of power. Attorney General Merrick Garland\u00a0appointed veteran prosecutor Jack Smith\u00a0to oversee both this and the Mar-a-Lago investigation.<\/p>\n Mar-a-Lago documents investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n FBI agents found more than\u00a0100 classified documents\u00a0during a\u00a0search of Trump\u2019s residence at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 8 as part of a criminal probe into possible mishandling of classified information. A grand jury is hearing witness testimony as prosecutors weigh their next steps.<\/p>\n Georgia election results investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) is investigating whether Trump and his allies illegally\u00a0meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia. A Georgia judge on Feb. 15\u00a0released parts of a report\u00a0produced by a special-purpose grand jury, and authorities who are privy to the report will decide whether to ask a new grand jury to vote on criminal charges.<\/p>\n Manhattan district attorney\u2019s investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) convened a grand jury to evaluate business-related matters involving Trump, including his alleged role in\u00a0hush-money payments to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels\u00a0during the 2016 presidential campaign. On March 30,\u00a0the grand jury voted to indict Trump, making him the first ex-president to be charged with a crime.\u00a0Here\u2019s what happens next.<\/p>\n Lawsuit over Trump business practices in New York<\/strong><\/p>\n Attorney General Letitia James (D)\u00a0filed a lawsuit Sept. 21 against Trump, three of his children and the Trump Organization, accusing them of flagrantly manipulating the valuations of their properties to get better terms on loans and insurance policies, and to get tax breaks. The litigation is pending.<\/p>\n \u25aa\ufe0e Summary adapted from The Washington Post report. Details can be found at www.washingtonpost.com. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph of UK.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former president Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, becoming the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime. The indictment remains under seal, so the specific charge or charges have not been made public. Trump is expected to appear in court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5787],"tags":[5713,33,1184],"class_list":["post-63342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world","tag-indictment","tag-trump","tag-tuesday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}