Former President Trump Indicted in Manhattan

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Donald Trump plead not guilty to 34 charges unveiled at his indictment hearing in New York City on April 4. The charges revolve around former President Trump paying off adult-film actor Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election Trump would eventually win over Hillary Clinton.

The official indictment from the Supreme Court of New York shows 34 counts of falsifying business documents in the first degree. The charges span from February 14, 2017, all the way to December 5, 2017. The case in historic in the United States because it is the first time a former President has been faced with felony charges brought all the way to a courthouse.

“Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement reported by NPR. “We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct.”

As the 2024 presidential election gets closer, former President Trump responded to the indictment with a clear focus on his upcoming campaign. On March 30 Trump sent out a message to his supporters on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“This is an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before. It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections. The USA is now a third world nation, a nation in serious decline. So sad!”

After the 2022 Gubernatorial elections, Florida Governor Ron Desantis has been picked by many people in both parties as one of the likely winner of the Republican nomination. This indictment comes at a difficult time for former President Trump who prior was getting ready to start his 2024 presidential campaign.

The response from Donald Trump has been mostly of an election interference tone toward his counterparts on the left, but after recent elections it seems he might not be reaching his audience. In the 2022 mid-term elections large numbers of voters who had voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 didn’t seem to fully back the republican candidates he endorsed.

Others believe that this indictment could fuel Trump’s campaign leading into 2024 with more eyes fully set on him and his team than any time since 2020. On Truth Social former President Trump has shared many news articles saying Trump is rising in popularity among Republican voters since his indictment.