A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict former US president Donald Trump for his role in paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, according to five insider sources. .The New York Times reported Thursday an indictment will likely be announced in the coming days. Prosecutors working for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will ask Trump to surrender and to face arraignment on charges which are unknown for now. .He avoided criminal charges for decades despite persistent scrutiny and repeated investigations. Now he's the first former president to face charges. .His actions surrounding the 2020 election are the focus of a separate federal investigation, and a Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of one examining his attempts to reverse the election results in the state. .Unlike the investigations which arose during his time in the White House, this case is based on an incident before his presidency. This case stems from him paying hush money to Daniels to bury a sex scandal in the final days of the 2016 campaign. .The three lead prosecutors on the investigation walked into the building where the grand jury was sitting a few minutes before the panel was scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. One of them carried a copy of the penal law, which was likely used to read the criminal statutes to it before jurors voted. .About three hours later, prosecutors walked into the court clerk’s office through a back door to begin the process of filing the indictment..Trump denied all wrongdoing and attacked Bragg, a Democrat, accusing him of leading a political witch hunt. He denied having an affair with Daniels. .Bragg and his lawyers will likely attempt to negotiate Trump’s surrender. If he agrees, he will be photographed and fingerprinted in a New York courthouse. .The prosecution’s star witness is his former fixer Michael Cohen, who paid $130,000 to keep Daniels quiet. Cohen said his boss directed him to buy her silence, and the Trump Organization and him helped to cover the situation up. .The Trump Organization’s records falsely identified the fees as legal expenses, which concealed the purpose of the payments. .While the particular charges remain unknown, Bragg’s prosecutors have zeroed in on the hush money payment and the false records created by the company. A conviction is uncertain, as an attempt to combine a charge relating to the false records with an election violation for paying her would be based on a legal theory which remains unevaluated by judges. .Trump said on March 18 he expected the Manhattan district attorney to arrest him on March 21. .READ MORE: Trump expects to be arrested on Tuesday, calls for protests.“Protest, take our nation back,” he said. .City, state, and federal police agencies in New York City had prepared for protests if he was indicted because of the investigation.
