Trump’s indicted. Now what?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Former president Donald Trump has been indicted. Today, how the case could test the limits of our political and legal systems.
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A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, making him the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime, and setting the stage for a 2024 presidential contest unlike any other.
The indictment was sealed, which means the specific charge or charges are not publicly known. But the grand jury had been hearing evidence about money paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Washington Post reporter Devlin Barrett says charging a former president with a crime will be the ultimate test of our legal and political systems. Today on the show, Barrett walks us through what we know about the indictment, and what could happen next as this landmark legal battle begins.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So, Devlin, a Manhattan Grand Jury has voted to indict Trump. |
| 0:09.2 | What are they charging him with? |
| 0:10.9 | Well, the indictment remains sealed. |
| 0:13.4 | So the specifics we do not know, however we do know what the thrust of this investigation |
| 0:18.8 | has been. |
| 0:21.3 | That's Devlin Barrett. |
| 0:25.5 | He covers law enforcement for the post. |
| 0:28.0 | Unlike so many of us, he's been glued to this unfolding case in New York against former |
| 0:33.4 | President Donald Trump. |
| 0:35.5 | We can't see exactly what Trump has been charged with yet, but Devlin says we do know |
| 0:40.4 | a few things about what the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has been investigating. |
| 0:45.8 | And that is they have been looking at charging the former president with what's called business |
| 0:51.3 | records fraud, which is a crime in New York state, basically of filing a false business |
| 0:58.2 | And at the center of these business records are hush money payments to adult film actress |
| 0:58.2 | Stormi Daniels, who alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump years before he |
| 1:04.4 | ran for president and the central allegation that we believe is in this indictment are |
| 1:10.4 | charges stemming from those hush money payments and that there has long been a question as |
| 1:17.6 | to whether those payments and the way they were recorded on the books for Trump amount |
| 1:23.8 | to business records fraud. |
| 1:30.1 | Just sort of stepping back for a moment, how big of a deal is this news? |
| 1:38.0 | What is actually at stake here? |
| 1:43.1 | You know, it's funny. |
... |
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