International News: Donald Trump officially under arrest, faces as many as 30 charges related to ‘hush money’ payment

By Aaron Humes: This morning in his native New York City, former U.S. President Donald Trump officially submitted to arrest in Manhattan (New York County) after being indicted by a grand jury last week on multiple charges, Rolling Stone Magazine reports.

The indictment is still sealed but reportedly includes over 30 charges believed to center on allegations that the former president falsified business records over the course of arranging a hush-money payment to adult entertainment actor Stephanie Clifford (alias Stormy Daniels).

On his Truth Social platform before arriving via motorcade to the courthouse this morning, even admitted it was “surreal” to be under arrest and added, “Can’t believe this is happening in America.”

He becomes the first holder of America’s highest office to face criminal charges and potentially time in prison but has steadfastly denied wrongdoing. After his appearance, he will fly back to Florida and make a public address from his residence there.

The controversy and indictment centers around an effort while running for president in 2016 to quash disclosure of an alleged affair ten years earlier, for which she was paid to keep her silence by then-attorney Michael Cohen, who was reimbursed for “legal expenses.” Prosecutors are expected to claim falsification of business records via a sham retainer agreement. Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in 2018 for making the payment to Daniels through a Delaware shell corporation and has publicly testified that his former boss was in the loop on each step of the alleged financial subterfuge.

During his presidency, Trump appointees in the Justice Department attempted to remove references to the president’s role in the case in court documents prepared for the Cohen criminal case, according to a memoir by the former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. Attorney General Bill Barr even pressured prosecutors on the Cohen case and ordered DOJ officials to write a memo with potential challenges to the case, despite Cohen’s guilty plea and sentencing. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg re-opened the case after his election and impaneled a grand jury that heard evidence and agreed to the indictment.

Bragg and his office have been consistently attacked by Trump in public media as indictment loomed, while Trump, seeking a second term as president, has been using the infamy of his indictment to galvanize his political followers. On Monday, his team bragged of having raised $7 million in the wake of the indictment. Rolling Stone reported on Monday that his team has discussed putting his mugshot on merchandise.

It’s unclear yet how Trump will respond, legally, to the charges but he has already hinted at a few strategies to contest the case against him, including the “advice of counsel” defense, that he lacked the intent to commit a crime because his actions were the result of a good faith reliance on the advice of his attorney, or that he acted to protect his fledgling marriage rather than his campaign.

Trump is also currently under investigation in Georgia for alleged criminal 2020 election interference, as well as by a federal special prosecutor who is probing Trump’s mishandling of classified documents and his actions in the run-up to the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021.

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