Trump's world....

[Wildcat Will]

10 hours ago, Warrior said:

Nope, just you and Willie. 

My name is Mark.

[DBP66]

New York holds breath over expected Trump indictment

 

246

Peter HUTCHISON

Wed, March 22, 2023 at 12:12 AM EDT

 

 

With barricades set up near Trump Tower and police on high alert, New York was holding its breath Wednesday for the likely indictment of Donald Trump, but the timing remained uncertain.

The ex-president himself claimed he would be arrested on Tuesday over hush money paid to a pornographic actress, but the day came and went and there were no signs of an indictment or arrest.

Some US media speculated that the grand jury hearing the case could vote to indict on Wednesday, but that it may be next week before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announces any charges and Trump is arraigned before a judge.

 

Bragg, an elected Democrat, has not confirmed any plans publicly and grand juries operate in secret to prevent perjury or witness tampering before trials, making it virtually impossible to follow their proceedings.

The DA has put key witnesses in front of the panel in recent weeks and offered Trump the opportunity to testify, hinting that an indictment is close.

The 76-year-old Republican would become the first former or sitting president to be charged with a crime if an indictment is filed -- a move that would send shock waves through the 2024 White House race, in which Trump is running to regain office.

The New York Police Department has geared up for an unprecedented arrest or self-surrender, which would see an ex-leader of the United States booked, fingerprinted and possibly even handcuffed, by erecting barricades outside Bragg's office and Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

 

NBC News reported that every NYPD officer was ordered to wear their uniforms and prepare for deployment starting from Tuesday.

"While you will see an increased uniformed presence throughout the five boroughs, there are currently no credible threats to New York City," an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement.

Trump called over the weekend for mass protests if he is indicted, but there has so far been no indication of any large movement. Leading Trump figures such as his sons have not openly urged action in the streets as they did after the 2020 election, when President Joe Biden defeated Trump.

A Monday evening protest in lower Manhattan organized by the New York Young Republican Club attracted only a couple dozen Trump supporters.

Around 40 supporters rallied outside Trump's Florida residence in Mar-e-Lago Tuesday in support of him.

"I think the end result of this will just be that his support will grow," said 18-year-old Colton Mccormick, dressed in the colors of the American flag.

Bragg's inquiry centers on $130,000 paid weeks before the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels to stop the porn star from going public about an affair she says she had with Trump years earlier.

Trump's ex-lawyer-turned-enemy Michael Cohen, who has testified before the grand jury, told Congress in 2019 that he made the payment on Trump's behalf and was later reimbursed.

The payment to Daniels, if not properly accounted for, could result in a misdemeanor charge for falsifying business records.

That might be raised to a felony if the false accounting was intended to cover up a second crime, such as a campaign finance violation, which is punishable by up to four years behind bars.

Legal experts say the argument would be difficult to prove in court, however, and any jail time is far from certain.

An indictment would begin a lengthy process that could last several months, as the case would face a mountain of legal issues and move toward jury selection.

Trump has denied having had an affair with Daniels and has blasted the investigation as a "witch hunt."

"Our enemies are desperate to stop us because they know that we are the only ones who can stop them," Trump said in a video posted on his Truth Social platform overnight into Tuesday.

He is facing several criminal investigations at the state and federal level over possible wrongdoing that threaten his new run at the White House, including his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia.

[Warrior]

14 minutes ago, Wildcat Will said:

My name is Mark.

Relax Willie

[Wildcat Will]

55 minutes ago, Warrior said:

Relax Willie

Always relaxed. 

I am too Blessed 2B Stressed.

[Warrior]

Wag the dog at it's finest. These idiots fall for it each time.

This entire week should have been a news cycle about the China-Russia new Axis of Evil and Joe Biden getting RICH from it. That is far an away the biggest news story on earth.

But every ounce of media oxygen has been consumed by the “Trump Arrest” narrative giving Joe a pass.

Oldest trick in the book. 

[Wildcat Will]

2 minutes ago, Warrior said:

Wag the dog at it's finest. These idiots fall for it each time.

This entire week should have been a news cycle about the China-Russia new Axis of Evil and Joe Biden getting RICH from it. That is far an away the biggest news story on earth.

But every ounce of media oxygen has been consumed by the “Trump Arrest” narrative giving Joe a pass.

Oldest trick in the book. 

He creates his own press.

[Warrior]

23 minutes ago, Wildcat Will said:

He creates his own press.

You're and Easy Mark - look...helicopter

 

 

[DBP66]

Large majority in new poll says Trump hush-money allegations are believable

995

Julia Shapero

Wed, March 22, 2023 at 8:59 AM EDT

 

 

A large majority of Americans in a new poll said they find it believable that former President Trump paid adult-film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to keep her from talking about an alleged affair between the two.

Seventy percent in the Reuters-Ipsos poll released on Tuesday said they find the allegations at the center of the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into the former president to be very or somewhat believable.

While most Democrats — 89 percent — said they found the allegations believable, while 50 percent of Republicans also agreed that the claims against the former president appeared likely, the poll found.

A slightly smaller portion of Americans in the poll — 62 percent — said it is very or somewhat believable that the former president falsified business records and committed fraud. Legal experts have suggested that Trump could face such charges for allegedly concealing the hush-money payments to Daniels.

 

Republicans and Democrats are more split on whether the former president potentially falsified business records, with 92 percent of Democrats saying such allegations are believable compared to 32 percent of Republicans, according to the poll.

Even though the majority of those polled found the allegations against Trump believable, half agreed with the claim that an indictment of Trump on criminal charges would be “politically motivated.”

The claim — which has been repeated by the former president and many other GOP politicians — resonated more with Republicans in the poll. Eighty percent said they agreed with the statement that an indictment would be “politically motivated,” compared to 32 percent of Democrats.

The hush-money scandal has received increased attention after Trump suggested over the weekend that he could face an indictment in the Manhattan probe as soon as Tuesday, although a spokesperson later clarified that he had not been formally notified of charges.

However, the grand jury does appear likely to vote on charges on Wednesday, according to NewsNation.

The Reuters-Ipsos poll was conducted March 20-21 with 1,003 U.S. adults and had a credibility interval of 4-6 points.

[DBP66]

Trump Attorneys Tell Him to Prepare to Lose to Alvin Bragg

 

4.7k

Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley

Wed, March 22, 2023 at 7:59 PM EDT

 

 

 

trump no changes - Credit: Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos/Getty Images

Donald Trump is about to be a loser, several of his attorneys say.

Since last month, according to two sources familiar with the matter, some of Trump’s lawyers have told him that if he is criminally charged in New York City, he should be prepared to lose. There’s a widespread belief in Trumplandia — including within the ex-president’s legal orbit — that it would be difficult for the former president to get an impartial jury in the Democratic stronghold of Manhattan. Instead, these Trump attorneys are telling him his best chance is to win on appeal.

“The [former] president is more confident in his chances [than others are], but when some of us have brought this [idea of counting on an appeal] up to him … it seemed like he believed we had a good point,” one of the sources says.

A Trump spokesperson and a Trump attorney did not immediately provide comment for this story.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg empaneled a grand jury to investigate whether the former president broke New York state business records laws by reimbursing his former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, for a hush money payment to cover up an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

The Trump grand jury had been scheduled to meet again on Wednesday to hear from an unnamed witness, but the district attorney’s office abruptly canceled the meeting, according to CNN, leaving the timing of a potential indictment uncertain. (Days ago, Trump claimed on his social media network that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, March 21.)

But if the case indeed goes to trial, Trump’s allies have already telegraphed that their plans to assail the prosecution as politically motivated, and even to allege that the city of New York itself is out to put the screws to Trump. The former president is also prone to hurling wild allegations at Bragg, such as bizarrely calling the DA “racist” for investigating him.

Prosecutors with experience in New York don’t find the argument persuasive.

“I don’t see a change of venue motion having success in this case,” says Jennifer Beidel, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who’s now a partner at Saul Ewing LLP. “A lot of high-profile cases — political cases, terrorism cases, massive fraud cases — occurred in New York. Bernie Madoff stayed in New York. One would think that having committed that massive fraud in New York, if anything said that wasn’t the right jurisdiction for you, that would be it.”

New York City has already successfully prosecuted both Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, and two Trump companies, the Trump Payroll Corporation and Trump Corporation, on tax charges last year.

The strategizing in the New York grand jury investigation comes as Trump’s legal team has already moved to throw out the report from a separate grand jury investigation into potential election interference by Trump in Georgia. Trump’s attorneys filed a motion to quash a grand jury report because the jury foreperson allegedly “failed to protect the most basic procedural and substantive constitutional rights of all individuals discussed by this investigative body” by “engag[ing] in a media tour” where she discussed the case.

In Manhattan, Team Trump is looking at claiming victimhood as well.

“The former president deserves a jury that is unaffected by politics, and as a case of first impression, they need to make sure he has every ability to defend himself and that those participating in the process have clean hands. Skilled prosecutors can achieve this, but it’s a real challenge, given social media, news reporting, and because of how deeply politically charged this situation is,” says Michael Wildes, a former federal prosecutor and current Democratic mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. In the past, Wildes has worked for Trump, and continues to represent Melania Trump and her family on immigration matters. “That is not going to be easy, but it has to be achieved, otherwise the process will be tainted and appeals will be had,” he continues.

However, across the wide network of former Trump officials, there’s a dim view of his chances, as many believe a jury drawn from heavily Democratic Manhattan would easily vote to convict the former president. “It might be very difficult for Donald Trump to get a fair hearing in the county of Manhattan given it’s so overwhelmingly blue and anti-Trump,” lawyer and former Trump presidential transition team member Mark Smith said during a NewsNation appearance Tuesday. “It would be difficult. I’m not saying it would be impossible.”

The intense media scrutiny on the Trump case and his global notoriety also make it unlikely that other venues would make jury selection any easier, says Beidel. “Where can he go that’s not media-saturated? Where is the place where no one knows about this case or investigation at this point?”

[golfaddict1]

🤔 

[DBP66]

Looks like some sleepless nights for the orange man....

 

Trump, Turning Up Heat, Raises Specter of Violence if He Is Charged

 

13.7k

Maggie Haberman

Fri, March 24, 2023 at 9:30 AM EDT

 

 

 

Former President Donald Trump at an America First Education Policy event at in Davenport, Iowa on March 13, 2023. (Desiree Rios/The New York Times)

In an overnight social media post, former President Donald Trump predicted that “potential death and destruction” may result if, as expected, he is charged by the Manhattan district attorney in connection with hush-money payments to a porn star made during the 2016 campaign.

The comments from Trump, made between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on his social media site, Truth Social, were a stark escalation in his rhetorical attacks on the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, ahead of a likely indictment on charges that Trump said would be unfounded.

“What kind of person,” Trump wrote of Bragg, “can charge another person, in this case a former president of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting president in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a crime, when it is known by all that NO crime has been committed, & also that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our country?”

 

“Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA!” the former president wrote.

A spokesperson for Bragg did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an email to his staff last week, Bragg wrote that the office “will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly, and speak publicly only when appropriate.”

“We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” he added.

Trump is also being investigated by the Justice Department in connection with his efforts to stay in power leading up to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a post this past Saturday, Trump erroneously claimed that he was to be arrested three days later and urged people to protest and “take our nation back.”

Since then, he has called Bragg, the first Black district attorney in Manhattan, an “animal” and appeared to mock calls from some of his own allies for people to protest peacefully, or not at all.

“Our country is being destroyed as they tell us to be peaceful,” Trump said in a post Thursday.

Trump has also attacked Bragg for having received indirect financial support from billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

So far, Trump’s calls for protests have been largely ignored, with just handfuls of people coming out for a demonstration Monday organized by some of his New York Republican allies.

In a statement published Friday in Politico’s New York Playbook newsletter, a group of civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and former Gov. David Paterson, condemned Trump’s statements.

“This disgraceful attack is not a dog whistle but a bullhorn of incendiary racist and antisemitic bile, spewed out for the sole purpose of intimidating and sabotaging a lawful, legitimate, fact-based investigation,” they said. “These ugly, hateful attacks on our judicial system must be universally condemned.”

Bragg is weighing charges against Trump in connection with hush money his former fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid late in the 2016 campaign cycle to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claimed to have had an affair with Trump.

[I AM IRONMAN]

Sharpton 🤣 that pocket lining POS 

[DBP66]

Meadows, other top Trump aides ordered to testify in Jan. 6 probe as judge rejects claims of executive privilege

Scroll back up to restore default view.

345

JOHN SANTUCCI, KATHERINE FAULDERS and JONATHAN KARL

Fri, March 24, 2023 at 1:36 PM EDT

 

 

A federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump's claims of executive privilege and has ordered Mark Meadows and other former top aides to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, was subpoenaed along with the other former aides by Special counsel Jack Smith for testimony and documents related to the probe.

Trump's legal team had challenged the subpoenas by asserting executive privilege, which is the right of a president to keep confidential the communications he has with advisers.

In a sealed order last week, Judge Beryl Howell rejected Trump's claim of executive privilege for Meadows and a number of others, including Trump's former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, his former national security adviser Robert O'Brien, former top aide Stephen Miller, and former deputy chief of staff and social media director Dan Scavino, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Former Trump aides Nick Luna and John McEntee, along with former top DHS official Ken Cuccinelli, were also included in the order, the sources said.

Trump is likely to appeal the ruling, according to sources briefed on the matter.

"The DOJ is continuously stepping far outside the standard norms in attempting to destroy the long accepted, long held, Constitutionally based standards of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege," a Trump spokesperson said in a statement. "There is no factual or legal basis or substance to any case against President Trump. The deranged Democrats and their comrades in the mainstream media are corrupting the legal process and weaponizing the justice system in order to manipulate public opinion, because they are clearly losing the political battle."

Meadows did not respond to ABC's request for comment and neither did an attorney representing him. Ratcliffe, O'Brien, Miller, Luna, McEntee and Cuccinelli did not respond to ABC's request for comment. An attorney representing Scavino declined to comment.

 

PHOTO: Former White House Chief of Staff during the Trump administration Mark Meadows speaks at FreedowmWorks headquarters on Nov. 14, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images, FILE)

Some of the aides that have been ordered to testify have already appeared before the grand jury but did not answer some questions related to interactions with the former president, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News, and thus would now be required to return for additional testimony. The grand jury proceedings are being held under seal.

It's not clear the amount of information each of them would have, or the scope of what prosecutors want to question them on, the sources said.

ABC News previously reported that in February, prosecutors investigating Jan. 6 moved to compel testimony from a number of top Trump aides, including Meadows, Ratcliffe and O'Brien.

Previously, Judge Howell had rejected Trump's claim of executive privilege to block the testimony of two top aides to Vice President Pence, Greg Jacob and Marc Short. In rejecting Trump's motion to block the testimony of Jacob and Short, the judge ruled that it is up to the current president to assert executive privilege, not a former president, according to sources familiar with the proceedings.

The judge also previously ruled that former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, along with his deputy Pat Philbin, also had to return to the grand jury to answer additional questions after Trump previously argued they were protected by privilege.

 

Howell is being succeeded by a new chief judge on the D.C. district court, who will now oversee grand jury matters related to the special counsel's probes.

Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor and former head of the Justice Department's public integrity section, was tapped in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the Justice Department's investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and Trump's handling of classified materials after leaving office.

Meadows, who according to sources was subpoenaed in January, was one of the only aides around Trump on Jan. 6 as the attack unfolded. He was also party to the infamous January 2021 phone call that Trump had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" him enough votes to win the state.

[golfaddict1]

Wildwood FL in the house!  😂 

 

[golfaddict1]

Orlando FL sender, “here’s your sign”. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/da-bragg-investigating-trump-received-threatening-letter-white-powder-rcna76591

 

[golfaddict1]

On 3/23/2023 at 12:46 PM, golfaddict1 said:

🤔

Bump 

[DBP66]

[DBP66]

The N.Y. Post attacking Trump?!...got to love it!....👍

‘Unhinged’: Trump Ripped In Withering Editorial From Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post

 

Lee Moran

Sat, March 25, 2023 at 2:30 AM EDT

 

 

The New York Post, the previously pro-Donald Trump tabloid owned by conservative billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, on Friday urged supporters of the former president to look elsewhere.

The newspaper, which appears to have increasingly soured on Trump since the GOP’s poor 2022 midterm results, called out his threat of “death and destruction” if he is indicted following an investigation into a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

“He hasn’t changed in the slightest. There is no shame,” wrote the Post’s editorial board, which said it didn’t disagree with claims it was a “biased prosecution” but slammed Trump for seeking to inspire a mob.

“Time and time again, Trump’s responses have been unhinged, vindicative and self-defeating,” it continued. “Trump is not trying to make America a better place” but just seeking revenge.

“You want a leader who will fight for you?” the board asked in conclusion. “Then you have to pick someone who can actually get elected. Republicans can’t throw away their shot in 2024.”

[RedZone]

1 hour ago, DBP66 said:

The N.Y. Post attacking Trump?!...got to love it!....👍

‘Unhinged’: Trump Ripped In Withering Editorial From Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post

 

Lee Moran

Sat, March 25, 2023 at 2:30 AM EDT

 

 

The New York Post, the previously pro-Donald Trump tabloid owned by conservative billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch, on Friday urged supporters of the former president to look elsewhere.

The newspaper, which appears to have increasingly soured on Trump since the GOP’s poor 2022 midterm results, called out his threat of “death and destruction” if he is indicted following an investigation into a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

“He hasn’t changed in the slightest. There is no shame,” wrote the Post’s editorial board, which said it didn’t disagree with claims it was a “biased prosecution” but slammed Trump for seeking to inspire a mob.

“Time and time again, Trump’s responses have been unhinged, vindicative and self-defeating,” it continued. “Trump is not trying to make America a better place” but just seeking revenge.

“You want a leader who will fight for you?” the board asked in conclusion. “Then you have to pick someone who can actually get elected. Republicans can’t throw away their shot in 2024.”

The New York Post is now the enemy and a real freak show per >> donald

Death and Destruction will soon be upon the New York Post....after maga take's out the Manhattan DA, of course

 

[golfaddict1]

🤣 

 

[tommygun58]

 

[DBP66]

Trump supporter pulled knife on family with children outside Manhattan courthouse

 

Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo

1.1k

Wesley Parnell

Tue, March 28, 2023 at 6:53 PM EDT

 

 

NEW YORK — A Donald Trump supporter protesting the Manhattan district attorney’s probe of the former president pulled a knife on a family with two small children Tuesday outside Manhattan Criminal Court, according to a court official.

The man and woman with two children in strollers accidentally bumped into the Trump supporter while crossing the intersection of Hogan Place and Centre Street just after 4:00 p.m., three bystanders told POLITICO. The female protester, who held a sign that read “I support Trump, do you?” began arguing with the couple before she pulled out a blade approximately 6 inches long and waved it at the family, according to the eye-witnesses.

Court officers, who were standing outside the building, rushed over, pulled out their guns and ordered the woman to drop the knife, the bystanders said. She was arrested without incident.

No one was injured.

 

“The court officers were standing on the corner and within 20 seconds they were here and she had dropped the knife,” said one bystander who could not be named because of his job. “The woman yelled, ‘Knife, knife’ and the court officers were on the Trump-supporter like Voltron,” the bystander said.

The altercation came after Trump called on supporters to protest the probe and predicted “potential death & destruction” if he is charged for his alleged role in a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

So far, significant support for Trump has failed to materialize.

The Trump-supporter was the only protester present outside the courthouse Tuesday. The grand jury usually only hears evidence on the case on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Last week, activists clamoring for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to indict Trump far outnumbered the president’s supporters outside the courthouse.

Police and court officials did not immediately release the protester’s name, age or other personal information.

[golfaddict1]

1 hour ago, DBP66 said:

Trump supporter pulled knife on family with children outside Manhattan courthouse

 

Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo

1.1k

Wesley Parnell

Tue, March 28, 2023 at 6:53 PM EDT

 

 

NEW YORK — A Donald Trump supporter protesting the Manhattan district attorney’s probe of the former president pulled a knife on a family with two small children Tuesday outside Manhattan Criminal Court, according to a court official.

The man and woman with two children in strollers accidentally bumped into the Trump supporter while crossing the intersection of Hogan Place and Centre Street just after 4:00 p.m., three bystanders told POLITICO. The female protester, who held a sign that read “I support Trump, do you?” began arguing with the couple before she pulled out a blade approximately 6 inches long and waved it at the family, according to the eye-witnesses.

Court officers, who were standing outside the building, rushed over, pulled out their guns and ordered the woman to drop the knife, the bystanders said. She was arrested without incident.

No one was injured.

 

“The court officers were standing on the corner and within 20 seconds they were here and she had dropped the knife,” said one bystander who could not be named because of his job. “The woman yelled, ‘Knife, knife’ and the court officers were on the Trump-supporter like Voltron,” the bystander said.

The altercation came after Trump called on supporters to protest the probe and predicted “potential death & destruction” if he is charged for his alleged role in a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

So far, significant support for Trump has failed to materialize.

The Trump-supporter was the only protester present outside the courthouse Tuesday. The grand jury usually only hears evidence on the case on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Last week, activists clamoring for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to indict Trump far outnumbered the president’s supporters outside the courthouse.

Police and court officials did not immediately release the protester’s name, age or other personal information.

Is she single?  We've got some angry white men eligible bachelors.  

The PG dating game or let Howard Stern run with it?   

"You and your eligible bachelor date have won an all expenses paid trip to...  

 

[golfaddict1]

McDougal & Pecker bolstering case?

David “Pecker” #priceless  

Link from article above 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-grand-jury-to-reconvene-amid-mounting-expectations-rhetoric-56b7ad4a

 

 

[DBP66]

History was made today....more history to be made....the truth always wins....😉

Trump indicted by N.Y. grand jury, first ex-president charged with crime

Story by Shayna Jacobs, Mark Berman, Jacqueline Alemany, Josh Dawsey • 59m ago

A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former president Donald Trump, his lawyers said on Thursday, making him the first person in U.S. history to serve as commander in chief and then be charged with a crime.

Trump indicted by N.Y. grand jury, first ex-president charged with crime© Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

The grand jury had been hearing evidence about hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, allegedly to keep her from saying she’d had a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

The indictment has yet to be unsealed, so the charges and specific allegations were not immediately clear, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his investigative team were probing whether Trump falsified business records connected to the payments in a way that could constitute a campaign-finance violation.

Trump was at Mar-a-Lago Thursday afternoon when news of the indictment broke. How or when Trump would be brought to court in New York to answer the charges was not immediately clear. But security will be a concern, given that he has a significant Secret Service detail as a former president — a novel issue in a historic case.