A New York grand jury on Thursday indicted former United States (US) President Donald Trump, over hush money payments made to a porn star.
Trump became the first ever former US president to face criminal charges.
The 76-year-old Republican denies all wrongdoing in connection with the payments made ahead of the election that sent him to the White House.
The former US president survived two impeachment threats and kept prosecutors at bay over charges ranging from the US Capitol riot to missing classified files — only to land in court over a sex scandal involving Stormy Daniels, a 44-year-old adult movie actress.
Calling his indictment a “political persecution and election interference,” Trump believed that it would backfire on his successor, President Joe Biden, state prosecutors and his Democrat opponents.
On March 18, Trump had declared he expected to be arrested within days over the payment to Daniels – who received $130,000 weeks before the election that brought Trump to power, to stop her from going public about a tryst she claims they had a decade earlier.
In predicting his indictment, Trump also issued a call for demonstrations and dark warnings that it could lead to “potential death & destruction” that “could be catastrophic for our Country.”
Trump, who is seen as the frontrunner for Republican nomination in the 2024 election, has branded all of the investigations political persecution.
Trump staged his first presidential campaign rally in Texas on Saturday, addressing several thousand supporters — far fewer than the 15,000 he had expected — in the city of Waco, Texas.
“The innocence of people makes no difference whatsoever to these radical left maniacs,” said Trump.
