Former US President Donald Trump has been hit with a significant blow as he has been charged with 34 felony counts in an indictment unsealed by federal authorities on Tuesday. The charges stem from payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential election.
According to the documents released by CNN, Trump's attorneys say their client is innocent of all charges. In a statement, Trump maintained that he did not engage in any wrongdoing and accused his opponents of "rigged" investigations.
The indictment alleges that Trump's associates paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump in exchange for her endorsement of his presidential campaign. The indictment also claims that the same associates made payments totaling $150,000 to McDougal in a similar effort to silence her over a rumored relationship with Trump.
The investigation into these allegations has been ongoing since 2018, when Daniels threatened to release details about her alleged affair with Trump unless she was paid $130,000. The scandal surrounding the hush money payments became one of the most prominent controversies of Trump's presidency.
As part of the agreement, the payments were made through a shell company called Essential Consultants LLC, which is owned by Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer. Cohen pleaded guilty to making the payments and serving time in prison for his role in the scandal.
In response to the charges, Trump has taken to social media to criticize the investigation, claiming it was "deep state" persecution aimed at discrediting him ahead of next year's presidential election. However, with this latest development, many observers see the indictment as a major setback for Trump's chances of avoiding accountability for his actions while in office.
The full text of the indictment and statement of facts can be read on the Document Cloud website provided by CNN.
According to the documents released by CNN, Trump's attorneys say their client is innocent of all charges. In a statement, Trump maintained that he did not engage in any wrongdoing and accused his opponents of "rigged" investigations.
The indictment alleges that Trump's associates paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump in exchange for her endorsement of his presidential campaign. The indictment also claims that the same associates made payments totaling $150,000 to McDougal in a similar effort to silence her over a rumored relationship with Trump.
The investigation into these allegations has been ongoing since 2018, when Daniels threatened to release details about her alleged affair with Trump unless she was paid $130,000. The scandal surrounding the hush money payments became one of the most prominent controversies of Trump's presidency.
As part of the agreement, the payments were made through a shell company called Essential Consultants LLC, which is owned by Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and fixer. Cohen pleaded guilty to making the payments and serving time in prison for his role in the scandal.
In response to the charges, Trump has taken to social media to criticize the investigation, claiming it was "deep state" persecution aimed at discrediting him ahead of next year's presidential election. However, with this latest development, many observers see the indictment as a major setback for Trump's chances of avoiding accountability for his actions while in office.
The full text of the indictment and statement of facts can be read on the Document Cloud website provided by CNN.
I mean, I get it, politics is crazy and everyone gets attacked from all sides, but this guy has been accused of some serious stuff and now he's got 34 felony counts against him. that's a lot of prison time, you know?
just got the news and it's like the dominoes are falling 
his whole "deep state" narrative is just a bunch of malarkey 
anyone who thought he was gonna get away scot-free needs to wake up 
what's next, indictment of Putin or something? 
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Trump's latest mess is just another example of how power corrupts, no matter who's in charge. I mean, come on, a shell company? Essential Consultants LLC, sounds like something out of a bad movie script. And what's with the payments? $130k to Stormy Daniels and $150k to Karen McDougal? That's just crazy talk! 
. Give me a break! The fact that his own lawyer got caught and served time for his role in all this just proves how crooked the whole thing was.
. He needs to take responsibility for his actions or face the music. The whole thing is just so... unsavory 
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. I mean, I've been saying it for ages, that this guy was gonna get caught eventually and now its official 
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. It just goes to show that Trump is guilty of something and now hes trying to deflect attention onto others 
. We finally have some answers about what went down behind closed doors during his presidency and its not pretty 
. Bring it on, I say!
... anyway, back to Trump - 34 felony counts is a huge blow! 
The fact that payments were made through a shell company owned by Cohen, who pleaded guilty and served time for his role in it, raises some serious questions about Trump's involvement 
. According to the documents, $130k was paid to Daniels and another $150k to McDougal - that's a total of $280k! 
. According to CNN, this investigation has been going on since 2018... meanwhile, the US unemployment rate has remained steady at around 3.5% since 2020 
and consumer confidence has seen a slight uptick since 2022 
. Guess you could say America's economy is doing just fine while Trump faces these charges! 
meanwhile his team sayin hes innocent but idk how thats gonna fly, especially w/ proof of payments goin to 2 diff ppl over rumored trysts with him 
and cant even forget about michael cohen gettin time 4 his role in all this... seems like trump's luck finally ran out 
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. The fact that his associates paid Daniels and McDougal all those millions to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with him... it just sounds like a big ol' mess 
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. I mean, what kind of deal is that? You plead guilty and do time, but Trump gets to skate away scot-free? That doesn't seem right at all 
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