ormer President Donald Trump arrives for an event at the Adler Theatre on March 13, 2023 in Davenport, Iowa. Trump’s visit follows those by potential challengers for the GOP presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who hosted events in the state last week. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — A New York criminal grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump, according to multiple news reports Thursday night citing persons familiar with the case.
A former president has never been indicted before. Trump is also a Republican candidate in the 2024 race for the presidency.
The New York Times and Washington Post reported Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating payments Trump paid to adult film actor Stormy Daniels in return for her silence during the 2016 election about an affair.
Members of Congress quickly began to react, along partisan lines, as news reached them Thursday.
Many House Republicans who have allied themselves with Trump took aim at Bragg. Reps. Tim Walberg of Michigan, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Matt Gaetz of Florida accused Bragg of targeting the former president.
“A majority of Americans know Alvin Bragg’s witch hunt is a politically motivated,” Gaetz wrote on Twitter.
Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted, “Outrageous.”
Colorado GOP Rep Lauren Boebert tweeted the indictment “is another political witch hunt targeting the people’s President.”
California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who led one of the impeachment trials against Trump, wrote on Twitter the “indictment of a former president is unprecedented.”
“But so too is the unlawful conduct in which Trump has been engaged,” Schiff wrote. “A nation of laws must hold the rich and powerful accountable, even when they hold high office. Especially when they do. To do otherwise is not democracy.”
North Carolina Democratic Rep. Alma Adams released a statement saying that the promise that “no one is above the law” in the United States was kept with Trump’s indictment.
“Mr. Trump, like every other American, is entitled to due process,” Adams wrote. “That is another core promise of our Constitution. The State of New York has spent years meticulously building their case, and they secured an indictment not from political power brokers or the media, but from a grand jury of ordinary citizens.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, wrote on Twitter that he was skeptical .
“This is the same District Attorney who is notorious for letting violent criminals off the hook in Manhattan, but has been laser-focused on pursuing a politicized prosecution of a former president,” he wrote. “Politics should never tip the scales of justice, and Congress has every right to investigate the conduct and decision-making of the Manhattan D.A.’s office.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Jacob Fischler
Jacob covers federal policy and helps direct national coverage as deputy Washington bureau chief for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
