Washington: Donald Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week as he becomes the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges in a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s expected appearance before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday, as the Republican mounts a bid to regain the presidency, could further inflame divisions in the United States. A New York judge on Friday authorized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to make the charges public, but it was not clear when he would do so.
“It’s poetic, this p**sy grabbed back,” said adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose revelation about a $130,000 payment to hush up about her sexual encounter with Donald Trump led to his indictement by a federal judge. Daniels’ remark was a reply to Trump’s famous line from 2005, “Grab them by the p**sy”, which had surfaced before his 2016 presidential win.
Speaking to Britain’s The Times of London on Friday, Daniels called Trump’s indictment “vindication.” She, however, added that it was “bittersweet” since Trump has “done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before”.
Stormy Daniels said whatever the outcome is — whether Trump is convicted or not — “it’s going to cause violence, and there’s going to be injuries and death”. She said the verdict in the case will divide people and “bring them up in arms”. “He’s already gotten away with inciting a riot, and causing death and destruction,” Daniels said, referring to the US Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021.
