Trump Praised Grand Jury Before It Voted to Indict

Former President Donald Trump has been criminally indicted by a New York City grand jury that he had praised only one day earlier.

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina said that the former president had been indicted Thursday by the grand jury on charges related to 2016 hush money payments to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, according to the Associated Press. The exact charges were unclear at the time of publication.

Trump, who has declared his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election, becomes the the first-ever former U.S. president to face a criminal indictment. He is also facing potential criminal charges in Georgia's Fulton County and at the federal level.

On Wednesday, the former president celebrated the grand jury seemingly going silent in recent days. Trump said that he had "gained such respect" for the panel, claiming that it was putting a "witch hunt" by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on "hold" just one day before jury members decided to indict him.

"I have gained such respect for this grand jury, & perhaps even the grand jury system as a whole," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The evidence is so overwhelming in my favor, & so ridiculously bad for the highly partisan & hateful district attorney."

"The grand jury is saying, hold on, we are not a rubber stamp, which most grand juries are branded as being," he continued. "We are not going to vote against a preponderance of evidence or against large numbers of legal scholars all saying there is no case here. Drop this sick witch hunt, now!"

After being indicted, Trump did not specifically mention the grand jury but called the decision "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history." He claimed, without evidence, that the indictment was politically motivated and instigated by the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden.

"The Radical Left Democrats - the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country - have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement," Trump said in a statement. "Now they've done the unthinkable - indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference."

"Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace," he added. "He's doing Joe Biden's dirty work ... I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden."

Newsweek has reached out via email to the White House for comment.

Clark Brewster, Daniels' attorney, said on Twitter that Trump's indictment was "no cause for joy" but "the hard work and conscientiousness of the grand jurors must be respected."

"Now let truth and justice prevail," Brewster added. "No one is above the law. #teamstormy"

While the date of Trump's arraignment and the charges were yet to be announced, a spokesperson for Bragg said in a statement that the district attorney's office had "contacted Mr. Trump's attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.'s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal."