Romain Rouillard 16:30 pm, March 22, 2023
In a message published on his social network Truth, Donald Trump said Saturday, March 18 that he would soon be "arrested" because of an obscure financial agreement with former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. And could thus become the first former US president to be indicted.Accustomed to rowdy statements on "Truth", the social network of which he himself is at the origin, Donald Trump recidivated Saturday, March 18 by publishing a message in capital letters as he is used to. But it has attracted more attention since the former tenant of the White House evokes his next "arrest" in the course of the current week. Referring to the day of "Tuesday", the former president of the United States has still not received the visit of the police this Wednesday but could well be charged in the case "Stormy Daniels". This would be a first for a former American head of state.
Buy the silence of Stormy Daniels
It all began in 2006 during a golf tournament on the shores of Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada. Donald Trump attends alongside Stephanie Clifford, an actress and director of pornographic films, better known as Stormy Daniels. On the sidelines of the event, the 45th US president had a sexual relationship with the young woman, then 27 years old. An episode that the interested party will evoke several years later, in 2011, in an interview with In Touch magazine but which will not be unveiled until 2018 because of pressure from Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's personal lawyer.
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In 2016, as the electoral campaign enters its final sprint, no one has heard of this affair between the New York billionaire, candidate for the supreme office, and Stormy Daniels. And to keep this story under the carpet, Donald Trump's lawyer makes a deal with the actress in order to buy her silence. Balance sheet of operations: a payment of 130,000 euros, two weeks before the presidential election, according to the revelations of the Wall Street Journal in 2018.
What about his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election?
Enough to indict the 76-year-old billionaire? Not as such as this type of agreement is not punishable by law. On the other hand, the Trump Organization is suspected of having reimbursed the amount paid to Michael Cohen which amounts, according to American justice, to a disguised donation to the presidential campaign. A maneuver that could also be in violation of the laws in force across the Atlantic concerning the financing of electoral campaigns. And which could then turn the offense into a crime and earn the billionaire a sentence of up to four years in prison.
Before getting there, the Manhattan prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, must first take up the case and clearly determine the nature of the offense (or crime) committed by Donald Trump. And even if convicted, the person concerned could still run for the Republican nomination for the presidential election of 2024, the judicial time being much longer than the political time. In his defense, Donald Trump is content to deny these accusations and his lawyers prefer to denounce an attempt at "extortion" on the part of Stormy Daniels with which the billionaire also denies any sexual adventure.
As for Michael Cohen, already the sights of the authorities for the investigation around Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, he ended up turning against Donald Trump, swearing to have acted under his orders. On the Truth network, in the wake of his sensational announcement, he called on his supporters to show their support and "take back the country".