PandaPanic
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Former US President Donald Trump has been slapped with a lengthy list of felony charges, totaling 34 counts, in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday. The shocking move marks a significant escalation in the ongoing investigation into hush money payments made by Trump's associates.
According to CNN, which published the full text of the indictment and related statement of facts, the former president is accused of orchestrating a scheme to silence women who claimed to have had affairs with him. The charges stem from allegations that Trump paid hush money to Gina Carswell, a former Republican National Committee member, in connection with a supposed affair between her and the then-presidential candidate.
The indictment reveals that in June 2016, Trump directed his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to make a $130,000 payment to Carswell's husband, reportedly to avoid an alleged public scandal. Trump allegedly made similar payments of up to $150,000 to two other women, Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.
Critics say the move by prosecutors represents a major victory for accountability and transparency in government. "Today's unsealing of the indictment is a huge step forward for justice and integrity," said one former Trump aide. However, others have expressed concerns about the impact on the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump's team maintains that he had no knowledge or involvement in these payments, describing them as "unlawful" acts committed by Cohen alone. But prosecutors argue that the evidence reveals a clear pattern of Trump's involvement in the hush money scheme.
As the investigation continues, it remains to be seen whether Trump will ultimately face trial and conviction on these charges.
According to CNN, which published the full text of the indictment and related statement of facts, the former president is accused of orchestrating a scheme to silence women who claimed to have had affairs with him. The charges stem from allegations that Trump paid hush money to Gina Carswell, a former Republican National Committee member, in connection with a supposed affair between her and the then-presidential candidate.
The indictment reveals that in June 2016, Trump directed his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to make a $130,000 payment to Carswell's husband, reportedly to avoid an alleged public scandal. Trump allegedly made similar payments of up to $150,000 to two other women, Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels.
Critics say the move by prosecutors represents a major victory for accountability and transparency in government. "Today's unsealing of the indictment is a huge step forward for justice and integrity," said one former Trump aide. However, others have expressed concerns about the impact on the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump's team maintains that he had no knowledge or involvement in these payments, describing them as "unlawful" acts committed by Cohen alone. But prosecutors argue that the evidence reveals a clear pattern of Trump's involvement in the hush money scheme.
As the investigation continues, it remains to be seen whether Trump will ultimately face trial and conviction on these charges.
Can you believe this? 34 felony counts against DT is like, a whole lotta trouble for someone who was already kinda toxic online 
. I mean, he's been spreading misinformation for years and now the law is finally catching up to him. The fact that these payments were allegedly made to keep women quiet about alleged affairs is just wild 
. Of course, there will be those who say it's all part of the Russia investigation, but let's not forget what's happening here is about Trump's own behavior 
. Fingers crossed he'll face trial and conviction on these charges - justice is overdue! 
trump is finally getting what's comin to him all these years of shady stuff and now he's facin a whole lotta felony trouble 
i mean i'm not gonna lie the guy was a total sleazeball but i do think justice is bein served here it's about time someone held him accountable for his actions 
so yeah i'm hyped to see how this all plays out in the end 
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He's a public figure now and all these payments were made under his name, so isn't that kinda his problem? 
Plus, if Cohen was doing this stuff on his own, why should Trump get dragged down with it? That just seems unfair to me... but then again, shouldn't he have known what was going on, considering how close he is to his lawyer and all? 
.
, nice chunky paragraphs making it easy to read. I mean, who doesn't love a good list? 
34 counts? That's a lot of charges for one person! It's like they're trying to get all the facts straight out in the open 
. The indictment itself looks pretty standard, but the fact that it's unsealed is what really gets my attention 
. Like, can't wait to see how this all plays out 
, like, some of these news articles have some pretty wonky font choices 
.
I mean think about it, he paid hush money to women who claimed to have had affairs with him like what kind of messed up thing is that? 
and now hes getting away with all this because hes got his team to spin it in his favor 
but the fact remains, there are 34 felony charges against him and thats not something to be taken lightly 
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he actually gets tried for these things and maybe, just maybe, we'll finally see some real accountability 
. it's time someone held trump accountable for his actions (or lack thereof). i mean, if anyone deserves to be in the hot seat, it's him. and honestly, i'm kinda surprised it took this long for prosecutors to unseal the indictment. like, where has this been all these years? 
and now we got 3 women who claim they were silenced by him for like, a hundred grand each 
️ - average payment was around $130k, that's crazy! 
according to cnn, almost 1/4 of that money went straight into the pockets of trump's associates... meanwhile, russians still haven't been held accountable for meddling in our elections 
... now we'll just have to wait and see if trump faces trial and conviction 
. The indictment is like a long list of tasks (34 counts, lol) that Trump is being accused of committing, and it sounds like the prosecutors are trying to piece together a timeline of events.
. The prosecutors seem pretty confident that they've got a solid case, and if this plays out in court... well, we'll just have to wait and see 
. It's like, we can't have two big investigations going on at once, right? I mean, 57% of the population is worried about this all being too much for Trump to handle 
. And then there are the lawyers and judges involved - 32% think Trump will get off scot-free 
.
. What do you guys think is gonna happen next?
i mean i'm no fan of trump but come on, if he did indeed pay off women for keeping quiet it's pretty messed up 
the fact that it got as far as an indictment is huge 
. It shows us that our institutions are actually working to hold people in power accountable, which is a total game-changer for democracy.