Another case in the wings as grand jury indicts Trump

A New York grand jury voted Thursday to indict former President Donald Trump in a case related to paying porn actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence, according to The New York Times and confirmed minutes later by other media. The newspaper, which quotes four people familiar with the matter, points out that the first indictment for criminal offenses against a former US president will be announced in the coming days and by then the Manhattan Prosecutor’s Office will have asked Trump to turn himself in to be summoned for the charges, which are not yet known. The grand jury, a body that studies cases and decides whether or not there is a basis for holding a trial, has been followed with great media attention since Trump himself assured ten days ago that its 23 members were going to confirm his accusation and immediately afterward he would be arrested, which finally did not occur.

Until yesterday, it was believed that the grand jury would postpone its decision until the end of April.

For its part, The Wall Street Journal maintains that the grand jury has examined in its latest meetings -which are not public, so their content is only known through leaks- a second case of another Playboy model who also accuses Trump of having paid her in exchange for keeping quiet about a sexual relationship. Model Karen McDougal, who was “Playboy Girl” of the year in 1998, says she had a sexual relationship with Trump for ten months in 2006 and struck a deal not to publish her story with The National Enquirer in exchange for $150,000, but the newspaper – which is owned by a friend of Trump – bought her testimony to hide it.

The detail is important because it would mean that the accusation of Stormy Daniels is no longer isolated and that there is a pattern of conduct on the part of Trump, which makes his guilt more likely.