SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – A grand jury chose to indict Former President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon in the case regarding the porn star, Stormy Daniels.
For more, stream KCBS Radio now.
The specific charges have not yet been released.
"We don't even know when the grand jury met and voted," said CBS legal analyst Thane Rosenbaum on KCBS Radio on Thursday.
"It seems interesting that apparently the prosecutors just simply walked over at five minutes to 5 p.m. and filed their indictment," he said.
Without much else to go on, the original charge against Trump holds the best clue – the falsification of a business record.
"That was disguised as legal fees but was intended to be a falsification of records in order to pay hush money to someone, who could in some way, torpedo Donald Trump’s election prospects," he said.
But the statute of limitations has run its course on those charges, and even so, it’s a misdemeanor. In order to make this a criminal charge, something would have to be elevated to a felony.
"Which is going to require some kind of importation, some kind of use, of campaign finance law violations," said Rosenbaum.
"But we don't know how they're going to do it, we're not there yet," he said.
It's also unclear why this case has made it to the stage it has when there are other allegations against the former president for other financial issues.
Other issues, like, "inflating his assets, or hotels or country clubs, in order to get favorable turns for bank loans and insurance policies," said Rosenbaum. "And to underreport his taxes."
That case stalled out for other reasons related to the prosecutors involved, according to Rosenbaum.
Ultimately, the decision Thursday came as a surprise.
"I honestly find the whole thing baffling," he said. "Five minutes to 5 p.m.?"
"Talk about the drama, like a Hitchcock movie," said Rosenbaum.
DOWNLOAD the Audacy App
SIGN UP and follow KCBS Radio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Related
