LOS ANGELES (KNX) – On Thursday, a New York grand injury indicted Former President Donald Trump on charges regarding alleged payments made to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who served on the Jan. 6 House Committee and is currently running for U.S. Senate, said he heard the news from his staffers. “I think my reaction is probably that of many Americans, which is this is obviously pretty sobering and an unprecedented development.”
Trump was being investigated for his alleged involvement in a $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from talking publicly about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years prior.
Trump released a statement moments after the indictment was announced, calling it “political persecution” and maintained he did nothing wrong.
On Twitter, Stormy Daniels reposted a tweet from her lawyer, who wrote, “The indictment of Donald Trump is no cause for joy. The hard work and conscientiousness of the grand jurors must be respected. Now let truth and justice prevail. No one is above the law. #teamstormy”
“This is a former president of the United States for the first time in our history charged with criminal offenses or a criminal offense,” Schiff said. “I think that if the Manhattan grand jury found probable cause to believe he committed a crime, and the Manhattan D.A. believes they can prove it beyond reasonable doubt, then I think they have an obligation to go forward, to treat former presidents the same way they would treat ordinary citizens.”
Schiff also said he believed Trump’s threats to the District Attorney over the indictment was “even more incendiary rhetoric than he used on January 6.”
“I think that law enforcement in New York is well-prepared, which is obviously vitally important,” he said. “I hope that people will not respond in the way they did to his incitement following all the lies about the election…”
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