Mike Pence Responds to Trump Indictment: It’s ‘Outrage’
Former Vice President Mike Pence called “outrageous” the Manhattan grand jury’s decision to indict former President Donald Trump on a campaign finance issue in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that aired Thursday night.
Pence, who would face his former boss in the GOP primary if he decides to run for president, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Trump for alleged silent money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels appears to be a “political suit”.
“I think the unprecedented indictment of a former president of the United States on a campaign finance issue is an outrage,” Pence said.
In a historic development, Trump on Thursday became the first former US president to face criminal charges. The charges relate to a $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and another $150,000 payment made to the former Playboy model. Karen McDougal.
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Former Vice President Mike Pence has called former President Donald Trump’s criminal indictment an “outrageous”. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Corruption Payments paid to McDougal and Daniels were exposed and reported by Fox News in 2018. These payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted not to indict Trump over the 2019 Stormy Daniels payout, even though Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen implicated him as part of his payout deal. plea for making an illegal contribution to the campaign. Cohen claims he arranged these payments to McDougal and Daniels at Trump’s request. The Federal Election Commission also launched its investigation into the matter in 2021. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
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A Manhattan grand jury voted on Thursday to indict former President Donald Trump following District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into alleged cash payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump denied any wrongdoing and called the investigation a “witch hunt.” (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“Tonight we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan district attorney’s office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal,” a doorman said Thursday. -says the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in a statement. “Advice will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.”
Reactions to Trump’s indictment have mostly fallen along predictable partisan lines. Republicans expressed various forms of outrage. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California, accused Bragg of causing irreparable damage to the nation and said he had “armed our hallowed system of justice against President Donald Trump. Democrats hailed the criminal charges as longstanding, with Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the lead Democrat in Trump’s first impeachment trial, saying the charges were fair.
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“Tonight we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan district attorney’s office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal,” a doorman said Thursday. – spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in a statement. “Advice will be provided when the arraignment date is selected.” (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“If justice demanded that Michael Cohen go to jail for a scheme run by someone else, justice also demands that the person responsible for directing the scheme be held accountable for his breaking the law – and that person is Donald Trump,” Schiff said.
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Pence said indicting Trump is a “disservice to the country” and warned the charges would divide Americans, noting that millions still support Trump.
“I think the American people will look at this and see it as just one more example of the criminalization of politics in this country,” he said.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.
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