NEW YORK -- A New York grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump after investigating hush money payments made on his behalf during his 2016 presidential campaign, sources tell ABC News.
The grand jury has been probing Trump's involvement in a $130,000 payment made in 2016 to the porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with the Republican years earlier.
Trump tells ABC News' John Santucci via a quick phone call the news of an indictment is "an attack on our country" and went on to call it "political persecution" and then added "they are trying to impact an election"
Santucci asked Trump if he plans to turn himself in, he said "you take care John" and then hung up.
Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, said in a statement, "I do take solace in validating the adage that no one is above the law; not even a former President."
"Today's indictment is not the end of this chapter; but rather, just the beginning," Cohen said. "Accountability matters and I stand by my testimony and the evidence I have provided to [the district attorney's office]."
The grand jury has been hearing from witnesses including Cohen, who says he orchestrated payments in 2016 to two women to silence them about sexual encounters they said they had with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump has denied the encounters occurred and says he did nothing wrong, casting the investigation as a "witch hunt" by a Democratic prosecutor bent on sabotaging the Republican's 2024 presidential campaign.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has been examining whether any state laws were broken in connection with the payments or the way Trump's company compensated Cohen for his work to keep the women's allegations quiet.
Daniels and at least two former Trump aides -- onetime political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks - are among witnesses who have met with prosecutors in recent weeks.
Cohen has said that at Trump's direction, he arranged payments totaling $280,000 to Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. According to Cohen, the payouts were to buy their silence about Trump, who was then in the thick of his first presidential campaign.
Cohen and federal prosecutors said the company paid him $420,000 to reimburse him for the $130,000 payment to Daniels and to cover bonuses and other supposed expenses. The company classified those payments internally as legal expenses.
The $150,000 payment to McDougal was made by the then-publisher of the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer, which kept her story from coming to light.
Federal prosecutors agreed not to prosecute the Enquirer's corporate parent in exchange for its cooperation in a campaign finance investigation that led to charges against Cohen in 2018. Prosecutors said the payments to Daniels and McDougal amounted to impermissible, unrecorded gifts to Trump's election effort.
Cohen pleaded guilty, served prison time and was disbarred. Federal prosecutors never charged Trump with any crime.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Trump indictment: New York grand jury votes to indict Trump for role in hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels - WABC-TV
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