Reporter Maggie Haberman, who has been covering Donald Trump for the New York Times for years, said the former president was “caught very much by surprise” by Thursday’s criminal indictment by a Manhattan grand jury.
“This caught Mar-a-Lago and caught Trump advisers very much by surprise,” Haberman said on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. “They had been believing the idea that the grand jury was out for a month, which was widely reported. It was not entirely clear whether that was going to be the case. And as it turns out, it was not, based on our reporting. They are in something of shock. I think they will move past that fairly quickly. I think you will see Trump get very aggressive about Bragg.
“We don’t know exactly what the charges are yet, so that adds an element of uncertainty to it. But this is not a moment Donald Trump wanted. It’s a moment that he’s been avoiding for many, many, many decades, is being indicted criminally. It may help him politically. There are reasons to believe this case in particular could, with his base. But nobody wants an indictment and Donald Trump is not an exception.”
The New York Times reported Thursday that the Manhattan grand jury voted to indict the former president for covering up payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It cited “four people with knowledge of the matter.” CNN and other news outlets quickly confirmed the story through their own reporting.
The Times called it a “historic development that will shake up the 2024 presidential race and forever mark him as the nation’s first former president to face criminal charges.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: Mediaite