SINGAPORE — Donald Trump has become the first former United States president to face criminal charges. He is accused of making hush money payments to a porn star just before the 2016 US presidential election.

Trump was indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan, New York on Thursday (March 30), local media reported, in a move that takes the US into uncharted legal and political waters.

The indictment comes after years of investigations into his personal, political and business dealings, and is expected to shake up the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Other legal investigations into Trump are ongoing, some of them relating to his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election won by his opponent Joe Biden, the current president.

According to most polls, Trump is the leading contender to become the Republican presidential candidate for 2024, ahead of Florida governor Ron DeSantis. 

The specific charge or charges against Trump have not been made public.

What is known is that they relate to a probe into Trump’s alleged attempt to hide US$130,000 (S$172,500) in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom Trump is accused of having an affair. 

The payments were allegedly made prior to the November 2016 presidential election, which Trump went on to win.

TODAY explains why this indictment is significant, what it could mean for Trump’s hopes for reelection, and what happens next. 

WHAT IS AN INDICTMENT?

According to the US Department of Justice, when a person is indicted in the US, they are given a formal notice that it is believed that they have committed a crime. 

An indictment contains the basic information that informs the person of the charges against them. 

In deciding whether to charge someone with potential felony charges, a prosecutor will present the evidence to an impartial group of citizens called a grand jury. 

A felony is a more serious type of criminal charge, typically attracting a jail term of one year or more.

According to the US Department of Justice's website, witnesses may be called to testify, and the grand jury members are presented with other evidence and an outline of the case against the accused person.

The grand jury listens to the prosecutor and witnesses, and then votes in secret on whether they believe that enough evidence exists to charge the person with a crime. 

In Trump’s case, a grand jury in Manhattan comprising 23 members heard evidence from witnesses presented by prosecutors, and they voted to indict Trump. 

The Guardian reported that the sealed felony indictment is likely to be unsealed in the next few days.

WHY IS THIS SIGNIFICANT?

This indictment is significant because it is the first time a former US president has been charged with a crime. 

While there is no precedent for this, the New York Times reported that Trump’s indictment is not expected to follow the usual procedure for a felony indictment given his role as ex-commander in chief. 

For instance, while it is standard for defendants arrested on felony charges to be handcuffed, it is unclear whether an exception will be made for a former president.

Trump was charged by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg — Manhattan’s first Black district attorney and the first prosecutor in US history to charge a former or sitting president. 

Shortly after being indicted, Trump said in a statement that the indictment is the result of a “witch-hunt” that will “backfire massively” on current President Biden. 

He added that his party will “first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden”. 

In the lead-up to his indictment, Trump had also written online that he had expected to be arrested earlier this week and called on his supporters to protest. 

Relatively small groups of Trump supporters have rallied in support of him.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR TRUMP?

Trump, who is looking to make a third run for the White House, will have his presidential bid thrown into uncharted territory.

However, legally, he will still be allowed to run for president in 2024, according to the Washington Post, as the US Constitution does not state that having a pending indictment prevents an otherwise eligible person from running for president. 

While under normal circumstances, an indictment might well be seen to deal a fatal blow to a presidential candidate, Trump is “not a normal candidate”, said the New York Times. 

Trump had already said that he will not abandon the race even if he is charged, and the case could even help him in the short term as he portrays himself as a political martyr, the paper said. 

Mr Steven Okun, a senior adviser at consultancy firm McLarty Associates, told TODAY that Trump and his supporters will see this indictment as a means to “turbocharge” his effort to be the Republican nominee for president for the third time. 

“He will use every tool from his tried-and-true toolkit of calling this a witch-hunt and a political persecution to line-up the party behind him,” said Mr Okun. 

Indeed, in Trump’s statement after the indictment, he described the charges against him as “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history”. 

He also claimed that his political opponents, the Democrats, had done the “unthinkable”, by “indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant election interference”. 

The Wall Street Journal said Trump’s indictment is unlikely to derail his bid to be the Republican’s presidential candidate in the 2024 elections, but may alienate swing voters who are “turned off by the controversies that continue to swirl around him since he left office”. 

Some supporters of Mr DeSantis believe that he provides an opportunity for Republicans to choose a candidate with similar policies to Trump, but without the controversies that surround Trump.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 

Trump’s lawyers have said on Thursday that he will surrender to the authorities, and he is expected to be brought before a court on Tuesday.

However, the process will be “anything but routine”, said the New York Times. 

Other than the possibility that he may not be handcuffed, he will also likely be accompanied at every stop by armed agents of the US Secret Service, who are required by law to protect him at all times. 

However, once Trump has been indicted and is in police custody, he will be processed behind closed doors, with mugshots and fingerprints taken. 

A judge would determine whether Trump would be required to post bail or adhere to certain restrictions pending a trial — or whether he could be released with no bail or restrictions.

A trial will take some time to be heard, said the New York Times, as criminal cases in New York can take more than a year on average to move from indictment to a hearing. 

However, this could mean that Trump could be facing trial right in the thick of the campaign ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.

Agreeing, Mr Okun said that Trump, as a former president who wants to become president again, makes what happens from here on “even more complicated”.

He asked: “Will the trial take place during the campaign? Or would accommodations be made?

“‘No one is above the law’ is a core principle in the US, but this will test how that is applied in this historic situation,” he added. 

Mr Okun added that the Americans in Singapore will be watching the developments closely. 

“The US expatriate community will certainly focus on the political theatre surrounding all of this, while hoping the US does not see the violence and deaths that occurred on Jan 6,” he said. 

On Jan 6, 2021, the US Capitol was stormed in the aftermath of the November 2020 presidential election which Trump refused to admit he had lost even though he fell short by a considerable margin. 

As for the Democrats, Mr Biden has not formally declared his intention to run in 2024, but is widely expected to do so.