The grand jury’s indictment emerged from the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation of a 2016 payment of $130,000 by Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen to Daniels one month before the election to prevent revelations of a 2006 sexual encounter between Daniels and Trump. Cohen was arrested in 2018 for campaign finance violations related to this payment, at which time he implicated Trump for ordering and coordinating the transaction. Cohen received a three-year prison sentence for his role in this conspiracy to violate federal campaign finance law and defraud the United States.

This indictment signals a major step forward in holding Trump and his allies accountable for their efforts to undermine our democracy.

Free Speech For People and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund are renewing our call for Secretaries of State and chief election officials across the country to disqualify Trump from any future ballot based on his incitement and mobilization of a violent insurrection to try to overturn his 2020 election loss.

“Donald Trump must face the rule of law for all of the crimes he has committed, and this indictment by the Manhattan grand jury is an important first step,” says John Bonifaz, president of Free Speech For People.  “At the same time, secretaries of state and chief election officials across the country must do their job, follow the mandate of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, and bar Trump from the ballot. The Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes clear that Trump is disqualified from holding any future public office based on his role in inciting and mobilizing the January 6th insurrection. No prior indictment or conviction is required in order to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment against Trump.  To protect our republic, we must uphold this critical constitutional provision at this moment in history.”

Héctor Sánchez Barba, Executive Director and CEO of Mi Familia Vota says:“No one is above the law. Donald Trump is now the only president in the history of our country to face a criminal indictment. We have long fought MAGA lawlessness in our #BastaTrump campaign in the 2020 election cycle and, working with Free Speech For People, we have been calling on Secretaries of State and chief election officials across the country to disqualify Trump from any future ballot. The 14th amendment is clear: anyone who engages in an insurrection as Trump did with his incitement and mobilization of a violent attempt to try to overturn his 2020 election loss, should be barred from future ballots. This indictment is merely the latest example of the brazen lawlessness of MAGA politics and Donald Trump. We will keep fighting extremism and working everyday to strengthen our democracy and make it more inclusive. One thing is for sure: Trump is disqualified.”