Trump faces felony charge, source says

Former President Donald Trump faces a felony charge, a source told CBS News Saturday. A person familiar with the matter told CBS News that Trump is being charged with falsifying business records in the first degree, a felony in New York State. 

The charge stems from alleged hush money paid in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence regarding an affair she claimed to have had with Trump. The indictment handed up by a New York grand jury remains sealed, so the details of the charge are not immediately available.

Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.  

The former president is expected to be arraigned before Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.  The indictment would be read to him at that time. 

In total, there are approximately 30 counts in the indictment, two sources confirmed to CBS News on Friday.

In a statement responding to news of his indictment, the former president called it “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history,” and accused Democrats of “weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States.”

Two Trump attorneys, Joseph Tacopina and Susan Necheles, issued a statement saying that the former president “did not commit any crime” and vowed to “vigorously fight this political prosecution in Court.”

Prosecutors did not inform Necheles and Tacopina of the charge, they told CBS News.

— Graham Kates contibuted reporting.