His then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, said he paid the porn star for her silence about an affair she says she had with Trump prior to the 2016 election.

The indictment marks the first time in American history that a U.S. president has been prosecuted on criminal charges.

Donald Trump has become the first former president to be indicted in a criminal case after a grand jury investigation into hush money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Donald Trump was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney's office following an investigation related to hush money payments to a porn star who has said she had a sexual relationship with him, a law enforcement source said,

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been investigating Trump for hush money payments made leading up to the 2016 presidential election. These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels,

Manhattan prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star also have been examining a $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model who alleged that she had an affair with the former president.

The indictment, voted on by the grand jury Thursday afternoon, thrusts the country onto uncharted and uncertain legal and political ground.