hello and welcome to the programme. we begin with breaking news coming out of the united states in the past half hour donald trump has become the first former united states president to face criminal charges. the case in new york relates to alleged hush money payments to an adult entertainer before the 2016 election. mr trump denies wrongdoing. i m joined now by our washington correspondent gary o donoghue. great to get you on the programme. i know that information is coming in fast and furiously. give us the latest of what we have heard today. it is worth pausing for a moment and realising that this is really a true moment in history. that where it is overly used, but this is a moment in history, the first time ever that an american president or former president has been charged with a crime. now, we know this investigation has been going on for some time. we know it relates to payments made to an adult film star before the 2016 general election. we don t know the details
in this and they all have unpopular politicalviews. it in this and they all have unpopular political views. it is trying to twist a little bit and not get bogged down too much in the details of these legal proceedings. aha, bogged down too much in the details of these legal proceedings. of these legal proceedings. a legal minefield indeed. of these legal proceedings. a legal minefield indeed. looking - of these legal proceedings. a legal minefield indeed. looking at - of these legal proceedings. a legal minefield indeed. looking at this i minefield indeed. looking at this case, of course, but i wonder what you think of the language that we heard and that trump statement that we were just discussing a few minutes ago, of course, one of the other things that we have heard in that statement is that donald trump has denounced the witchhunt and says that it will backfire on president biden. rhetoric, again, that we have heard before, surely. qdd biden. rhetoric, again, that we have heard
that side in all of this, but have we heard from other sections of the political aisle? we heard from other sections of the politicalaisle? have we heard from other sections of the political aisle? have we heard from democrats at all this evening? irate democrats at all this evening? we haven t democrats at all this evening? - haven t heard from the democrats yet and i think the white house is studiously avoiding commenting on this. they don t want to be drawn into this legal fight. i think they are perfectly happy to step behind and let it all play out between new york prosecutors and donald trump and his legal team and conservatives around donald trump. i think we have to wait now and see what the details of this case are. what kind of evidence the district attorney has managed to amass against donald trump, because it is, by and large, a novel case if it is what we have heard in news reports being where you bring in a charge against donald trump for misrepresenting, essentially, a r