It’s been a week since ex-US President Donald Trump was indicted by the New York judiciary for paying hush money to a porn actress ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Both the indictment and the court date for which Trump appeared in New York are historically unique – at least for the last 150 years. Historically speaking, however, Trump is not the first (former) US President to be prosecuted for a misdemeanor.
In 1872 Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, was arrested in Washington. Grant commanded the Union Army as Commander-General during the American Civil War (1861-1865) before being elected Republican presidential nominee. In 1869 he defeated the Democratic candidate Horatio Seymour and took over the office of US President from 1869 to 1877.
Because of his fondness for fast horses, Grant was arrested in 1872 by police officer William H. West. It was not until 1908 that the then retired policeman told the journalists of the “Sunday Star” how he had caught the President in Washington.
West said he was in Washington checking the speed of moving carriages on the streets when President Grant swept past him at far too high a speed. The BBC reports on a pair of horses in which the US President is said to have been traveling. However, the “New York Times” reports that Grant organized a race with friends.
According to the reports, Grant was first warned by the police officer and continued driving with the promise to slow down. It is not known how fast Grant drove through the streets of Washington, whether there was a speed limit for carriages at the time and how high it was. According to information from the ADAC, carriages usually travel at a speed of five to seven kilometers per hour.
The next day, West said he was patrolling the same area when the president rushed by again. The policeman then arrested Grant and escorted him to the nearest police station. The Sunday Star quoted West, who apparently had a hard time making the decision, as saying: “I am very sorry, Mr President, to do this because you are the head of the nation and I am nothing more than a police officer, but duty is duty, Sir, and I will have to arrest you.”
The case was heard in the police court a day after the arrest. The trial was reported in the news. Grant had to pay $20 bail — a sum that would be the equivalent of $500 today. He is said to have said later himself: “Let no guilty man escape if it can be avoided. No personal consideration shall stand in the way of public engagement.”
More than 100 years later, the Washington Police Department confirmed the story of Constable West, who was born a slave, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and then served as one of two Black Americans at the Washington Police Department.
But Ulysses S. Grant was not the only president to be prosecuted.
In 1807, the first and then ex-vice president of the USA, Aaron Burr, was accused of high treason, but was acquitted in court for lack of evidence. Richard Nixon, 37th US President, who resigned in the face of criminal prosecution, was unconditionally pardoned by his successor, President Gerald Ford, in 1974. Months earlier, Nixon’s Vice President Spiro Agnew had escaped bribery charges.
The charges against Donald Trump are the first against a former US President. The prosecutor’s office, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, has charged him with 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a “catch-and-kill” scheme used to suppress negative news about him ahead of the 2016 election .
During the campaign, Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair she allegedly had with Trump.
Trump denies the allegations and the affair, but has admitted he reimbursed Cohen for Daniels. He described the investigation as a politically motivated “witch hunt” and pleaded “not guilty” in his first court appearance.
If Trump is found guilty on all charges and convicted, he faces up to 136 years in prison. However, this is considered extremely unlikely. The time that the ex-president could potentially spend in prison would probably be far less. In addition, Trump would most likely appeal any conviction.
Sources: BBC, New York Times, CBS News, Reuters, with footage from DPA and AFP
