Donald Trump was seen partying at his Florida residence on Thursday night with his wife Melania, just hours after learning he was to be criminally charged.
The 76-year-old was pictured beaming in a suit and tie at his Mar-a-Lago mansion as his 52-year-old wife stood beside him in a red dress.
The photos came just hours after the historic news that the former US President has been indicted by a grand jury in New York for payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.
Trump and his wife were captured in a photo posted to Twitter by Gina Loudon, a conservative media commentator.
She tweeted: "Beautiful evening here at the gorgeous Mar a Lago! Our REAL First Couple enveloped in the love of their friends and most loyal!"
She then added: "(Sorry to disappoint, corporate media. Actually not. Screw you! This is a happiness you will never know, sadly)."
He is the first former US president to face a criminal charge and it puts his bid to retake the White House next year at a much lower possibility.
Prosecutors said they were working to coordinate Trump’s surrender, which could happen early next week.
Trump is expected to appear at the prosecutor's office, will have a mug shot taken and will appear in court, where a judge would list the charges and Trump would enter a plea.
The grand jury in Manhattan had been probing hush money payments at the height of the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who alleged sexual encounters with the former president.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, one of the witnesses who testified, says he orchestrated payments totalling $280,000 (£225k) to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors said the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.
He denies the sexual encounters and called the indictment “political persecution” and an attempt to interfere in his presidential campaign.
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He called himself “a completely innocent person" and said the allegations are designed to “destroy” his Make America Great Again movement.
“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Justice Department is still investigating the retention of top-secret government documents at his Florida estate as well as efforts by him and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
