WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first criminal case against a former president, Donald Trump has been indicted on charges involving payments made during the 2016 campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter.

Prosecutors in New York investigated money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep the women from going public with claims that they had sex with him.

Trump, who’s running for the White House again in 2024, called the decision by a Manhattan grand jury to indict him “political persecution and election interference at the highest level.”

BRAGG’S OFFICE DEFENDS INQUIRY

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is defending the unprecedented criminal case against Trump in a letter to House Republicans, calling their repeated criticism of the investigation “unnecessary and unjustified.”

The letter, the only substantial public comment on the case to come from Bragg’s office since Thursday’s indictment, is the latest back-and-forth between Trump’s allies in Congress and the prosecutor leading the Manhattan case.

“Even worse, based on your reportedly close collaboration with Mr. Trump in attacking this Office and the grand jury process, it appears you are acting more like criminal defense counsel trying to gather evidence for a client than a legislative body seeking to achieve a legitimate legislative objective,” general counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote to three Republican chairmen in a letter obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil have criticized the grand jury investigation as an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.”

The chairmen had requested testimony as well as documents and copies of any communications with the Justice Department.

Bragg did not answer reporters’ questions on the indictment against Trump on Friday morning after he attended a high-profile sentencing hearing in an unrelated case.