Donald Trump has denounced his indictment as an abuse befitting a banana republic, but the move in fact puts the United States in line with fellow advanced democracies that have prosecuted former leaders.
France, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Romania and Croatia are among countries where courts have convicted a former president or prime minister, with charges pursued against former top leaders in a number of other democracies including Germany, Japan and Portugal.
For the United States, there is no precedent in the republic’s nearly 250-year history — Trump is the first president, current or former, to be charged with a crime.
Trump, who has faced a slew of legal accusations, is expected to turn himself in Tuesday in New York over a $130,000 payment allegedly made to an adult film star to buy her silence during his 2016 campaign over an affair.
“There is evidence out there that democracies can be, and are, able…
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