This particular crime technically already saw court, where his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who facilitated the illegal payments, was convicted and went to prison for a few years. At the time, Trump was also believed to be criminally culpable, but he argued that sitting presidents can't be charged with crimes.
The prosecutors basically said "ok, we'll wait", and now that he's been out of office, they finally assembled their case.
Brickypoo t1_jedp9g6 wrote
Reply to comment by anax44 in eli5 What does “indicted” mean? by jcw10489
This particular crime technically already saw court, where his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who facilitated the illegal payments, was convicted and went to prison for a few years. At the time, Trump was also believed to be criminally culpable, but he argued that sitting presidents can't be charged with crimes.
The prosecutors basically said "ok, we'll wait", and now that he's been out of office, they finally assembled their case.