Categories: Politics

Trump invited to testify before New York grand jury, report says

(Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

Trump invited to testify before New York grand jury, report says

Associated Press

March 9, 2023

Former President Trump has been invited to testify next week before a New York grand jury investigating hush money payments made on his behalf during his 2016 presidential campaign, according to a news report.

The New York Times quoted four people with knowledge of the matter as saying the invitation was made by the Manhattan district attorney. Such an invitation often indicates that a decision on charges is imminent.

The prosecutor’s office declined to comment. A Trump spokesperson issued a statement discrediting the Manhattan Dist investigation. consider Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, as politically motivated.

Any indictment would mark the first time a former US president has been charged with a crime. It would come as Trump ramps up a run to get the White House back in 2024 as he battles legal troubles on multiple fronts.

The Atlanta district attorney has said decisions will soon be made in a two-year investigation into possible illegal interference in the 2020 election by Trump and his allies. A special counsel for the US Department of Justice is also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election, as well as the handling of classified documents at his Florida estate.

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The New York Grand Jury has investigated Trump’s involvement in a 2016 payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with the Republican years earlier.

The money was paid from the personal funds of Trump’s now-estranged attorney, Michael Cohen, who said he was reimbursed by the Trump Organization and also paid additional bonuses totaling eventually $420,000.

Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018 that the payment, and another he helped arrange to model Karen McDougal through the parent company of the National Enquirer tabloid, amounted to an illegal campaign contribution.

At the time, federal prosecutors decided not to press charges against Trump, who was then president. The Manhattan district attorney’s office then launched its own investigation, which lingered for several years but gained momentum in recent weeks.

Several figures close to Trump have been spotted in Bragg’s office in recent days meeting with prosecutors, including his former political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesman Hope Hicks.

Cohen also met with prosecutors on several occasions and said after a recent visit that he believed the investigation was nearing completion.

Under New York law, people appearing before a grand jury are granted immunity from prosecution for things they say during their testimony, so potential criminal investigation targets are generally only invited to testify if they waive that immunity. Lawyers generally advise clients not to do this if there is a risk of a criminal case.

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It is not clear what charges the prosecutors are investigating.

Legal experts have said a possible crime could be the way the payments to Cohen were structured and misclassified internally as being for a legal advance. New York has a law against falsifying company records, but it is a felony unless falsifying the records is combined with a more serious crime.

Separately, the district attorney’s office has also spent years investigating whether Trump and company inflated the value of some assets when dealing with lenders and potential business partners. Those allegations are the subject of a civil lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general.

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