Faced with the possibility of criminal prosecution,

former president Donald

Trump waited in Florida on Tuesday as New York braced for disruptions that could follow an indictment. Republican contenders in the 2024 presidential race estimate the impact a prosecution could have on a

campaign

in which which

the former president is a leader

candidate candidate

.

Trump claimed over the weekend without evidence that he would be arrested

on

Tuesday, but there was no indication that the prediction would come true.

A Manhattan grand jury seemed to have taken a major step forward

on

Monday by hearing from a witness favorable to Trump, presumably so prosecutors could ensure the panel had a chance to consider any testimony that supported its version of events. The grand jury investigates hush money paid to a porn star during the final days of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The next steps were unclear and it was uncertain whether more witnesses could be called. But a city aware of Trump loyalists’ riot at the U.S. Capitol more than two years ago took steps to protect itself from any violence that might accompany the unprecedented prosecution of

the A

former president.

Monday’s testimony from Robert Costello, a lawyer close to numerous key Trump aides, seemed like a last chance for allies to keep the grand jury away from an indictment. Costello was invited to appear by prosecutors after he said he had information to undermine the credibility of Michael Cohen, a former Trump precinct attorney and fixer who later turned against him and subsequently became a star witness in the investigation of Manhattan attorney.

Costello had provided legal services to Cohen several years ago after Cohen himself became entangled in the federal investigation into the hush money payments. In a press conference after his grand jury appearance, Costello told reporters he came forward because he didn’t believe Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal crimes and was serving time in jail.

If they want to go after Donald Trump and they have solid evidence, then so be it, Costello said. But Michael Cohen is far from solid evidence.

Cohen responded to MSNBC saying that Costello was never his attorney and that he has no sense of truthfulness whatsoever.

There were no signs that Costello’s testimony had influenced the course of the investigation. Cohen had been available for

more than over

two hours in case prosecutors wanted him to refute Costello’s testimony

,

but he was told he was not needed, his lawyer said.

The testimony came two days after Trump said he expected to face criminal charges and urged his supporters to protest his possible arrest. In social media posts over the weekend, he criticized the investigation and specifically targeted hostile rhetoric at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.

New York officials are monitoring online chatter

involvement of

Threats of varying specificity, but even as portable metal barricades were erected to protect streets and sidewalks, there were no immediate signs of heeding Trump’s calls for protests.

Tuesday morning, Manhattan court cases were temporarily halted by a bomb threat that came in through 911, a court spokesman said.

person

. That delayed the start of a hearing in a separate case, the New York Attorney General’s trial that charged Trump and his company with a years-long fraud scheme.

Costello briefly acted as legal counsel

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r to Cohen after the FBI raided Cohen’s home and apartment in 2018. At the time, Cohen was under investigation for both tax evasion and payments he helped orchestrate in 2016 to buy the silence of two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.

For several months, it was unclear whether Cohen, a longtime attorney and fixer for the Trump Organization who once boasted that he would take a bullet for his boss, would remain loyal to the president.

Cohen eventually pleaded guilty to the payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal, which he said were directed by Trump. He’s been a vocal Trump critic ever since, testing for Congress and then the grand jury.

Trump, who has denied having sex with either woman, has labeled Cohen a liar.

As the New York investigation approaches, Trump faces other criminal investigations in Atlanta and Washington that together pose significant legal jeopardy and the prospect of upending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Some of his likely opponents have tried to strike a balance between condemning a possible prosecution as politically motivated and avoiding condoning the conduct in question.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, an anticipated GOP presidential nominee, criticized the investigation but also poked at Trump.

I don’t know what’s involved in paying a porn star hush money to keep quiet about some alleged affair,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Panama City. I can’t say anything against that.

Turning to criticism of the prosecutor, he said: “What I can talk to is if you have a prosecutor who ignores crimes that happen every day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many, many years ago. going to try and leverage something about porn star hush money payments, that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and arming the office, and I think that’s fundamentally wrong.