The Manhattan grand jury looking into possible criminal charges against former President Donald Trump will not meet to discuss the case the rest of this week, sources tell Spectrum News.
What You Need To Know
- The Manhattan grand jury looking into possible criminal charges against former President Donald Trump will not meet to discuss the case the rest of this week, sources tell Spectrum News
- As the grand jury continues to deliberate, a potential indictment remains up in the air, despite Trump's speculation last week that he would be arrested in a matter of days
- The grand jury has been active since January, but has yet to reach a conclusion on possible charges connected to alleged hush money payments made by the former president during the 2016 presidential campaign to women who say they had affairs with him
- Trump denies any involvement with the women and any wrongdoing
As the grand jury continues to deliberate, a potential indictment remains up in the air, despite Trump's speculation last week that he would be arrested in a matter of days.
The grand jury has been active since January, but has yet to reach a conclusion on possible charges connected to alleged hush money payments made by the former president during the 2016 presidential campaign to women who say they had affairs with him. Charges being considered include falsifying business records and possible campaign finance violations.
Trump denies any involvement with the women and any wrongdoing.
“Everybody looked at this. This thing is ancient history,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Monday, citing previous investigations by the Federal Election Commission and federal prosecutors that did not result in charges.
After initially slowing down the investigation in his first year in office, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confirmed to Spectrum News NY1 in January his office had an “ongoing active investigation” into the former president. A grand jury was convened later that month, according to multiple media reports.
Witnesses who have met with the jury in recent weeks include Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney who pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges for making the payments; David Pecker, the former chief executive of the National Enquirer's parent company who paid off one woman for the rights to her story and then declined to publish until after the election; and Robert Costello, a lawyer who once offered legal advice to Cohen and who testified against his character and advocated for Trump's innocence.
One of the women, Stormy Daniels, also met with Manhattan prosecutors in recent weeks. Trump declined an invitation to testify earlier this month, his lawyer Joe Tacopina said.
Bragg and his office have been under siege since Trump speculated the arrest was going to come in a matter of days earlier this month. Republicans leading key House committees have threatened to subpoena Bragg for testimony and documents connected to the investigation. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called for investigations into Bragg’s office.
Bomb threats targeted Bragg’s office, Manhattan courthouses, and the headquarters of the NYPD last week, according to the New York Daily News, but were deemed unfounded. On Friday, Bragg’s office received a threatening letter with a powdery substance, though law enforcement later “determined there was no dangerous substance,” according to Bragg spokesperson Danielle Filson.
“Alvin, I am going to kill you,” the letter said, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
In social media posts, the former president has accused Bragg of being a puppet of the Biden administration, anarchists and the devil. Trump posted an altered picture of him about to hit Bragg with a baseball bat before deleting it, later claiming in the Hannity interview he was posting an article and wasn’t aware of the picture. In another post, Trump said there would be “potential death & destruction” if he were to face charges.
“I didn’t say ‘death and destruction.’” Trump told Hannity. “I didn’t say ‘do something bad,’ I said ‘I’m afraid that people will do something’ because people are very angry about it.”
He has also referred to Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, as an “animal.”
“It’s dangerous and if he keeps it up, he’s going to get someone killed,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said at a press conference Friday. “We’ve already seen the consequences of incitement from the former president. He’s principally responsible for inciting the violent insurrection that happened on Jan. 6, but clearly he hasn’t learned his lesson.”