Donald Trump will not testify to New York grand jury – In an expected move, the former president will not appear before the grand jury, which is reportedly poised to indict him.
Donald Trump: The Drama Show Continues
With four different investigations circling him, the New York Times reported last week that it appears likely a Manhattan district attorney’s office will be moving forward with an indictment of former President Donald Trump. The office had “recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star.”
The case, which reportedly centers around reported hush money payments by Trump to adult film star Stormy Daniels, is the result of a more than five-year investigation. It would mark the first criminal charges Donald Trump has ever faced, and also the first time in American history that a former president of the United States has been charged with a crime.
The Times report last week stated that Trump had been offered a chance to testify before the grand jury, which is often one of the last steps before someone is charged with a crime. It was not expected that Trump would agree to testify, and now we know he won’t.
According to NBC News, Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina has announced that Donald Trump will not be appearing before the grand jury. That decision was reached after Trump met with his attorneys at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
“We are not convinced they will bring a case, but if so we will deal with it,” Tacopina had said Friday.
In a Truth Social post over the weekend, Donald Trump called the New York investigation “Scam, Injustice, Mockery, and Complete and Total Weaponization of Law Enforcement in order to affect a Presidential Election!,” while stating that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who served as the Manhattan DA for decades, would not have brought such charges.
He also shared a post from conservative radio and TV host Mark Levin, who referenced a “Soros prosecutor in Manhattan using novel legal theories to possibly charge the former president.”
Speaking of that grand jury, Trump’s former attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, is set to testify before it Monday. Cohen, who shared in his book that he helped arrange the payments, has met with prosecutors many times in relation to the probe and had provided them with documents, recordings, and other evidence in relation to the payments.
“This was a plain extortion and I don’t know since when we’ve decided to start prosecuting extortion victims,” Tacopina, Trump’s current lawyer, said, per the Associated Press. “He’s denied — vehemently denied — this affair. But he had to pay money because there was going to be an allegation that was going to be publicly embarrassing to him, regardless of the campaign.”
One possible complication in the case is if Cohen is a major witness for the prosecution, as he was convicted of crimes and served prison time in connection with his service to Donald Trump, and therefore may lack credibility as a witness.
Doanld Trump faces several other criminal probes, including the Georgia case involving his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result in that state, as well as the Special Counsel investigation, which involves both Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, and the Mar-a-Lago documents case. All of the cases have been brought before grand juries.
Trump Jumps on Truth Social
The former president, in an all-caps Truth Social post on Monday morning, seemed to think that the current probes will go the way of past ones.
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“These Four Radical Left investigations of your all time favorite President, ME, is just a continuation of the most disgusting Witch Hunt in the HISTORY of our Country,” Trump said on the social network. “No different than the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, the UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE IMPEACHMENT SCAM, the SPYING ON MY CAMPAIGN, the “NO COLLUSION” MUELLER REPORT, etc. Whether it’s the MAR-a-LAGO RAID, the UNSELECT COMMITTEE HOAX, the PERFECT GEORGIA PHONE CALL, or the STORMY “HORSEFACE” DANIALS EXTORTION PLOT, ALL SICK, FAKE NEWS!”
Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
