The New York grand jury reviewing the evidence and hearing witnesses in the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged payment of illicit money to porn actress Stormy Daniels will not meet this Wednesday as originally planned to gather more testimony, a police source confirmed to various US media. With hundreds of television cameras gathered in front of the Manhattan Attorney’s Office investigating the case and the remaining eyes on the runway at West Palm Beach (Florida) Airfield where Trump Force One, the Republican’s private plane, is standing, the Republican is a set today -up, the only certainty in the case that could land the former US president in jail is that the timeline will stretch to the point of desperation. So much so that according to the insider portal – which first reported today on the break – “although nothing will be written beyond Wednesday, the grand jury is unlikely to meet this week,” said one of the police sources [consultadas por Insider]protected by anonymity”.
Trump himself had assured this weekend through a pompous message on his social network that he would be arrested this Tuesday. But neither on Monday, when the last witness testified theoretically, nor on Tuesday, without news from the prosecutor’s office or from Trump, nor this Wednesday, when the trial break was announced, was there any concrete information in this regard. In New York, however, where the tycoon should appear, a roil of speculation has gathered strength; in Florida, from where he would have to be extradited by Gov. Ron DeSantis if he does not voluntarily surrender to justice, and finally in Washington, where another trial is ongoing against the candidate for reelection in 2024, that of the document files he removed from the White House to his mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Since mid-January, when the process was accelerated, the grand jury has met every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. From all indications, there appears to be no news until next week, although weekly Politico notes that its members have been advised to be “available” this Thursday. “The prosecution did not tell the court the reason for the day off. [ellos] They just said, “I don’t want them today, maybe tomorrow,” said an official at the above outlet. According to the New York Times, the grand jury was “allowed to hear at least one other witness before being asked to vote.” The last witness whose testimony is on record this Monday was attorney Robert Costello, then legal counsel to Michael Cohen, a former attorney and Trump acrobat and now the key witness in the case against his former employer. Costello was subpoenaed by Trump’s defense to overturn testimony by Cohen, who allegedly paid $130,000 to Daniels on Trump’s behalf in 2016.
All that is certain is that the trial against the Republican, if finally indicted, would undoubtedly be historic, the first against an active or retired president since 1872, when President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding his horse-drawn carriage. Apparently unrelated to the alleged crime of Trump, someone accustomed to public scrutiny, as evidenced by the two impeachments (political trials) he faced and overcame thanks to the support of a Republican-majority Congress.
While unknowns are clarified as to the timing, the cornerstone of the case is how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, will commit Daniels a misdemeanor (by entering the allegedly paid bribe as a legal expense on the Trump Organization books). ) in a larger one that deserves up to four years in prison, although it’s highly likely that even if convicted, he wouldn’t enter the country. The key to charging him with this crime is tying the payment to violating the 2016 campaign finance rules, the final phase of which Daniels was given the money to silence her.
In New York, falsifying accounting records can be a misdemeanor. To consider it serious, prosecutors must demonstrate that the defendant’s “intent to deceive” included intent to commit or conceal a second crime. In Trump’s case, this second offense could be an electoral law violation: prosecutors could argue that the payment was an improper donation to his presidential campaign because it benefited his candidacy and thus his eventual election victory by avoiding a possible sex scandal.
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Legal experts cited by the New York Times confirm that New York prosecutors have never linked the crime of falsifying accounting records with a violation of state voting rights in a presidential election-related case, so the final decision on the indictment at the New York Times judges would lie. Be that as it may, Trump’s record of dodging countless court investigations in more than 40 years without ever being prosecuted may soon come to an end when the work of the grand jury convened by the Manhattan Attorney’s Office resumes and the long-awaited indictment finally arrives is stated.
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