Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, told ABC on Monday that there were no plans to become involved in the case. The case involves a $130,000 payment made to former porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
Former US President Donald Trump apparently does not want to testify before a so-called grand jury in the case of a clandestine payment to a porn actress. Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told ABC on Monday that “there are no plans to be involved in this process.” At the same time, Tacopina did not entirely dismiss a statement by the former president. “No deadline has been set. So let’s wait and see.”
The Manhattan Attorney’s Office in New York has invited Trump to testify before the lay panel known as the Grand Jury in the case of clandestine payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. The grand jury will have to decide whether or not to indict the former president.
Payout of $130,000 in focus
The case involves a $130,000 payment that Trump’s private attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, says she had an affair with Trump years before the election, which Trump denies.
The payment was apparently intended to prevent Clifford from going public, which could have hurt Trump during the election campaign. However, the cash flows may have violated campaign finance laws. Michael Cohen – now a well-known Trump critic – was due to testify before the grand jury on Monday.
Possibly the first charge against Trump
If Trump is indicted, it would be the first time a former US president has been indicted. The 76-year-old Republican announced a new presidential candidacy last November and wants to retake the White House in the 2024 election.
Trump described the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation as a “political witch hunt”. With regard to the silence payment, he described himself as a victim of “blackmail”.
Trump is not just in the crosshairs of investigators in the Stormy Daniels case. Investigations are ongoing in southern Georgia into possible illegal interference in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
A US special investigator is also looking into Trump’s responsibility for the January 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol and the taking of several secret White House documents to Trump’s private estate, Mar-a-Lago, in the state of Florida, after the end of the republican term. . However, Trump has not been charged in any of these investigations – at least so far.
(APA)