New drama in New York: The judiciary may have postponed the potential criminal indictment against former United States President Donald Trump until next week, multiple media outlets reported on Wednesday, March 22.
The 76-year-old Republican billionaire, who dreams of “returning” to the White House in November 2024, faces a $130,000 court in New York State shortly before his November 2016 election victory An X-movies actress, Stormy Daniels, with whom he would have had an affair.
After years of investigations by Manhattan prosecutors, its prosecutor Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat, appeared on March 13 to announce a – historic – indictment against America’s 45th president (2017-2021).
It was Donald Trump who, from his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., on Saturday created a media and political storm by writing in capital letters on his network Truth Social that he would be charged and “arrested” on Tuesday. But prosecutor Bragg remained silent and nothing happened as announced by the former head of state.
Grand jury session cancelled
On Wednesday morning, US media besieging the Manhattan courthouse speculated that a grand jury — a citizens’ panel with wide investigative powers that works with prosecutor Bragg — would vote on an indictment by mid-afternoon.
>> Also read: Prosecutor Alvin Bragg vs. Donald Trump: the clash of two Americas
But Wednesday’s grand jury session was canceled, according to the New York Times and online media outlet Insider, which rely on two legal sources. Insider says the panel won’t vote until the end of the week, even if it does meet on Thursday. The Grand Jury meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Questioned by AFP, a prosecutor’s spokeswoman declined to “confirm or comment on grand jury-related matters.”
And accused himself of not immediately “arresting” Donald Trump. It would be several days before he showed up in Manhattan. In this case, after having voluntarily “surrendered” himself to justice, he would be informed of the proceedings and possibly and symbolically detained for a few minutes.
The ex-president, who has been upsetting the balance of power in the US since 2016, would then be photographed, fingerprinted and even briefly handcuffed.
New York is getting ready
Meanwhile, New York prepares. Quiet. New York City Police (NYPD) employees erected metal barriers in front of the courthouse and Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday.
And to avoid any risk of clashes in a city with a violent history, the NYPD warned that “the presence of uniformed police officers would increase in the megalopolis’ five boroughs” even though there was “no credible threat to New York at this time.” “
Donald Trump, surrounded by multiple court filings, assures him he has “committed no crime” and is the victim of a “witch hunt” led by Democrats.
The case of porn actress Stormy Daniels is legally complex. The New York Judiciary is trying to determine whether Donald Trump was guilty of misrepresentation, a felony, or a violation of campaign finance laws, a felony, by paying money to this woman, whose real name is , just before the 2016 presidential election Named Stephanie Clifford, who won the Republican.
What sense? So that, according to the prosecutor, she had concealed an alleged extramarital relationship ten years earlier. The investigation accelerated last week. Michael Cohen, a former attorney and now enemy of Trump who paid for Stormy Daniels, testified before the grand jury. The actress has also worked with prosecutors and the same panel.
According to the New York Times and Washington Post, Donald Trump had also been invited to address that grand jury.
He called on his supporters to “protest” on Saturday and gave them a date at the next presidential election on November 5, 2024 to “return” to the White House.
So far there have been a few dozen protesters in front of the courthouse and Trump Tower in New York and in Palm Beach, Florida.
The authorities’ main fear is a repeat of the violence of the attack on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, when Donald Trump, who was defeated in the November 2020 election, urged his supporters to contest the results.
He still claims, unsubstantiated, that his victory was “stolen” from President Joe Biden.
With AFP