Former President Donald Trump could finally be cooked—or at least slightly seared. The New York Times reports that the Manhattan district attorney will be presenting evidence to a grand jury Monday about the former twice-impeached president’s payoff of Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, during his 2016 campaign—all of which could lead to criminal charges, according to sources for the Times.
With witness testimony beginning, District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg appears to be closing in on Trump and a decision on criminal charges.
One witness seen entering the Lower Manhattan courtroom is David Pecker, former publisher of The National Enquirer, the outlet that connected a deal Trump made with Daniels. Other witnesses include Dylan Howard, a former Enquirer editor, and two former Trump employees, according to the Times.
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The case is far from a done deal, as it must be proved that Trump hid the payout from voters prior to the 2016 election.
Also slated to testify is former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges in conjunction with the pay to Daniels.
Trump must certainly be feeling the heat from down south as well as the Big Apple as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis makes her recommendations on whether or not to indict Trump amid his efforts to subvert the process in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Daily Kos’ Laura Clawson writes: “Trump’s lawyers are insisting that Trump will be vindicated. Because he was never called in or subpoenaed by this grand jury, they say, ‘we can assume that the grand jury did their job and looked at the facts and the law, as we have, and concluded there were no violations of the law by President Trump.’”
The Manhattan case is the “longest-running criminal investigation” into Trump, according to the Times.
In 2018, Trump himself acknowledged payments to Daniels but denied an “affair” with her.
Also involved in reimbursing Cohen was Trump's Chief Financial Officer Allen H. Weisselberg. In August, Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 counts of tax fraud. He additionally agreed, per his plea deal, to testify at trial against the very company he’d staunchly refused to testify against.
Weisselberg is currently camped out in a cell on Rikers Island, with an additional sentence of five years of probation.
Prosecutors are hoping Weisselberg will cooperate and corroborate Cohen’s testimony.
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