Sources: Jury set to hear another witness on Monday in possible indictment against Trump

NEW YORK — The Manhattan jury weighing possible charges against former President Donald Trump is set to meet on Monday, reportedly to hear from another witness in the case about an alleged secret payment involving the movie star for adults, Stormy Daniels, sources familiar with the case reported to our sister network NBC 4.

Details of the witness’s identity have not been released, but the timeline is subject to change, the sources added.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg arrived at his office Monday morning and would not comment on the ongoing investigation. The jury has been secretly hearing evidence for months in this case.

Our sister network News 4 reported that security plans were being drawn up in case an indictment could be filed as early as last week, but a day after that report, Trump told the world he’s was waiting to be arrested. No arrests came.

On Wednesday of last week, the 23 Manhattan jurors were supposed to meet, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told them to stay home and come back Thursday, three sources familiar with the matter said. However, the next day they did not speak about Trump, the sources say, although it is unclear why. Earlier last week, they heard testimony from Trump ally Robert Costello, who sought to discredit key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and mediator, as “totally unreliable.”

It is unclear whether the testimony of Costello, who had waived immunity and therefore could be prosecuted if he committed perjury, factored into the plans of the Bragg jury in recent days.

Trump loudly equated the Manhattan jury’s relative silence with “NO CASE.” He poked fun at Bragg on his social media platform for much of the past week and continued to do so on Truth Social early Monday.

Bragg’s office, which has received threatening letters in the mail potentially related to the case, declined to comment.

It’s unclear whether a potential organized action could escalate if the grand jury chooses to indict Trump, which would be the first indictment of a former or sitting US president in history. However, any charges or convictions would not prevent you from applying.

As the death robe of the January 6 insurgency still looms on the horizon, the NYPD and its law enforcement partners at all levels of government are preparing accordingly.

Faced with a possible criminal prosecution against him, Donald Trump took a defiant position in front of his supporters on Saturday during a political rally in Waco.

The political act came a day after Trump hinted that a specter of violence is not out the window if he becomes the first ex-president to face criminal charges in US history .

Trump has pleaded not guilty in the Manhattan investigation in which he silenced porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election so she wouldn’t speak publicly about a sexual relationship she said she had with him years earlier.

Trump said the Manhattan federal prosecutor was investigating him “for something that is not a felony, not a misdemeanor, not a romantic relationship.”

Luis Alejandro Medina with the report.

What happened? And what happens now?

Although the jury last week paused in its consideration of the case, former prosecutor Daniel Horwitz said he did not believe the delay resulted from doubts about the credibility of Cohen, who admitted and purged a prison sentence for lying about paying the star for not doing so. .

“There’s a lot of criticism, questions about Michael Cohen. You know, a lot of white-collar business, almost all white-collar business is inside information,” Horwitz said.

Cohen says he is telling the truth about Trump and the forged documents to try to cover up the silent payments, which are not illegal. However, falsifying business records to protect a presidential campaign could be.

“After reviewing everything, if the prosecutor still believes the evidence supports the charge, I would expect Bragg to file those charges,” attorney Robert Gottlieb said.

Meanwhile, the world is still waiting.

Even if the Manhattan jury were to discuss Trump on Monday, that wouldn’t guarantee a possible impeachment vote that day. Legal experts said it was a complicated case and every detail needed to be considered before proceeding.

Columbia law professor John Coffee suggested the law itself could be a problem for prosecutors, because even if the district attorney can prove that Trump falsely charged Daniels the money needed to hide his silence , that would only amount to a misdemeanor. Earning a low-level felony conviction may require linking it to a federal crime.

“New York law says it’s a misdemeanor if you simply tamper with records. It’s a crime if you tamper with the record to hide a crime. But if the crime is a federal crime, it’s a different ball of wax,” Coffee said. “It is not entirely clear whether New York State has jurisdiction or authority to find a violation of a federal crime.”

Federal prosecutors had said the payments constituted illegal and undeclared aid to the Trump campaign. But they declined to press charges against Trump himself. The former president has denied all charges against him.

López Obrador, who has previously bragged about his “very good relationship” with Trump, echoed voices in the United States who called the case a “political persecution”.