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A grand jury is hearing evidence in New York about former US president Donald Trump’s role in payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
A grand jury could lay the groundwork for possible criminal charges against Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
This would be a surprising development – no former president has been charged with a crime. Even the jury sitting represented a dramatic turn in a case that appeared to be over with Trump’s former personal lawyer serving a prison sentence and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) opting not to pursue punishment.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker has testified before a jury, one source told Reuters. Pecker was seen entering a lower Manhattan building, where jurors were being held, according to the New York Times, which first reported on Monday’s jury trial.
The move is an indication that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is closer to a decision on whether to charge Trump.
Pecker could not immediately be reached for comment.
Bragg’s office declined to comment to the Times.
Moving statement from Trump about the payment
Daniels said she had a sexual relationship with the married Trump in 2006, later detailing it in her book. Full Disclosureand received US$130,000 before the 2016 presidential election in exchange for not discussing it.
Trump denied the relationship and initially told reporters he knew nothing about the payments to Daniels. Trump later backtracked on that claim, admitting on Twitter in May 2018 that he had repaid Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer.
WATCH l Former Trump lawyer Cohen testifies in 2019 about cash payments:
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer explained to a House committee how he paid women who had had affairs with Trump to keep quiet and how the president repaid them.
Trump said the money had “nothing to do with the campaign.” Trump said Cohen received a monthly retainer, which he used to pay Daniels to sign an agreement not to talk about her allegations and “stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about the relationship.”
Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in federal court in New York in large part for arranging hush payments to Daniels, as well as former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had a months-long affair with Trump before taking office. .
Cohen has testified to Congress that Trump knew about the payments, and that some of the checks were endorsed by Donald Trump Jr., a member of the Trump Organization, and Allen Weisselberg, the company’s chief financial officer.
McDougal said he sold his story for $150,000 to American Media Inc (AMI), but it was never published. The incident involved a so-called “catch and kill” practice to prevent potentially damaging articles from being published.
Pecker, the former chief executive of AMI and a longtime friend of Trump and Cohen, told prosecutors about the money deal with McDougal and Daniels, the Wall Street Journal reported in 2018.
Cohen could be the problem’s star witness
Cohen told The Associated Press he recently met with Manhattan prosecutors for 2½ hours. Several legal experts previously told CBC News and the AP that pursuing a criminal case against Trump based on the words of Cohen, a convicted felon who attacked Trump with pleasure, including Mondaycan be a challenge.
Bragg’s predecessor as district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., also investigated the money laundering before shifting the focus of the investigation to the Trump Organization’s tax and business practices.
The Trump Organization was convicted last month of tax fraud and fined $1.6 million as punishment for an unrelated scheme in which top executives evaded personal income taxes on lavish work benefits.
“With the trial over, we’re now moving on to the next chapter,” Bragg told The Associated Press in an interview after the trial.
The Trump Organization in a statement on Monday suggested that Bragg, a Democrat, is trying to undermine Trump’s fledgling 2024 presidential campaign, calling it “simply reprehensible and vindictive.”
In 2021, the FEC closed its investigation into the matter after a dead vote.
The Edwards case may be instructive
The National Enquirer’s treatment of Trump stands in contrast to other cases that illustrate the difficulty of prosecuting high-profile politicians and serving as an impartial jury.
The Enquirer published a 2007 article alleging that Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was involved in an affair. At the time, the candidate and his wife, Elizabeth, had received sympathetic coverage because they had announced that they were facing another battle with cancer.
Federal prosecutors the following year alleged that Edwards masterminded a plan to use money from two wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress while he was seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine if convicted of all charges.
Edwards did not testify at the 2012 trial and was acquitted of receiving illegal campaign contributions. The jury deadlocked on the other count, and prosecutors chose not to retry it.
The case has seen the judge close the court to discuss an unresolved issue with the jury. Some of the alternate jurors had been wearing matching court-colored shirts, and one was accused of flirting with Edwards.
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