Trump Grand Jury Won’t Meet Wednesday, Delaying Potential Indictment
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The Manhattan grand jury that is considering a potential indictment of former president Donald Trump over his alleged involvement with a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels will not meet on Wednesday, according to several reports, delaying any potential indictment until Thursday at the earliest.
Trump claimed over the weekend that he would be arrested Tuesday in connection with a $130,000 payment allegedly made to the porn actress on his behalf. That prediction did not come to fruition.
“THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“THEY’RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA!PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!” he later added.
The grand jury meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays but was given Wednesday off, according to reports from Insider and the New York Times. A law enforcement source told Insider it is unlikely that the grand jury will meet at all this week.
The grand jury may hear from at least one more witness before voting on a potential indictment, per the Times.
It was not immediately clear why the grand jury did not meet on Wednesday, but scheduling conflicts and other interruptions are “not unusual,” according to the report.
Reports indicate prosecutors plan to indict Trump for falsifying business records in relation to the hush money payments, which is a misdemeanor offense. If they can prove that a second crime was concealed or committed, prosecutors will likely seek to upgrade the offense to a Class E Felony.
Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen claimed Trump and his company falsely identified payments reimbursing Cohen for the $130,000 in hush money as legal expenses, helping conceal the purpose of the payments. Cohen claims Trump was aware of the misleading record keeping.
The grand jury heard testimony from Robert Costello, who previously served as a legal advisor to Cohen, until 5 p.m. on Monday. Costello told reporters on Monday that he attacked Cohen’s credibility during his testimony.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Wednesday that Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg “is having a hard time with the Grand Jury, especially after the powerful testimony against him by Felon Cohen’s highly respected former lawyer.”
