Mod: Stormy Daniels, the porn star who may cause Trump to become the first President in US history to ever be criminally indicted.How an Offer to Testify Before a New York Grand Jury Signals Trouble for Trump (Daily Beastlink): Former President Donald Trump’s decision to forgo testifying before a New York grand jury likely wasn’t a tough call, but the timing indicates an indictment could be just weeks away, maybe even days, according to former prosecutors.
“It tells me they're at the one yard line. It's one of the last things you do, after all the evidence has gone in,” said
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who served as the chief assistant to
Cyrus Vance Jr., the previous district attorney who started the investigation.
“I wouldn’t want to give too much notice. I wouldn’t want him to intimidate my witnesses… and he’s such a bully. He engages in bullying and witness tampering,” she said.
The timing of the invitation means jurors have likely heard much of what prosecutors know about the way Trump orchestrated a hush money scheme to keep the world from knowing about his illicit sexual affair with the porn star Stormy Daniels—which spared his 2016 presidential campaign potentially devastating embarrassment.
The
Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, now led by
Alvin Bragg Jr., last week offered
Trump the chance to explain himself to the grand jury. But the deal notably came with strings attached, said one of his defense lawyers,
Joe Tacopina;
Trump could only talk to the grand jury if he first waived immunity for anything he says.
That isn’t particularly notable. Such offers are standard procedure in
New York—but only for the top target of a criminal investigation.
New York law mandates that anyone speaking to a grand jury automatically gets total immunity for any crime they discuss in that private setting. But that special deal is never extended to the main target of a criminal probe. What’s actually notable is that the grand jury is at a stage where
Trump has been asked to testify.
It indicates that indictments could be right around the corner.
Mod: Much more at the link. Plus another great political ad from The Lincoln Project.
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