NY.- The Manhattan grand jury that has heard evidence of Donald Trump’s involvement in a hush money payment to a porn star will not meet on Wednesday, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
According to The New York Times, any indictment against the former president would be by Thursday.
The panel has been meeting regularly on Mondays and Wednesdays to consider evidence in one of many legal investigations into the former president, who is mounting a campaign to be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has been investigating the $130,000 paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
There was a lot of security around the courthouse where the grand jury has been meeting, with officers out early and barricades around the building. On Tuesday, the day Trump had predicted he would be arrested, he came and went without incident.
About half of Americans believe the New York investigation is politically motivated, but a large majority believe it is credible that the former president paid hush money to a porn star, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll that ended on Thursday. Tuesday.
Former Trump negotiator Michael Cohen said he made the payments under Trump’s instructions to buy his silence about the extramarital affair. Trump has denied the relationship and others in his orbit have said that Cohen acted on his behalf.
Cohen went to prison after pleading guilty to federal charges stemming from the payment, but prosecutors in that case did not charge Trump. Manhattan has repeatedly started and stopped its own investigation into the matter.
If charges are filed, Trump would have to travel to New York from his Florida home to have a mugshot and fingerprints taken. Security officials are bracing for possible riots, but so far few of Trump’s supporters have heeded his call for protests.
