NY: Trump on Trial!

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This probably needs a new thread.

Prosecutors Signal Criminal Charges for Trump Are Likely
The former president was told that he could appear before a Manhattan grand jury next week if he wishes to testify, a strong indication that an indictment could soon follow.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

The prosecutors offered Mr. Trump the chance to testify next week before the grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case, the people said. Such offers almost always indicate an indictment is close; it would be unusual for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him.

In New York, potential defendants have the right to answer questions in the grand jury before they are indicted, but they rarely testify, and Mr. Trump is likely to decline the offer. His lawyers could also meet privately with the prosecutors in hopes of fending off criminal charges.

Any case would mark the first indictment of a former American president, and could upend the 2024 presidential race. It would also elevate Mr. Bragg to the national stage, though not without risk.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/nyregion/trump-potential-criminal-charges-bragg.html

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Trump to meet with legal team on strategy for hush-money probe

Lawyers for Donald Trump are meeting with the former president in Florida this weekend to discuss how to handle the latest developments in a Manhattan probe focused on a hush money payment during the 2016 campaign.

Joe Tacopina, one of Trump's attorneys, told NBC News on Friday that Trump's lawyers have "no plans" to meet with the Manhattan District Attorney's office, which has convened a grand jury to look into a payment to Stormy Daniels, the actress who said she slept with Trump before he became president.

NBC News reported Thursday that Trump was invited to testify before the grand jury. Trump’s lawyers have not said whether he will accept the invitation, and the district attorney's office has declined to comment on the matter.

"We are not convinced they will bring a case, but if so we will deal with it," Tacopina said Friday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-meet-lawyers-strategy-hush-money-probe-rcna74451

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Trump's lawyers say he has no plans to participate in the Manhattan grand jury probe.

So the indictment is probably coming very soon, maybe days.

The lawyers have already met with the DA to persuade him not to indict. Michael Cohen completes his testimony to the grand jury on Wednesday. After that, there's nothing left to do but request an indictment.

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https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1636088449298997248

Trump campaign blasts Manhattan DA ‘witch hunt’ as possibility of indictment nears

Former President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign blasted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into him as a “witch hunt” ahead of a possible indictment that might be issued against him.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement on Thursday that Trump is “completely innocent” and did “nothing wrong.” He said Democrats have attacked Trump since before he was first elected as president and are trying again because Trump is leading in the polls “by a large margin” against both Republicans and Democrats.

...

Cheung said the investigation will “backfire massively” for the Democratic Party and “end in disgrace” for the country.

The statement comes as Bragg appears to be close to potentially filling one or multiple charges against the former president in the investigation into a hush-money payment that was made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. This would be the first time that criminal charges are filed against a former president.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3904521-trump-campaign-blasts-manhattan-da-witch-hunt-as-possibility-of-indictment-nears/

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Trump's lawyers apparently believe he could be indicted as soon as tomorrow.

As a Possible Indictment Looms, Trump’s Team Plans to Attack
If the former president faces criminal charges, his campaign plans to begin a broad offensive against Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney and a Democrat, accusing him of political bias.

As former President Donald J. Trump faces likely criminal charges, his campaign is preparing to wage a political war.

With an indictment looming from the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, Mr. Trump’s campaign is laying the groundwork for a broad attack on Mr. Bragg, a Democrat. According to two of Mr. Trump’s political allies, the campaign will aim to portray any charges as part of a coordinated offensive by the Democratic Party against Mr. Trump, who is trying to become only the second former president to win a new term after leaving office.

It is unclear what data points, if any, the Trump team plans to point to beyond Mr. Bragg’s party registration in order to make a case that the district attorney is part of a broader political conspiracy against the former president.

[...]

Mr. Trump’s two allies said his campaign was adding staff members, particularly to focus on pushing out their message and their attacks on the prosecutors. In addition, the campaign has been putting together a database listing everyone — members of Congress, legal experts, media figures — who have cast doubts on the strength of the district attorney’s case, the allies said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/us/politics/trump-indictment-stormy-daniels-bragg.html

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Law enforcement agencies are prepping for a possible Trump indictment as early as next week
Multiple agencies are discussing potential security plans for in and around the Manhattan Criminal Court in case Trump is charged in connection with an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Local, state and federal law enforcement and security agencies are preparing for the possibility that former President Donald Trump is indicted as early as next week, according to five senior officials familiar with the preparations.

Law enforcement agencies are conducting preliminary security assessments, the officials said, and are discussing potential security plans in and around the Manhattan Criminal Court, at 100 Centre Street, in case Trump is charged in connection with an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels and travels to New York to face any charges.

The officials stress that the interagency conversations and planning are precautionary in nature because no charges have been filed.

The agencies involved include the NYPD, New York State Court Officers, the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the officials said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/law-enforcement-agencies-are-prepping-possible-trump-indictment-early-rcna75493

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https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1636737103370285062

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Are there any estimates of the probability of indictment from neutral sources on Twitter (meaning sources that don’t have a history of anti- or pro-Trump posting)?

Sure. Andy McCarthy who always shoots down any notion that trump committed a crime on 1/6 thinks he's about to be indicted.

https://twitter.com/AndrewCMcCarthy/status/1636736706987663361

He thinks it's ridiculous btw. As you can see from his column.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/03/new-yorks-progressive-da-prepares-stormy-prosecution-of-trump/

or this

https://twitter.com/AndrewCMcCarthy/status/1636736939691855874

[emailking]

This is Manhattan DA, not the feds. The feds declined to prosecute for this because he was President and decided not to resurrect the case when he left office. Bragg is prosecuting this now because the statute of limitations runs out this year. He's still working on a larger case regarding things like tax fraud and bank fraud, stuff the AG filed the civil suit over. But we don't know if that will lead to any charges.

[emailking]

Maybe but he's most likely guilty, at least of the misdemeanor.

[emailking]

This is Manhattan DA, not the feds. The feds declined to prosecute for this because he was President and decided not to resurrect the case when he left office. Bragg is prosecuting this now because the statute of limitations runs out this year. He's still working on a larger case regarding things like tax fraud and bank fraud, stuff the AG filed the civil suit over. But we don't know if that will lead to any charges.

Didn’t some prosecutors resign from his office because he wasn’t moving forward with the fraud case? I wonder why he’s going forward with this but not that.

That's possible yeah. His story is that they never closed it (true) and have been investigating it all along.

[emailking]

I don't believe people realize what will happen if Trump gets arrested.  A lot of his supporters feel they have nothing to lose.  Plus, Trump himself is going to fuel the fire.  This is going to get very ugly....  

I agree. So while we're still in the phase where we can make jokes, personally I think the NYPD should hold a press conference, if they do arrest Trump, thanking DeSantis for his cooperation in allowing Trump to be handed over to New York.

BTW Trump's lawyer did say if he is indicted he will surrender to authorities, so DeSantis probably won't have to do anything. Trump can just show up in NY to be booked and avoid the perp walk.

[emailking]

Yeah I don't know where he got Tuesday from anyway. They will probably give him a couple of days to surrender himself in NY.

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Manhattan D.A. says attempts to intimidate office won’t be tolerated after Trump’s call for protests
Alvin Bragg sought to assure staffers in a memo that they'll be safe.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sought to reassure his staff in an internal message Saturday that intimidation or threats against them would not be tolerated. The communication comes as his office moves forward in its investigation into former President Donald Trump, who said that he believes he will be arrested on Tuesday and put out a call for his supporters to protest.

"Please know that your safety is our top priority," Bragg said in a memo to office staff obtained by NBC News from a senior official at the Manhattan DA’s office.

He added, "We do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York."

The letter, which was first reported by Politico, did not mention Trump by name, and referred only to "an ongoing investigation by this office."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/manhattan-d-says-attempts-intimidate-office-wont-tolerated-trumps-call-rcna75617

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Trump Grand Jury Could Hear From Critic of Prosecution’s Star Witness
The grand jury considering the hush-money case against Mr. Trump might hear the testimony of lawyer Robert J. Costello, a critic of the ex-president’s fixer.

A Manhattan grand jury that is expected to vote soon on whether to indict Donald J. Trump may hear testimony Monday attacking the prosecution’s star witness, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The testimony would come from a lawyer, Robert J. Costello, who would appear at the request of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, the people said. Mr. Costello was once a legal adviser to Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer, who has been a key witness for the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Mr. Costello and Mr. Cohen had a falling out, and Mr. Costello would appear solely to undermine Mr. Cohen’s credibility, the people said.

Under New York law, a person who is expected to be indicted can request that a witness appear on his or her behalf. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have asked that Mr. Costello testify, but the final decision rests with the grand jury; it is unclear whether they have made a decision. The grand jury has been hearing evidence about the former president’s involvement in a hush money payment to a porn star.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/19/nyregion/trump-indictment-costello-cohen.html


Also Michael Cohen said today he's being called back to the grand jury tomorrow (again) as a rebuttal witness, probably to this.

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The judge doesn't have to set bail and I don't think will.

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What I mean is he can be released without having to post bail, not that he will be held without bail.

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https://twitter.com/AWeissmann_/status/1637682114802905090

Trump has been "truthing" in all caps all weekend.

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It will probably be late if it's today since the GJ has to hear from Trump's witness and then Cohen again.

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Politico reports that Trump will likely be indicted either this afternoon or Wednesday afternoon.

...but not Tuesday?

This GJ meets Monday and Wednesday so they'd have to be called in special to indict Tuesday, so he'd probably just wait until Wednesday.

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Cohen has reportedly left the courtroom, so we might be close.

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Trump's witness, Cohen's former lawyer, was apparently there to testify to Cohen's precarious mental state when he realized he was facing real prison time. Because that's all he's ranting about right now.

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Is this something that's gonna actually go anywhere or were people just hyped up by Trump over a lot of nothing?

He's going to be indicted if that's what you mean. Whether he's convicted or not is hard to predict right now.

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No harm in predicting a date though. It's probably happening tomorrow because they don't have anything left to do.

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GJ on standby for tomorrow.