a Manhattan grand jury Investigating former President Donald Trump’s role in A push “silence” The meeting returned on Monday and heard the testimony of a key witness, according to informed sources.
David Pecker, former CEO of American Media and publisher of The National Enquirer, was seen entering the building where the grand jury was meeting and testifying before the committee on Monday afternoon, two sources said.
Just weeks before the 2016 election, Baker played a key role in connecting the lawyer of adult movie star Stormy Daniels, who claimed she was having an affair with Trump, with Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-lawyer. Cohen eventually obtained a non-disclosure agreement from Daniels for $130,000.
AMI was the parent company of The National Enquirer. In August 2016, the magazine purchased the rights to a story of a woman who said she had an affair with Trump, but the outlet never published her account. company later I confess The “hunt and kill” tactic is designed to suppress the story and help Trump’s election prospects. Baker served as CEO of AMI until 2020.
The grand jury last met to discuss the Trump investigation on March 20, when it heard attorney Robert Costello at the request of Trump’s legal team.
Trump, who is running for president again, has attacked the investigation during the course of the campaign Saturday in Waco, Texas, claiming he was under investigation “for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not an affair.” He has denied this case and all allegations of wrongdoing regarding the payment.
Trump previously incorrectly predicted that he would be arrested last Tuesday, March 22, calling for protests that day. Tuesday came and went without arrest, and with little commotion behind the sparse group of supporters who crowded sporadically across the street from the Manhattan Criminal Court.
A large law enforcement presence descended on the lower Manhattan neighborhood surrounding the courthouse and district attorney’s offices, with police barricading sidewalks and removing trash cans around buildings. He repeatedly criticized Trump on his social media site, including warning that an indictment could lead to “potential death and destruction.” He also posted an edited photo to Truth Social of himself holding a baseball bat next to a photo of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. This post was later removed.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
There were at least two fake hoax bomb threats leveled at the Manhattan courts in the week after Trump called the protests. On Friday, an employee in the mailroom of the Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an envelope addressed to Prague containing white powder and a note. The powder was later determined not to be dangerous.
A law enforcement source said, “Alvin, I’m going to kill you.”
After the threat, 177 former federal prosecutors signed a statement condemning the threats against Bragg and his office.
“As former prosecutors, we condemn efforts to intimidate the Manhattan district attorney and call on everyone to support and protect prosecutorial independence and the rule of law,” they wrote.
It is not clear when the grand jury will be asked to vote on a potential indictment.
In early March, Bragg’s office called Trump to appear before a grand jury — a move often in New York signaling prosecutors closing in on an indictment. The investigation appears to focus on whether Daniels’ payments involved falsifying business records and violating the government’s campaign finance law.
Manhattan state is at least one Four criminal investigations Including Trump. In Fulton County, Georgia, a special grand jury has cross-examined 75 witnesses as part of the six-month investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost.
A Georgia grand jury report was filed in January with Fulton County Fanny Willis, who has not announced any indictments related to this investigation.
In Washington, D.C., Trump attorney Evan Corcoran testified Friday for more than three hours before a federal grand jury set up by Special Attorney Jack Smith. Corcoran testified after a federal judge ruled that some of his claims of attorney-client privilege were invalid under the “crime and fraud exception”.
Smith investigates possible mishandling of Confidential documents So is Trump’s role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in connection with all of the investigations and has accused investigators of conducting a “witch hunt”.
