The grand jury hearing evidence in Manhattan Attorney General Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Donald Trump over an alleged hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels is on a planned break for weeks, pushing back a potential indictment of the former president, reports Politico.
The New York grand jury will not reconvene on the matter until after the April Easter holiday, a law enforcement source told Reuters. Catholics mark Easter on April 9.
The hiatus was previously scheduled. The group, which typically meets Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, heard testimony in the Trump case Monday but is not expected to meet Wednesday and is set to examine evidence in a separate matter Thursday, according to the report.
Bragg is reportedly seeking an indictment against Trump for allegedly falsifying business records by writing off the payment as legal fees to former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Trump last week claimed Bragg had "dropped" the probe, calling it a "fake case."
"Some fake cases, they have absolutely nothing," he told reporters on his jet Saturday night after a campaign rally in Waco, Texas.
His comments came a day after he sparked controversy with a social media post of him aiming a baseball bat at Bragg’s head.
"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case, a former president of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?" he wrote in a Truth Social post.
"Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truly [sic] hates the USA!"
The Politico report cites a source familiar with the proceedings.
It is unclear when the grand jury would take up the matter again, said the source, who was granted anonymity to discuss secret grand jury proceedings.
If indicted, Trump would become the first U.S. president to face a criminal charge in court.
A former National Enquirer publisher testified for the second time before the panel on Monday, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The publisher, David Pecker, had offered to help Trump in the run-up to the November 2016 election by buying rights to unflattering stories and not publishing them, a practice known as "catch and kill."
In the case of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, her agent told the editor in October 2016 that she was willing to go public about the alleged sexual encounter she said she had with Trump.
Pecker and the editor contacted then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen and connected him with an attorney for Daniels. Cohen then negotiated the $130,000 agreement.
Federal prosecutors have said Cohen made the payment at Trump's direction.
Trump has denied an affair took place, and lawyer Robert Costello, who met with Cohen in 2018, has said Cohen told him he acted alone.
Costello testified before the grand jury last week. Cohen, who testified the previous week, pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges stemming from the payoff and went to prison for the campaign finance violation, among other crimes.
Trump faces several other criminal investigations, including one tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. He continues to claim falsely that his 2020 defeat was the result of fraud.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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