Former President Donald Trump has been invited to testify before a New York grand jury about alleged hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, who are still deciding whether to move forward on indicting Trump, invited him to appear before a grand jury next week regarding his business affairs. The grand jury notification appears to mark the most significant sign to date that Trump could face criminal charges, but it may only signify that the state prosecutor's investigation is winding down.
MANHATTAN DA WILL LIKELY 'MOVE TOWARD AN INDICTMENT' IN TRUMP CASE, LEGAL EXPERT SAYS
Trump attorney Joseph Tacopina told the Associated Press that prosecutors had no legal basis for a case in the matter.
"To me, it’s much ado about nothing," he said. “It’s just another example of them weaponizing the justice system against him, and it’s sort of unfair."
Tacopina did not respond to the Washington Examiner's request for comment on the matter. He has also made no indication whether his client intended to testify. Potential criminal defendants in New York have the right to testify to the grand jury before being indicted, but individuals rarely accept that offer.
Bragg's office declined to comment on the grand jury, which could be the first ever to bring criminal charges against a former U.S. president. Still, the Trump invitation does indicate that a decision on charging Trump is near.
Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, testified before Congress in 2019 that he paid Daniels, an adult film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 during the 2016 campaign to prevent her from going public about an affair she claimed to have with Trump in 2005. Cohen, who pleaded guilty and served time over the alleged payment, told lawmakers Trump reimbursed him in monthly installments.
While it is not a crime to send or receive hush money payments, the New York Times noted that Manhattan prosecutors could argue that the $130,000 effectively became an improper donation to Trump's 2016 campaign. Operating under the theory that the money silenced Daniels and kept the affair under wraps before Election Day, it could be fair to say that the payment benefited his candidacy.
It is unclear what charges Bragg's office is mulling against Trump. Prosecutors in the Cohen case alleged that the Trump Organization "falsely accounted" for the monthly payments as legal expenses. Falsifying business records in New York technically amounts to a misdemeanor. To elevate it to a low-level felony, prosecutors in the Trump case must show that the conduct was committed in connection with another crime and the former president's "intent to defraud."
Bragg's team locked down a guilty plea last August against Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's longtime chief financial officer, who agreed to testify against his former company as part of the deal. New York Attorney General Letitia James also unveiled a $250 million civil lawsuit against Trump in September.
"The Manhattan district attorney's threat to indict President Trump is simply insane,” a Trump spokesman said in a statement after the invitation was publicized. “For the past five years, the DA's office has been on a witch hunt, investigating every aspect of President Trump's life, and they've come up empty at every turn — and now this."
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Calling the matter an "old and rebuked case which has been rejected by every prosecutor's office," Trump, who denies the affair with Daniels, lambasted the case in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
The former president, who has said he would not drop his 2024 presidential bid if indicted, faces a great deal of legal exposure in addition to the hush money matter. An Atlanta-based district attorney is probing Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, and Attorney General Merrick Garland has special counsel Robert Hur overseeing Justice Department investigations into Trump's mishandling of classified documents and his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.