Manhattan Prosecutors Will Begin Presenting Trump Case to Grand Jury

[Drum]

Source: New York Times

By William K. Rashbaum, Ben Protess and Jonah E. Bromwich
Jan. 30, 2023
Updated 1:18 p.m. ET

The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday will begin presenting evidence to a grand jury about Donald J. Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges against the former president in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The grand jury was recently impaneled, and witness testimony will soon begin, a clear signal that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is nearing a decision about whether to charge Mr. Trump.

On Monday, one of the witnesses was seen with his lawyer entering the building in Lower Manhattan where the grand jury is sitting. The witness, David Pecker, is the former publisher of The National Enquirer, the tabloid that helped broker the deal with the porn star, Stormy Daniels.

As prosecutors prepare to reconstruct the events surrounding the payment for grand jurors, they have sought to interview several witnesses, including the tabloid’s former editor, Dylan Howard, and two employees at Mr. Trump’s company, the people said. Mr. Howard and the Trump Organization employees, Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff, have not yet testified before the grand jury.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/nyregion/trump-stormy-daniels-grand-jury.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

[Walleye]

1. David Pecker! I wondered what happened to him

It should be pretty interesting testimony if he doesn’t take the fifth. I guess the statute of limitations hasn’t run out on this yet

[mopinko]

2. yeah, caught my eye, too. where r the contents of his safe?

that fucker should face some justice, too.

[FakeNoose]

29. Pecker got a witness immunity deal from the feds

Then he got fired from his job, then his publications were sold off. He's pretty much a nobody now.
Everything (and everyone) Chump touches, dies.

(link) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pecker

[Yonnie3]

4. The statute usually gives five years but,

there is a law that extends that up to five years if the person is out of state. It was passed in September 2019, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CPL/A30

I wonder if they had 45 and crew in mind.

[gab13by13]

11. I believe the statute ran out for a federal prosecution.

[Yonnie3]

13. Don't know about that, but this is a New York Grand Jury n/t

[reACTIONary]

26. IIRC, he already plead guilty to charges, and...

... may be there as a witness against tfg. I may not remember correctly, however.

Follow up from cnn:

Pecker and another associate received immunity in the federal investigation into the hush money payments in exchange for their testimony before a grand jury. He previously met with prosecutors with the district attorney’s office as far back as 2019.

[Walleye]

27. Wow, immunity, that's promising

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. How does Trump's payoff violate NY state law?

I know the payoffs violated federal law, campaign finance law specifically, but what NY state law would it violate?

[jgo]

6. from the article

... whether erroneously classifying the payments to Mr. Cohen as a legal expense ran afoul of a New York law that prohibits the falsifying of business records.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. I guess the statute of limitations in NY is more than 5 years?

I still think it’s a stretch that Trump will be indicted, much less convicted, of this charge. Fani Willis in GA and the feds have much more compelling cases.

[jmowreader]

30. Not much of a stretch

The worst place in the world, as far as Trump is concerned, for Trump to face criminal charges is New York City. The guy ran roughshod over New York for so long they’re just itching to throw him in the slammer for…something, and this charge is as good as any.

[brooklynite]

5. So DA Bragg ISN'T being bribed, blackmailed or threatened?

Good to know.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. I think he's being shamed into acting

Since his position is an elected, not appointed one.

I don’t have much confidence that Bragg will successfully prosecute Trump for this, or any crime, but proceeding to present evidence to a Grand Jury is a good step.

[Justice matters.]

9. Let's wait. I read somewhere he is 'scared' of what Pommerantz book will reveal.

Of course, it might be about him 'closing' the case before 'reopening' it due to what criticism the book could contain.

Let's wait to see if the GJ will issue indictments AND if he will bring charges based on those.

[gab13by13]

14. Pomerantz and Dunne

were going after a lot more than Stormy Daniels. The feds needed to go after Trump for Stormy, the case was already teed up by Mueller.

[Justice matters.]

16. The SDNY case being Federal jurisdiction, I think the statute of limitations has expired.

Right?

[gab13by13]

18. That is correct,

that's why I used past tense.

[moniss]

10. Possibly

but it could also be a move to indict as low as possible and then reach a plea to a misdemeanor or to put in a half-hearted effort at trial. That is common in these cases of big, powerful corrupt people. Then the prosecutor gets to say "I tried".

[Justice matters.]

15. I don't think such a weasel excuse would go well with NY voters...

a majority being more than extremely fed up with the treasonous furhair's get-out-of-jail-scot-free cards.

Braggs should be informed of that fact ASAP.

[MyOwnPeace]

21. The idea that DA Bragg may not have known that......

is a monumental failure on the part of ANY District Attorney sworn to serve his district and country.....

[moniss]

23. I don't think

Bragg cares about longevity in the job to tell you the truth. I think that ship sailed and he knows he will be moving on. Incompetency/corruption at that level is usually a guarantee of a job somewhere else for someone willing to "phone it in" by using the aforementioned "skills". Look at the career of Ken Starr, Bill Barr etc.

[Evolve Dammit]

25. I would not be surprised..

[iluvtennis]

12. Good stuff - so happy to see this happening. It's a bit late, but I'll take it. n/t

[ificandream]

17. Yay ....

I know there's been a lot of impatience with the slow-moving of this, but I felt they would do it when they had their best case and not before. They know Trump has the lawyers big money can buy. So they've been planning. And now the time apparently has come.

[gab13by13]

19. Mueller teed the case up years ago,

remember "individual one?"

Michael Cohen went to prison for delivering a check that was signed by Trump.

[bmichaelh]

20. Fraud may have an exception to statute of limitations

I know that sometimes fraud has no statute of limitations.

Not sure about NY state law though

[Bev54]

22. Did Bragg go and ask for all the evidence back that they returned?

[moniss]

24. I had forgotten

about that. It reminds me a bit about the Scott Walker/Wisconsin GQP corruption and the slam dunk evidence a long investigation found and that the corrupt WI Supreme Court ordered returned to the crooks because they felt it was their First Amendment right to be crooked, violate state laws by using state resources for private campaigns etc. The court that also ducked away from holding one of its' members accountable for trying to choke a member they disagreed with. They did so by having enough members recuse themselves so that a quorum of justices couldn't be empaneled to make the inquiry. Profiles in courage.