One witness testified before the grand jury on Monday.
Two sources have confirmed to Fox News that the Manhattan grand jury ended its deliberations on Monday afternoon without reaching a verdict in the case against former President Trump.
New York City’s secret grand jury convened for a second meeting on Monday. The probe of Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg caused the group to postpone two sessions last week.
Two independent sources confirmed to Fox News on Monday afternoon that David Pecker testified in front of a grand jury. National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., has Pecker as its president. He has previously given grand jury testimony on this topic.
Bragg has been investigating the $130,000 hush money payment made by Trump’s lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels (real name: Stephanie Clifford). In the weeks leading up to the presidential election in 2016, she received this cash in exchange for staying silent about an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
The payments, according to Cohen, were ordered by Trump. Cohen’s company paid Daniels $130,000, and Trump’s business reimbursed Cohen. The money was categorized as “legal expenses” by Trump’s business.
Trump has often said that his payments to Daniels were not unlawful and that they were “a simple private transaction” rather than “a campaign violation.”
The Trump Organization “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement for Daniels’ payment for “tax purposes,” according to federal prosecutors who charged Cohen with crimes in 2018 over the payments.
As part of Cohen’s plea deal, he implicated Trump in the Daniels payment, but federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted not to pursue Trump in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also abandoned its investigation in 2021.
It is unclear if the investigation into Trump will be discussed during Wednesday’s grand jury meeting.
On Sunday, Trump said that all charges against him were dropped.
After his first campaign event for 2024 in Waco, Texas, Trump told reporters on his plane, “I think they’ve already dropped the case.”
He remarked that “the case is a forgery.” “There is literally nothing in some of these fake cases.”
Spokesman for the Trump campaign Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital, in response to questions regarding Trump’s assertion that the case had been dismissed, “This has been dropped because everyone knows it was a partisan witch hunt by a radical leftist DA who tried to use the Justice system to influence an election.”
However, Bragg has been critical of the House Republicans who have invited him to testify before Congress over the investigation.
When deciding how to approach a matter in our field, we consider the relevant facts, the applicable legislation, and the available evidence. In a statement, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said that federal lawmakers should stay out of ongoing municipal probes.
According to Fox News Digital, Bragg will still inform the public of the outcome of the investigation regardless of whether or not charges are filed.
According to one of the senior prosecutors who resigned in protest, Bragg ceased filing charges against Trump when he took office as district attorney in January 2022.
When former DA Cyrus Vance began to have second thoughts about filing charges against Trump, lead prosecutors Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne resigned in protest.
The investigation of Trump began in 2019 under Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. Bank, insurance, and tax fraud were the primary targets of the inquiry. At first, the controversy surrounded Trump’s wealth, namely the value of his Manhattan assets like the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue and his 213-acre estate in Westchester called Seven Springs.
Allegations of tax fraud were made against the Trump Organization and its CFO, Allen Weisselberg, as a consequence of the investigation.
A grand jury’s deliberations and decisions are confidential, and an indictment is often not made public until the accused is brought to trial.