The New York grand jury that is expected to soon consider an indictment of former President Donald Trump was told not to come in on Wednesday, reports say.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office told the grand jury members that they should be on standby for Thursday, Business Insider and NBC News reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Fox News Digital reported that the grand jury was canceled amid "major dissension" within the district attorney's office. One source told Fox News Digital that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is having trouble convincing the grand jury on potential charges due to the "weakness" of the case.
The grand jury last met Monday and heard testimony from Robert Costello, a former legal adviser to Michael Cohen. Cohen is the former Trump attorney who said he had delivered the so-called hush money to Stormy Daniels.
Costello, in his appearance before the grand jury, testified that Cohen is a "serial liar."
Trump did not know about the payments made by Cohen to Stormy Daniels, Costello testified.
Costello told reporters following his more than two hours of testimony before the grand jury on Monday that Cohen said he had masterminded the hush-money agreement all by himself.
“The heart of it is that Michael Cohen told us that he was approached by Stormy Daniels’ lawyer and Stormy Daniels had negative information that she wanted to put in a lawsuit against Trump,” Costello said.
“So Michael Cohen decided on his own, that’s what he told us, on his own to see if he could take care of this,” Costello said.
Costello said Cohen told him he drew up the payment agreement with Daniels’ lawyers and used a loan to cover it, saying he “wanted to keep this secret, even secret” from his wife.
New York Post reporter Miranda Devine tweeted that Costello's testimony "was a game changer."
Cohen, who claimed Trump directed him to make the $130,000 payout to Daniels and aimed to cover it up, previously pleaded guilty to his role in the case and other crimes and served a little more than three years behind bars.
He has already testified before the grand jury.
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said the George Soros-funded Bragg hid hundreds of pages of exculpatory evidence from the New York grand jury.
"I think, when Bob Costello got into that grand jury room and told them, 'Wait a minute. You don’t have the hundreds of pages I handed over to Alvin Bragg over here? You only have six cherry-picked documents?' You know, hiding from grand juries exculpatory information is reprehensible and unconscionable. And the conduct of Alvin Bragg and his henchman Mark Pomeranz, who specifically says in his book, 'We’re targeting zombies because we don’t like his beliefs,' those guys should face disbarment proceedings."
Former Bronx prosecutor Michael Discioarro said that Bragg’s case against Trump is all but doomed.
“A twisted jumble of old facts with damaged witnesses that will be easily cross-examined and an offense that a jury may have a hard time following: This is by far the weakest case against Trump,” the defense lawyer told the New York Post on Monday.
“Why is a 7-year-old payment all of a sudden so important? I don’t care about politics. This is about what a jury will believe, and I know Bragg is counting on a liberal Manhattan jury. Manhattanites are liberal no question — but they are far from stupid,” Discioarro said.
Trump wrote in a Telegram post: "Every article I read, every show I watch, even the so-called Haters say that “President Trump did nothing wrong, there IS NO CRIME HERE!” As Biden would say, “No, I mean it, I’m not kidding.” The Crime would be if I get charged!!!
"The Rogue prosecutor, who is having a hard time with the Grand Jury, especially after the powerful testimony against him by Felon Cohen’s highly respected former lawyer, is attempting to build a case that has NEVER BEEN BROUGHT BEFORE AND ACTUALLY, CAN’T BE BROUGHT. If he spent this time, effort, and money on fighting VIOLENT CRIME, which is destroying NYC, our once beautiful and safe Manhattan, which has become an absolute HELLHOLE, would be a much better place to live!"
Retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz suggested that Trump could not only run for office but even serve as president if he is convicted in connection to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office investigation.
Dershowitz, an attorney who has represented controversial clients including O.J. Simpson and Jim Bakker, told Newsmax that he believes Trump will be indicted in New York City because of what he described as an unfair legal system in the Democrat-dominated city. But if Trump is convicted and sentenced to a prison term, the U.S. Constitution will allow him to serve in that capacity.
“He will be indicted,” Dershowitz, who also provided legal counsel to Trump during his first impeachment trial, told Newsmax. “In New York, you can indict a ham sandwich. In New York City, you can convict a ham sandwich because the jury pool is so unfair. Even if he’s convicted, he can run for president. He can run for president from prison; he can even serve as president from prison.”
The U.S. Constitution doesn’t bar felons from holding elected office, including the presidency. The Constitution’s text only lists three criteria to run for president: a candidate has to be age 35 or older, be a natural born citizen, and they must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
In a separate interview with Chris Cuomo, Dershowitz asserted that “Trump can run from prison, the way [Boston] Mayor [James] Curley did, and he could win, and he can govern from prison.” Curley, a Democrat who served as mayor of Boston four times in the early part of the 20th century, was convicted twice and notably served time in prison during his fourth term in office.
Trump has previously stated that he will continue to run for president in 2024 even if he is charged.
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