NEW YORK — The Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence on Donald Trump’s “hush money” payment to porn star Stormy Daniels returned to court Monday for more witness testimony as anticipation continued to build over a possible indictment against the former president.
The grand jury, which usually starts hearing evidence at 2 p.m., was in the building by 1 p.m., a law enforcement source told the New York Daily News. A few hours later, former National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker was spotted leaving the downtown office in a car via a back exit.
The former president and CEO of American Media Inc., the supermarket tabloid’s parent company, is a central player in the hush money scheme. The deal with Daniels was born out of her approaching the Enquirer with her story in October 2016, according to Michael Cohen’s 2018 federal case.
Years prior, Pecker had devised an agreement with Trump and his then-fixer Cohen to “catch and kill” negative Trump stories so they’d never see the light of day.
Pecker received immunity in Cohen’s federal case, ending with the fixer’s conviction and imprisonment.
In August 2016, American Media Inc. made a deal with with Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007, agreeing to pay her $150,000 “at Cohen’s urging” for the “limited life rights” to her story, according to the federal case.
Pecker’s appearance at the district attorney's office Monday was reportedly the second time he testified before the grand jury. His lawyer did not immediately return the Daily News’ calls seeking confirmation.
Grand jurors went home after hearing from Pecker and are scheduled to return on Wednesday, two sources told the Daily News.
It was unclear whether prosecutors intended to call more witnesses after Pecker or if they were planning to soon ask the panel to vote on an indictment against Trump. The investigative grand jury typically sits Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The DA’s office has declined to confirm details about the secret proceedings or the pace at which they are moving.
Scores of reporters and photographers had the DA’s office surrounded as anticipation continued to build that Trump is about to become the first current or former U.S. president in history to face criminal charges.
The week before last, Cohen testified for the first time before the grand jury impaneled in January after meeting with prosecutors at least 20 times over three years. Cohen thought he was the last witness, but then lawyers for Trump requested the district attorney hear from Robert Costello, a lawyer who sought to discredit the ex-Trump fixer as a liar.
The attorney, who has represented Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon in various legal matters, claims that Cohen initially told him Trump didn’t know about the hush money arrangement with Daniels, wanting to keep it secret from both of their wives, which Cohen denies.
In his tell-all memoir, “Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump,” Cohen described how Trump knew all about the $130,000 payment to Daniels and quoted him weighing it before giving Cohen the green light.
“It never pays to settle these things, but many, many friends have advised me to pay,” Cohen quotes Trump in the book. “If it comes out, I’m not sure how it would play with my supporters. But I bet they’d think it’s cool that I slept with a porn star.”
Trump has not yet faced any charges from the yearslong probe, and it’s not certain that he will.
The former president, who is running for the White House for the third time, has decried the DA’s investigation as a “witch hunt.”
His comments attacking DA Alvin Bragg on social media have been widely condemned by New York leaders on both sides of the political aisle, with court officials stepping up security at the lower Manhattan courthouses as Trump called on his supporters to protest his possible arrest, prompting a series of bogus bomb threats.
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