Expected indictment in payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a longtime ally of Trump’s, railed against the looming indictment of the former president by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

“It’s going to blow up our country and this is a bunch of BS,” Graham said on Fox News.

Graham said that Cyrus Vance, the former Manhattan DA whom Bragg succeeded in 2021, had “passed” on prosecuting the hush-money case against Trump. But Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the DA’s office, wrote in a book that he had Vance’s approval to pursue a case against Trump related to the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, NBC News reported.

Graham appeared to reference that book as he claimed that Bragg felt pressured to charge Trump. He called Bragg as a “Soros-backed prosecutor,” referring to billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, as he argued that the DA is “yielding to the political pressure generated” by Vance.

“This is a case without merit, in my view. Donald Trump will be the only person in the history of New York prosecuted under this theory,” Graham said. It is currently unclear what charges Trump would face if he is indicted as part of the DA’s probe.

The remarks on Fox came one day after Graham appeared on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show” and argued that the prosecutorial efforts against Trump could help him politically with his supporters.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump turned to a prayer on Monday night, albeit with some technical difficulties, as the Manhattan District Attorney prepares to bring an indictment against the former president.

Trump called into an online show hosted by ‘Pastors for Trump’ last night where participants prayed for the former president. Trump, after initially losing connection to the call, eventually told viewers “the most important thing I believe we can do right now is to pray for the safety, security and the success and future success of our country.”

Longtime Trump ally Roger Stone said in a separate interview that the former president called him and the two prayed together over the phone.

— Brian Schwartz

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., bristled at questions about Trump’s possible indictment during a Republican retreat aimed at strengthening his party’s legislative agenda.

McCarthy, who over the weekend called on House committees to investigate the Manhattan district attorney’s probe of Trump, reiterated his view that the potential prosecution of the former president was politically motivated.

“This was personal money. This wasn’t trying to hide — this was seven years ago, statute of limitation,” McCarthy said of the DA’s probe, which is focused on a 2016 hush money payment made to a porn star shortly before that year’s presidential election.

“And I think in your heart of hearts, you know too, that you think this is just political,” McCarthy said during a press conference at the House Republican retreat in Orlando, Fla. “And I think that’s what the rest of the country thinks and we’re kind of tired of that.”

He stressed that GOP lawmakers have been focused on policy, and lamented that journalists have asked him about the possible indictment throughout the retreat and will report that the issue “dominates the conference.”

“No, we’re not talking about this in our conference. You’re just asking about it. So it only dominates your asking,” McCarthy said.

— Kevin Breuninger

Trump attacked his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for “deception & lying” in testimony about the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.

“In the history of our Country there cannot have been a more damaged or less credible witness at trial than fully disbarred lawyer and felon, Michael Cohen,” Trump wrote in a pair of posts on Truth Social. Cohen is now a key witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation.

Trump also claimed that Cohen “began to lie about events” after the then-president refused to grant him a pardon related to Cohen’s previous business ventures that were unrelated to his work for the Trump Organization.

The posts came after an attorney, Robert Costello, testified before the grand jury considering the DA’s case in order to question Cohen’s reliability as a witness.

Trump — who has railed against government law enforcement agencies he sees as being out to get him — pointed to a federal prosecutor’s 2018 criticism of Cohen when he pleaded guilty to finance crimes. Those crimes, for which Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, were partially related to the same hush money payment that is now the focus of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s probe.

At the time of his sentencing, federal prosecutors said Cohen’s crimes “portray a pattern of deception.” But Cohen has since testified at length in multiple investigations and has provided possible evidence in support of his claims, including personal checks from Trump that he says were part of his reimbursement for the hush money payment.

— Kevin Breuninger

No grand jury proceedings are expected in Manhattan today, a day after a former legal advisor to Trump’s ex-personal attorney Michael Cohen testified to the panel.

The next scheduled grand jury date is Wednesday, which suggests that is the earliest day that Trump could be indicted in the case.

On Monday, the attorney Bob Costello appeared before the grand jury as a rebuttal witness to Cohen, who is believed to have testified at length about paying off porn star Stormy Daniels at Trump’s behest in 2016.

Costello is a former top federal prosecutor who has recently represented former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump ally who himself has faced criminal investigations into his conduct.

“There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Michael Cohen has great difficulty telling the truth,” Costello said in a statement to reporters after he finished testifying. “He is, after all, a convicted perjurer, and our track record with Mr. Cohen convinced us that he was a serial liar.”

Despite Costello’s statement, prosecutors on Monday did not call Cohen back to the stand to rebut Costello’s testimony.

“The facts and documents speak for themselves,” Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis said afterward.

— Dan Mangan

All New York Police Department officers have been ordered to report to work in full uniform so that they can be sent out to the street if needed to deal with any protests related to the grand jury probe of Trump.

A small protest is expected to begin at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan and head downtown to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Separately, a small caravan of cars driven by Trump backers is headed into the city from Long Island.

But if Monday was any indication, those cops might be all dressed up with no place to go.

That afternoon, a paltry number of New York Republican Club members rallied in downtown Manhattan to voice opposition to the criminal probe, where they were significantly outnumbered by members of the media assigned to cover the event.

Trump in a social media over the weekend post had urged supporters to “Protest, take our nation back!” as he announced he expected to soon be arrested.

“We must save America! Protest, protest, protest!”

— Dan Mangan