Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before his speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland.Â
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The New York City grand jury that is weighing whether to criminally charge former President Donald Trump is set to resume work at noon on Thursday after an unexpected day off.
But those proceedings might not be related to the investigation of a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election from Michael Cohen, who was Trump’s personal lawyer at that time.
Instead, the grand jury is expected to handle another case, unrelated to the payoff.
But Trump faces three other serious criminal inquiries in Washington, D.C., and Georgia, as he seeks the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
On Friday, his lawyer Evan Corcoran is expected to testify to a federal grand jury in Washington that is hearing evidence in a Department of Justice probe of Trump’s retention of classified government records at his Florida residence after leaving the White House.
The DOJ is also investigating Trump for his efforts to reverse his 2020 Electoral College loss to President Joe Biden. And an Atlanta grand jury is eyeing Trump and his allies for pressuring Georgia officials to undo his loss to Biden in the state’s popular vote that year.
In the Manhattan case, Cohen and Daniels, who’s also known as Stephanie Clifford, have both said the $130,000 was paid to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, used the term “legal expenses” in business documents to record payments he made to Cohen to cover the cost of paying off Daniels as well as taxes he owed on that money.