Trump Could Face Charges For Stormy Daniels Payments As Manhattan DA Reportedly Convenes Grand Jury

Topline

A grand jury has been impaneled to determine whether former President Donald Trump committed a crime through his alleged role in making “hush money” payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the New York Times reports, suggesting the Manhattan District Attorney may soon bring charges against the ex-president.

Former President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower on August 10, 2022 in New York City.

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Key Facts

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg “recently” impaneled the grand jury and began presenting evidence to it on Monday, the Times reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

The grand jury heard witness testimony Monday from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, the Times reported, after he refused to pay off Daniels himself to silence her allegations against Trump, and the DA’s office is trying to secure more witnesses, including two Trump Organization employees.

The investigation is focused on the $130,000 that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid to Daniels over her allegations ahead of the 2016 election that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which the Trump Organization allegedly reimbursed Cohen for.

The grand jury will consider whether Trump and his business illegally falsified business records to cover up the payments, and whether he did so to conceal a second crime of making the payments themselves, which the Times notes is a largely “untested” legal theory that could fail.

Bragg’s office declined to comment on the Times report.

What We Don’t Know

Whether charges will actually be brought against Trump. The Times notes that it could be hard to prove that Trump had anything to do with the payments, even though Cohen alleged in court that he did. Trump’s lawyers would likely argue that Cohen is lying because he has an “ax to grind against Trump,” according to the report. Prosecutors will try to get former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg—who’s already been convicted of fraud as part of the DA’s broader investigation—to cooperate with the investigation and attest to Trump’s involvement, the Times reports, as Weisselberg allegedly played a role in reimbursing the payments. The DA’s office is also still reportedly looking into how Trump valued his assets, according to the Times, after New York Attorney General Letitia James separately sued the ex-president and his company for allegedly inflating the value of the Trump Organization’s assets on financial documents for their own gain.

What To Watch For

The grand jury will be convened for six months, according to the Times, so any decisions on whether to indict Trump would be made during that time.

Tangent

The grand jury news comes days after a new book revealed federal prosecutors seriously considered charging Trump over the “hush money” payments before the Manhattan investigation. Prosecutors at the Southern District of New York had “significant” evidence against Trump when they charged Cohen over the payments in 2018, but didn’t indict him due to guidance against charging sitting presidents, according to the new book Untouchable by legal analyst and former prosecutor Elie Honig. When Trump left office in January 2021, prosecutors again decided against charging him, in part because his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and other legal controversies “made the campaign finance violations seem somehow trivial and outdated by comparison,” according to Honig’s book.

Key Background

The Manhattan DA’s office has been investigating Trump and the Trump Organization since 2019, with its investigation first focused on the payments to Daniels before becoming more broadly about the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. The probe has so far resulted in both Weisselberg and the Trump Organization being convicted for tax fraud over a scheme to pay executives in off-the-books compensation that wasn’t taxed—like paying for apartments and private school tuition—but there have not yet been any charges against Trump himself. While the investigation initially seemed to have died down in recent months, the Times reported in November that prosecutors had “jump-start[ed]” it with a focus back on the “hush money” payments. News of the grand jury comes after Cohen was seen meeting with prosecutors on January 17, suggesting progress on the investigation was being made. Cohen served a three-year sentence in prison and home confinement over charges stemming in part from paying off Daniels, who herself sued Trump in an effort to end the hush money agreement. That case was dismissed in 2019, and Trump has repeatedly denied ever having an affair with the adult film star.