Manhattan Prosecutors Will Begin Presenting Trump Case to Grand Jury - The New York Times

The Manhattan territory attorney’s bureau connected Monday volition statesman presenting grounds to a expansive assemblage astir Donald J. Trump’s relation successful paying hush wealth to a porn prima during his 2016 statesmanlike campaign, laying the groundwork for imaginable transgression charges against the erstwhile president successful the coming months, according to radical with cognition of the matter.

The expansive assemblage was precocious impaneled, and witnesser grounds volition soon begin, a wide awesome that the territory attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is nearing a determination astir whether to complaint Mr. Trump.

On Monday, 1 of the witnesses was seen with his lawyer entering the gathering successful Lower Manhattan wherever the expansive assemblage is sitting. The witness, David Pecker, is the erstwhile steadfast of The National Enquirer, the tabloid that helped broker the woody with the porn star, Stormy Daniels.

As prosecutors hole to reconstruct the events surrounding the outgo for expansive jurors, they person sought to interrogation respective witnesses, including the tabloid’s erstwhile editor, Dylan Howard, and 2 employees astatine Mr. Trump’s company, the radical said. Mr. Howard and the Trump Organization employees, Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff, person not yet testified earlier the expansive jury.

The prosecutors person besides begun contacting officials from Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, 1 of the radical said. And successful a motion that they privation to corroborate these witnesser accounts, the prosecutors precocious subpoenaed telephone records and different documents that mightiness shed airy connected the episode.

A condemnation is not a definite thing, successful portion due to the fact that a lawsuit could hinge connected showing that Mr. Trump and his institution falsified records to fell the payout from voters days earlier the 2016 election, a low-level felony complaint that would beryllium based connected a mostly untested ineligible theory. The lawsuit would besides trust connected the grounds of Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s erstwhile fixer who made the outgo and who himself pleaded blameworthy to national charges related to the hush wealth successful 2018.

Still, the developments compound Mr. Trump’s mounting ineligible woes arsenic helium faces an array of instrumentality enforcement investigations: A territory lawyer successful Georgia could question to indict him for his efforts to overturn his 2020 predetermination nonaccomplishment successful the state, and helium faces a peculiar counsel probe into his removal of delicate documents from the White House.

Mr. Bragg’s determination to impanel a expansive assemblage focused connected the hush wealth — supercharging the longest-running transgression probe into Mr. Trump — represents a melodramatic escalation successful an enquiry that erstwhile appeared to person reached a dormant end.

Under Mr. Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the territory attorney’s bureau had begun presenting grounds to an earlier expansive assemblage astir a lawsuit focused not conscionable connected the hush wealth but connected Mr. Trump’s broader concern practices, including whether helium fraudulently inflated the worth of his existent property to unafraid favorable loans and different fiscal benefits. Yet successful the aboriginal weeks of his tenure past year, Mr. Bragg developed concerns astir the spot of that lawsuit and decided to wantonness the expansive assemblage presentation, prompting the resignations of the 2 elder prosecutors starring the investigation.

For his part, Mr. Trump has denied each wrongdoing and chalked up the scrutiny — arsenic helium has galore times earlier — to a partisan witch hunt against him. If helium were yet convicted, Mr. Trump would look a maximum condemnation of 4 years, though situation clip would not beryllium mandatory.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Bragg’s bureau declined to comment. Mr. Pecker’s lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz did not instantly respond to a petition for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Ronald P. Fischetti, declined to comment, arsenic did a lawyer for Mr. McConney and Ms. Tarasoff.

What to Know About the Trump Investigations

The sheet proceeding grounds astir the hush wealth is apt what’s known arsenic a peculiar expansive jury. Like regular expansive juries, it is made up of 23 Manhattan residents chosen astatine random. But its members are sworn successful to service for six months to perceive analyzable cases, alternatively than the regular 30-day panels that reappraisal grounds and ballot connected whether to bring charges successful cases of burglary, assault, robbery, execution and different crimes.

The territory attorney’s investigation, which has unfolded successful fits and starts implicit the past 4 years, began with an introspection of the hush wealth woody earlier expanding to see Mr. Trump’s spot valuations. Last summer, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors, moving with the bureau of New York Attorney General Letitia James, returned to the hush wealth anew, seeking to jump-start the inquiry aft the departures of Mr. Pomerantz and Carey R. Dunne, the different elder authoritative successful the investigation.

The territory attorney’s bureau is besides continuing to scrutinize the mode that the erstwhile president valued his assets, the radical with cognition of the substance said.

Over the people of the lengthy enquiry into Mr. Trump and the behaviour of his business, the hush wealth enquiry resurfaced wrong the territory attorney’s bureau with specified regularity successful caller years that prosecutors came to notation to it arsenic the “zombie theory” — an thought that conscionable won’t die.

The archetypal disposable motion of advancement for Mr. Bragg came this period erstwhile Mr. Cohen appeared astatine the territory attorney’s office successful Lower Manhattan to conscionable with prosecutors for the archetypal clip successful much than a year. Now, helium is expected to instrumentality for astatine slightest 1 further interrogation with the prosecutors successful February, 1 of the radical said.

The lawyer who represented Ms. Daniels successful the hush wealth deal, Keith Davidson, is besides expected to conscionable with prosecutors successful the coming weeks.

Mr. Trump’s institution was instrumental successful the deal, tribunal records from Mr. Cohen’s national lawsuit show.

Although Mr. McConney and Ms. Tarasoff were not cardinal players, they helped put for the Trump Organization to reimburse Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 helium paid Ms. Daniels, whose existent sanction is Stephanie Clifford.

Allen H. Weisselberg, the company’s erstwhile main fiscal officer, was besides progressive successful reimbursing Mr. Cohen. And, according to Mr. Cohen, Mr. Weisselberg was progressive successful a treatment with Mr. Trump astir whether to wage Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Weisselberg is presently serving clip successful the Rikers Island jailhouse analyzable aft pleading blameworthy to a taxation fraud strategy unrelated to the hush wealth deal, a lawsuit that besides led to the condemnation of the Trump Organization successful December. Although helium was the prima witnesser for the territory attorney’s bureau successful that lawsuit — testifying against the institution that had employed him for decades — helium has ne'er implicated Mr. Trump successful immoderate wrongdoing.

Without his cooperation, prosecutors could conflict to nexus Mr. Trump straight to the misconduct.

In 2018, erstwhile Mr. Cohen pleaded blameworthy to national run concern charges stemming from his relation successful the hush wealth payments, helium pointed the digit astatine Mr. Trump, saying the payout was done “in coordination with, and astatine the absorption of” the president. Federal prosecutors agreed that Mr. Trump was down the woody but ne'er charged him oregon his institution with a crime.

Still, determination is immoderate circumstantial grounds suggesting that Mr. Trump was progressive successful the deal. Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump spoke by telephone doubly the time earlier Mr. Cohen wired the outgo to Ms. Daniels’s lawyer, according to tribunal records successful the national case.

For Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors, the halfway of immoderate imaginable lawsuit is the mode successful which the Trump Organization reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 helium paid Ms. Daniels and however the institution recorded that outgo internally. According to tribunal papers successful Mr. Cohen’s national case, the institution falsely identified the reimbursements arsenic ineligible expenses.

The territory attorney’s bureau present appears to beryllium focusing connected whether erroneously classifying the payments to Mr. Cohen arsenic a ineligible disbursal ran afoul of a New York instrumentality that prohibits the falsifying of concern records.

Violations of that instrumentality tin beryllium charged arsenic a misdemeanor. To marque it a felony, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors would request to amusement that Mr. Trump falsified the records to assistance perpetrate oregon conceal a 2nd transgression successful what prosecutors would reason was a usurpation of a New York State predetermination law. That 2nd facet has mostly gone untested, and would truthful marque for a risky ineligible lawsuit against the erstwhile president.

Mr. Pecker’s grounds could bolster the prosecution’s argument, however. As a longtime state of Mr. Trump, the steadfast agreed during the 2016 run to beryllium connected the lookout for perchance damaging stories astir Mr. Trump.

That October, Ms. Daniels’s cause and lawyer discussed the anticipation of selling exclusive rights to her communicative to The National Enquirer, which would past ne'er people it, a signifier known arsenic “catch and kill.”

But Mr. Pecker, who 2 months earlier had spent $150,000 to bargain and termination a erstwhile Playboy model’s communicative of an matter with Mr. Trump, refused to marque a outgo to Ms. Daniels arsenic well. He and the tabloid’s editor, Mr. Howard, agreed that Mr. Cohen would person to woody with Ms. Daniels’s squad directly.

When Mr. Cohen was dilatory to pay, Mr. Howard pressed him to get the woody done, lest Ms. Daniels spell nationalist with their discussions astir suppressing her story. “We person to coordinate something,” Mr. Howard texted Mr. Cohen successful precocious October 2016, “or it could look awfully atrocious for everyone.”

Two days later, Mr. Cohen transferred the $130,000 to an relationship held by Ms. Daniels’s attorney.

Hurubie Meko and Michael Rothfeld contributed reporting.