Trump, city waiting out his possible indictment
NEW YORK — Facing the possibility of criminal charges, Donald Trump waited it out Tuesday in Florida as New York braced for disruptions that could follow an indictment. Republican contenders in the 2024 race sized up the impact a prosecution could have on a campaign in which the former president is a leading contender.
A Manhattan grand jury appeared to take an important step forward on Monday by hearing from a witness favorable to Trump.
The next steps were unclear, and it was uncertain if additional witnesses might be summoned. But a city mindful of the riot by Trump loyalists at the U.S. Capitol more than two years ago took steps to protect itself from any violence that could accompany the unprecedented prosecution of a former president.
Monday’s testimony from Robert Costello, a lawyer with close ties to numerous key Trump aides, appeared to be a final opportunity for allies to steer the grand jury away from an indictment. Costello was invited by prosecutors to appear after saying he had information to undercut the credibility of Michael Cohen, a former lawyer and fixer for Trump who later turned against him and then became a key witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation.
In a news conference after his grand jury appearance, Costello said he had come forward because he did not believe Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal crimes and served time in prison.
Responding on MSNBC, Cohen said that Costello was never his lawyer and “he lacks any sense of veracity.”
There were no signs that Costello’s testimony had affected the course of the investigation.
The testimony came two days after Trump said he expected to face criminal charges and urged supporters to protest his possible arrest. In social media posts through the weekend, he criticized the investigation, directing particularly hostile rhetoric toward Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
New York officials have been monitoring online chatter of threats of varying specificity, but even as portable metal barricades were dropped off to safeguard streets and sidewalks, there were no immediate signs that Trump’s calls for protests were being heeded.
Tuesday morning, Manhattan court proceedings were temporarily halted by a bomb threat called in via 911, according to a court spokesman. That delayed the start of a hearing in a separate case, the New York attorney general’s lawsuit accusing Trump and his company of a years-long fraud scheme.
As the New York investigation pushes toward conclusion, Trump faces other criminal probes that, taken together, pose significant legal peril and carry the prospect of upending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Some of his likely opponents have tried to strike a balance between condemning a potential prosecution as politically motivated while avoiding condoning the conduct at issue.
Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, an expected GOP presidential candidate, criticized the investigation but also jabbed at Trump.
“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some kind of alleged affair,” Desantis said at a news conference in Panama City. “I can’t speak to that.”