NYC grand injury hears from final witnesses
A grand jury NEW YORK — was hearing from final witnesses Monday in the investigation into Donald Trump as law enforcement officials accelerated security preparations in advance of a possible indictment and as fellow Republicans staked out positions in a criminal probe expected to shake up the 2024 presidential race.
Robert Costello, a lawyer who had a falling out with the star government witness in the Trump investigation, arrived in court Monday to appear before the grand jury in New York. His testimony was expected to give the former president an indirect opportunity to make a case that he shouldn’t face charges over hush money paid during his 2016 campaign.
Costello was asked to appear by the Manhattan district attorney’s office after he said he had information raising questions about the credibility of Michael Cohen, a key witness in the investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity.
Costellos’ appearance is yet another indication that prosecutors are moving to wrap up their probe, with grand jurors presumably being offered an opportu- nity to consider any testi- mony or evidence favorable to Trump that could weaken the case for moving forward with an indictment.
It was unclear whether Costello’s testimony has any potential to change the course of a grand jury probe that seems close to concluding, and Cohen is also expected to have a chance to testify again by way of a rebuttal.
The testimony is coming two days after Trump said he expected to face crimi- nal charges and urged supporters to protest his possible arrest. In a series of social media posts through the weekend, the former Republican president crit- icized the New York investigation, directing particu- larly hostile rhetoric toward Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
It’s not clear when prose- cutors might wrap up their work, but law enforcement in New York has been mak- ing physical preparations for any unrest. Scaffolding surrounds most of the build- ing where the grand jury is meeting and the building across the street that houses the district attorney’s office. In the morning, a New York Police Department truck began dropping off portable metal barricades.
Trump faces criminal probes in Atlanta and Wash- ington that, taken together, pose significant legal peril and carry the prospect of upending a GOP presidential race in which Trump remains a leading contender. Some of his likely opponents have tried to strike a balance between condemning a potential prosecution as politically motivated while avoiding condoning Trump’s alleged conduct.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an expected GOP presidential candidate, criticized the investigation but also threw one of his first jabs at the former president. “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.”
“What I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many, many years ago ... that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. And I think that’s fundamentally wrong.”