CNN
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The extraordinary legal crisis surrounding Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch at the same time that the former president is leading a 2024 Republican primary that is increasingly dominated by criminal investigations in New York, Washington and Atlanta.
But there is no public information on when or if an indictment might be filed, leaving the former president and the public in suspense.
The Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence in Trump’s case will not meet Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the case.
New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has suggested to a lawyer for at least one witness in the past 24 hours that they should give additional testimony to the grand jury in his hush money probe, according to a source. who is familiar with the investigation.
Expectations are high that Bragg, a Democrat, is preparing to rule on a potential indictment against Trump any day now over a hush-money payment scheme to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Bragg has not said anything about the status of the investigation or whether Trump will be indicted.
The Manhattan grand jury usually hears testimony on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, but it is not yet clear if it will meet on Thursday. Two sources told CNN that the grand jury is on standby, but has not yet received a subpoena. There is no immediate deadline for prosecutors as the grand jury sits until June.
As the investigation approaches its final stages, prosecutors are considering the historic nature of prosecuting a former president – an unprecedented act, sources told CNN. Other sources told CNN that the DA’s office is taking a moment to regroup after the events of last week.
In another blow to Trump’s legal team, Trump’s defense attorney Evan Corcoran is scheduled to testify Friday before a grand jury investigating classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago after in a new order from a federal appeals court, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
The US DC Court of Appeals said Corcoran must provide additional testimony and turn over documents about the former president as part of a criminal investigation into possible mishandling of classified documents from the Trump era. White House.
The source said Trump’s side is unlikely to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The announcement from a three-judge appeals court panel — less than a day after Trump sought to block Corcoran’s testimony — adds momentum to the special counsel’s investigation as it seeks to get the evidence that could make or break a federal criminal case against Trump.
After Trump posted on social media last week calling for protests on his behalf, city and federal officials increased security and continued to discuss how to handle potential demonstrations and the logistics of a former president arrested. Sources suggest that even if there is an indictment this week, court proceedings will not take place until next week.
Meet Manhattan’s DA who will become the first prosecutor to indict a former US president
The DA has not commented publicly on the state or progress of the investigation. But recent testimony from a witness subpoenaed by the former president’s legal team, as well as an offer to allow Trump himself to testify, signal that Bragg is getting closer to an indictment decision.
Attorney Robert Costello, who appeared on Trump’s behalf, testified Monday to question the testimony of Michael Cohen, a key prosecution witness. Cohen, who was on standby that day to testify as a rebuttal witness, left without being called, leaving the door open for him to be called back if prosecutors felt they needed him.
In another potential setback for Trump, communications between Daniels and an attorney who now represents Trump, Joe Tacopina, have been turned over to the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Daniels’ attorney told CNN. The exchanges — said to date back to 2018, when Daniels sought representation — raised the possibility that Tacopina could be sidelined from Trump’s defense in the case.
At his Mar-a-Lago home, Trump appeared to resign himself to the possibility that he would be indicted by the Manhattan district attorney, as he both celebrated how it would help him politically and complained if what it is “unfair”, according to sources close to the former president.
Meanwhile, Trump is the focus of a separate investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith over the handling of classified documents. The appeals court’s decision Wednesday that Corcoran must testify before a grand jury investigating the matter followed a flurry of activity in response to a major ruling from a district court judge. That decision shows the Justice Department successfully argued there was evidence Trump may have committed a crime, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The appeals court’s three-judge panel gave the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers several hours to file briefs on the DOJ’s push to compel Corcoran to testify, an accelerated timeline underscoring the court’s view that this is a critical case that needs to be adjudicated immediately. .
Corcoran previously testified and declined to answer some questions, citing attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors are also seeking access to notes from Corcoran.
The documents at issue in the case are Corcoran’s handwritten notes and transcribed verbal notes, about his representation of Trump in the Mar-a-Lago probe, according to a source familiar with the matter. in that matter.
It is not yet fully known what Corcoran’s testimony and documents will reveal.
While the special counsel’s case may pose a more serious legal threat to the president, the Manhattan district attorney appears to be closest to bringing the charges. Amid uncertainty over how the years-long investigation will end, several advisers to the former president expressed frustration at the lack of information about a potential indictment and the logistical complications that come with appearing in New York, where Trump will be arraigned.
“We plan what we can do: What did he say and when?” another adviser told CNN. “There’s not much we can plan right now.”
Trump’s lawyers are also seeking to drop an investigation into the former president in Georgia over efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election. Trump’s lawyers this week asked a judge to throw out the final report and evidence from a special grand jury in Fulton County.
Trump’s potential indictment in New York did not affect the course of charging decisions in the Fulton County case, where charges could come as soon as this spring in that case, CNN previously reported.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
