32 Minutes ago
Bob Costello, Michael Cohen’s former legal adviser, will testify before a grand jury considering Trump’s case
Steve Bannon (C), counsel to former President Donald Trump, appears with members of his legal team outside the E. Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse on June 15, 2022 in Washington, DC. Bannon appeared before a federal judge in connection with his contempt of Congress charge for failing to respond to a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee on January 6. Also pictured were Bannon’s attorney David Schoen (2nd L) and the attorney Robert J. Costello (L) ).
Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Robert “Bob” Costello, who was a legal adviser to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, will testify before a grand jury considering the former president’s payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the his 2016 election campaign, NBC News reported.
Trump’s legal team asked the Manhattan district attorney to allow Costello to testify, indicating he could contradict Cohen’s testimony. Cohen, who said Trump ordered him to pay Daniels $130,000 to dispel allegations that he and Trump had an affair before he became president, is considered a key witness at the hearing.
Costello said Cohen waived his attorney-client privilege in 2019 and said Sunday he never signed a retainer agreement. Cohen, meanwhile, said Costello did not represent him.
— Chelsey Cox
51 Minutes ago
Mike Pence says Trump’s indictment is a ‘politically charged prosecution’
Former US Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the Young America’s Foundation Student Conference on July 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. Pence outlined a conservative agenda and asked questions about Taiwan and his relationship with former President Donald Trump.
Nathan Howard | Getty Images
Former Vice President Mike Pence said the expected arrest of his former boss, former President Trump, by Manhattan prosecutors amounts to a “politically charged prosecution.”
“I am appalled at the idea of impeaching a former president of the United States,” Pence said in an interview with ABC News that aired Sunday.
“At a time when there’s a crime wave in New York City, the fact that the Manhattan DA thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority in my mind — tells you everything that needs to be you will learn about the radical left,” he said.
“It just feels like a politically charged prosecution,” Pence said, adding, “for my part, I feel like this is just not what the American people want to see.”
Those comments came as Pence was apparently weighing a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, putting him in competition with Trump, who has been on the campaign trail for months.
Pence’s relationship with Trump soured after the former vice president refused to join an effort to reverse Trump’s 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. Trump, who spent months denying the results of that election, forced Pence to reject crucial Electoral College votes for Biden when he presided over a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021. Capitol, which was forced Pence and members of Congress flee their chambers.
Asked in an ABC interview about Trump’s calls for protests in response to his expected impeachment, Pence said, “I think people understand that if they’re going to express it, if it’s going to happen on Tuesday, then they have to do it peacefully and in a legal manner.”
Pence declined to weigh in on the merits of the Manhattan DA’s possible lawsuit against Trump.
— Kevin Breuinger
2 Hours Ago
Attacked by Florida Gov. DeSantis is the Manhattan DA because of possible charges against Trump
US President Donald Trump listens to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speak about the response to the coronavirus during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, US, April 28, 2020.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to consider a Republican presidential bid, has targeted the Manhattan district attorney in his expected prosecution of Trump.
The governor slammed DA Alvin Bragg as a “Soros-funded prosecutor” but offered little to defend Trump, who now leads the GOP presidential primary field.
“I don’t know what it’s like to pay hush money to a porn star to ensure silence about some kind of alleged affair, I just, I can’t say that,” DeSantis said at a conference on the news, prompting laughter from his audience. .
“But what I can say is if you have a prosecutor who ignores the crimes that happen every day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many years ago to try to use something about paying money to porn star, that’s an example of. pursuing a political agenda,” he added.
The statements came as some of Trump’s allies and campaign surrogates noted DeSantis’ silence about the possibility of criminal charges being filed against the former president.
DeSantis is expected to announce his presidential plans after Florida’s current legislative session ends on May 5. Although he has yet to make his campaign official, polls in the potential primary field show him as the Trump’s biggest opponent for the Republican nomination.
— Kevin Breuinger
2 Hours Ago
In a separate legal battle in Georgia, Trump is trying to block the grand jury report and possible prosecution
The Fulton County court in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Trump is seeking to block the release of a special-purpose grand jury report in Fulton County, Ga., where he could face charges in a separate criminal case looking into whether illegal he who interfered in the state election process in 2020.
In a 52-page court filing Monday morning in Fulton County Superior Court, Trump’s attorneys requested that the report be deleted and the use of any evidence collected by the panel be restricted.
The filing, which also includes more than 400 pages of exhibits, further seeks to disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, which is conducting the criminal investigation, from involvement in the case.
The Atlanta-area probe has spent the past two years investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia in the 2020 election, in part by tossing enough ballots cast for Biden to erase his victory.
The Georgia investigation is considered a major threat to the end of criminal charges against Trump, who is the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He faces three other major pending criminal investigations, including the Manhattan District Attorney’s office investigating whether Trump illegally paid porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence during the 2016 election.
— Kevin Breuinger
3 Hours Ago
House Speaker McCarthy denounces expected criminal charges, opposes protests
US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) listens to a question during a news conference in Statuary Hall of the US Capitol in Washington, US February 2, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized the idea of criminal charges against fellow Republican Donald Trump, but defied the former president’s call for protests in New York over his expected indictment.
“Lawyer after lawyer will tell you this is the weakest case out there, trying to turn a misdemeanor into a felony,” McCarthy said at a House Republicans retreat in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday.
But the California lawmaker also said, “I don’t think people should protest it, no. And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn’t believe that either.”
Trump said the exact opposite in a social media post, where he wrote that he would be “arrested on Tuesday,” and called on supporters to “Protest, take our country back.”
McCarthy was one of hundreds of lawmakers who fled to safety after a mob of Trump supporters stormed Congress on January 6, 2021. The riot, which began weeks after Trump falsely claimed that he actually won the 2020 presidential election, interrupted for hours. A joint session of Congress is in the process of confirming President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
— and Manganese
4 Hours Ago
Manhattan DA Bragg says staff safety is ‘top priority’ after Trump urges protests
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a news conference after former President Donald Trump’s chief White House strategist Steve Bannon arrived to surrender, in New York, US, September 8, 2022.
Caitlin Ochs | Reuters
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told his staff in an email that he “will not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York,” after Trump called on his supporters to protest his expected indictment.
Bragg also said in an email to staff, obtained by NBC News, that their safety is a “top priority,” and that law enforcement parts of the office are working on “proper safeguards.. . around.”
Trump in a post on social media wrote, “THE FAR & FAR LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK.”
“PROTEST, TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!” wrote Trump, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Trump also called on his supporters to protest after he lost the 2020 election, which resulted in a violent uprising at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021 that led to at least 1,000 arrests and more more than 500 guilty pleas or convictions.
— and Manganese
