Trump’s potential indictment becomes more uncertain due to an unforeseen interruption in New York grand jury proceedings.

The New York grand jury that evaluates the evidence and listens to the witnesses in the investigation into the alleged payment of black money by former President Donald Trump to the porn actress Stormy Daniels, will not meet this Wednesday, as originally planned , to gather more testimonies, as confirmed by a police source to various US media. With hundreds of television cameras gathered in front of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is investigating the case, and the rest of the eyes are on the runway at the West Palm Beach (Florida) airfield, where the Trump Force One, the Republican’s private plane, was undergoing a tune-up today, the only certainty in the case that could take the former US president to jail is that the schedule is stretching to the point of exasperation. So much so that, according to the portal Insider —the first to report the recess today—, “although nothing beyond Wednesday is written, it is unlikely that the grand jury will meet this week, said one of the police sources [consultadas por Insider]protected by anonymity”.

Trump himself had assured this weekend, through a high-sounding message on his social network, that he would be arrested this Tuesday. But neither on Monday, when the last witness theoretically testified, nor on Tuesday, without news from the Prosecutor’s Office or from Trump, nor this Wednesday, when the pause in the process was announced, has there been any concrete information in this regard. However, an effervescence of speculation has gained strength in New York, where the tycoon would have to appear; in Florida, from where he would have to be extradited by Governor Ron DeSantis if he does not voluntarily surrender to justice, and, finally, in Washington, where another case against the candidate for re-election in 2024 continues, that of the documents files that he took from the White House to his mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

Since mid-January, when the process was expedited, the grand jury has been meeting every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. By all indications, it seems that there will be no news until next week, although the weekly Politico notes that its members have been advised to be “available” this Thursday. “The Prosecutor’s office did not tell the court the reason for the day off, [ellos] They only said: ‘I don’t want them today, maybe tomorrow,’ an official told the aforementioned outlet. according to the newspaper The New York Times, the grand jury “could hear at least one other witness before being asked to vote.” The last witness of whose testimony there is evidence, this Monday, was the lawyer Robert Costello, in his day Michael Cohen’s legal adviser, former lawyer and Trump achiever and, today, the main witness in the case against his former employer. Costello was summoned by Trump’s defense to take down the testimony of Cohen, who in 2016 allegedly paid $130,000 to Daniels on Trump’s behalf.

The only thing that is certain is that the legal process against the Republican, if he is finally charged, would undoubtedly be historic, the first against an active or retired president since 1872, when President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding his horse carriage. Nothing to do, obviously, with the alleged crime committed by Trump, someone accustomed to public scrutiny, as the two demonstrate. impeachments (political trials) to which he was subjected, and which he overcame thanks to the support of a Congress with a Republican majority.

While unknowns about the timing are cleared up, the cornerstone of the case is how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, will maneuver to make a misdemeanor (putting the bribe allegedly paid on the Trump Organization’s books as a legal expense). to Daniels) in a larger one, deserving of up to four years in prison, although it is most likely that he would not enter even if convicted. The key to charge him with that crime mayor is to link the payment to the violation of the 2016 campaign finance rules, in the final stretch of which the money was given to Daniels to silence her.

In New York, falsifying accounting records can be a misdemeanor. To consider it serious, prosecutors must show that the defendant’s “intent to defraud” included the intent to commit or conceal a second crime. In Trump’s case, that second offense could be violating election law: prosecutors could argue that the payment was an improper donation to his presidential campaign because it benefited his candidacy, and thus his subsequent victory at the polls, by avoiding a possible sex scandal.

Legal experts cited by The New York Times They say New York prosecutors have never before combined the crime of falsifying accounting records with a violation of state election law in a case related to a presidential election, so the final decision on the prosecution would rest with the judge. Be that as it may, Trump’s record of dodging innumerable judicial investigations over more than 40 years without ever facing criminal charges could be about to expire, if the work of the grand jury convened by the Manhattan prosecutor resumes and the long-awaited indictment finally is specified.

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