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NEW YORK, March 31 (AP) — A Manhattan grand jury investigating hush money payments made on behalf of Donald Trump plans to consider other matters next week before a scheduled two-week pause, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
That means there won’t be a vote on whether to indict the former president until late April at the earliest.
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The holidays were scheduled well in advance of the group meetings in January, which coincided with Passover, Easter, and spring break for the New York City public school system.
Those who confirmed the grand jury schedule were not authorized to speak publicly about secret grand jury proceedings and did so on the condition of anonymity. Messages left to the district attorney’s office were not immediately returned.
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In a statement issued through his attorney, Trump said: “I have the utmost respect for this grand jury.”
The grand jury meets regularly on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. It met on Monday, and a longtime Trump friend and potential key witness in the investigation was seen leaving the building where the grand jury is meeting. The grand jury was originally scheduled to meet on Wednesday.
News of Trump’s invitation to a grand jury earlier this month sparked widespread speculation that an indictment would soon be filed. Trump himself said in a post on his social media platform that he expected to be arrested soon, though his representatives later said they had received no such instructions from prosecutors.
But the district attorney’s office has not issued a public statement on the timing of any possible indictments, continuing to work in secrecy over the past two weeks. On March 20, the grand jury heard testimony from witnesses in Trump’s favour.
People familiar with how grand jury proceedings typically unfold cautioned that the timetable could change and that prosecutors could still ask jurors to consider charges or vote on indictments on a day when they are expected to meet on other matters.
Few people — Alvin Bragg of the Manhattan borough and the prosecutor in charge of the grand jury investigation — knew exactly how and at what pace the grand jury investigation was being conducted. They control when witnesses are called to testify and will decide if and when charges will be brought.
Authorities have stepped up security since Trump took office on March 18, deploying more police, erecting barricades in the streets around the courthouse and sending in bomb-sniffing dogs.
They also had to deal with numerous threats, including bomb and death threats, a suspected gunpowder scare and the arrest of a protester on Tuesday after witnesses said she drew a knife at passers-by outside the courthouse.
A grand jury is investigating payments Trump made during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who said he had sex with him outside of marriage. Trump has denied the allegations.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and go-between, testified as a key prosecution witness that he paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 through a shell company he set up, which was then reimbursed by Trump, and his company would Reimbursements are recorded as legal fees.
In early 2016, Cohen also arranged for the publisher of the supermarket tabloid, the National Enquirer, to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000, which suppressed her in a dubious journalistic practice known as “catch and kill.” story.
Meanwhile, Trump’s other investigations have been busy scoring key victories for prosecutors.
A Trump attorney appeared before a federal grand jury in Washington last week investigating Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents after prosecutors were able to convince a judge they had evidence the former president was using his legal representation to promote crime.
A judge also ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence must give some grand jury testimony in a separate investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election.
If the Manhattan grand jury schedule remains the same, the panel will not return to Trump until April 24. This comes five days after Trump’s longtime finance chief, Ellen Weisselberg, was released for taking part in an unrelated tax-fraud scheme involving the brink of benefiting from Trump’s companies.
Weisselberg, who made key decisions about how Trump and his Trump Organization kept the books, Cohen alleges he was involved in the hush money arrangement, does not appear to be cooperating with the grand jury investigation.
Meanwhile, a rape lawsuit against Trump by a former magazine columnist is set to start on April 25 in federal court, just steps away from where a grand jury over confidentiality fees will meet. Both Trump and rape accuser E. Jean Carroll are expected to testify in the civil trial.
She claims he raped her in the dressing room of a luxury department store in the mid-1990s. He denies it and said he didn’t know who she was until she made the allegations public in 2019. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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