Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office recently offered former President Donald Trump the chance to testify next week before a grand jury that’s been investigating a hush money payment scheme – signaling they are nearing the end of their investigation, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Trump’s lawyer recently met with the district attorney’s office, one source told CNN. His legal team has been concerned with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s intentions because of recently ramped up activity at the grand jury, according to another source familiar with the matter. Former Trump White House aides Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway recently appeared before the grand jury.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment to CNN.
“The Manhattan District Attorney’s threat to indict President Trump is simply insane. For the past five years, the DA’s office has been on a Witch Hunt, investigating every aspect of President Trump’s life, and they’ve come up empty at every turn – and now this,” Trump’s spokesman said in a statement to CNN.
The investigation relates to a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in late October 2016, days before the 2016 presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the affair.
Hush money payments aren’t illegal. Prosecutors are weighing whether to charge Trump with falsifying the business records of the Trump Organization for how it reflected the reimbursement of the payment to Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-fixer who said he advanced the money to Daniels. Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor in New York.
A source familiar with the matter told CNN’s Don Lemon that Cohen – Trump’s former personal attorney who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance…
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