By any fair measure, Donald Trump is one of the most scandalous political figures in modern American history. The scope and scale of the controversies surrounding the former president — the corruption, the abuses, the brazen deceptions and fraud — rival anything we’ve seen in recent memory.
With this in mind, it’s tempting to think if and when the Republican is finally held accountable with a criminal prosecution, it would be in response to a grand disgrace of enormous historic significance. It’s increasingly likely, however, that it will be one of Trump’s relatively obscure scandals that leads to his first indictment. The New York Times reported:
The Manhattan district attorney’s office recently signaled to Donald J. Trump’s lawyers that he could face criminal charges for his role in the payment of hush money to a porn star, the strongest indication yet that prosecutors are nearing an indictment of the former president, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.
For what it’s worth, Trump’s attorneys told NBC News that he was not told charges would be forthcoming. Then again, the former president’s legal team makes all kinds of assertions, and it’s often difficult to know which ones to find credible.
The same NBC News report added that while the Manhattan district attorney’s office has not subpoenaed Trump, he has been invited to testify next week before the grand jury that’s currently hearing evidence on the hush money case.
Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney, senior FBI official, and legal analyst for NBC News, said the invitation — which Trump might very well ignore — suggests the investigation is near its end and that prosecutors are “seriously considering charges.”
“If the Manhattan district attorney was simply shutting the case down, that’s easy to do without inviting Mr. Trump to testify,” Rosenberg added.
If it seems as if you’ve been hearing quite a bit about this controversy lately, after years of…
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