Trump indictment grand jury not 'likely' to meet Thursday either after Manhattan DA paused Stormy Daniels case Wednesday
Alex Brandon/AP, left. Markus Schreiber/AP, center. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP, right.
- A Manhattan grand jury meets Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the Trump 'hush-money' case.
- Wednesday's grand jury session was canceled, Insider first reported.
- The panel is not 'likely' to reconvene on Thursday, sources said.
The Manhattan 'hush-money' grand jury, after being told by prosecutors not to come in on Wednesday, is not 'likely' to meet Thursday either, law enforcement sources told Insider.
Wednesday's cancellation came on the brink of a possible historic indictment of former President Donald Trump.
The grand jury has been meeting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to hear evidence of Trump's alleged role in approving a 2016 election-eve payment of $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, money that federal prosecutors have called an illegal campaign expenditure.
Star prosecution witness Michael Cohen had told reporters as recently as last week that he had expected to be the grand jury's final witness.
Had that remained the plan, Cohen's testimony, which concluded last Wednesday, would have been quickly followed by deliberations and a vote.
But Wednesday's pause in the grand jury's activity — especially if the panel indeed takes the rest of this week off — will likely delay the process into next week.
Grand juries convene in secret, and prosecutors are statutorily barred from discussing what they do.
This week's pause came after unexpected testimony Monday by Robert Costello, who was allowed to address the grand jurors at the defense's request.
Costello, who previously served as Cohen's legal advisor, said at a press conference Monday that he attacked his former client's credibility during his testimony. Cohen had just spent two days of testimony walking grand jurors through the chronology of Trump's involvement in the payment.
It is unclear why District Attorney Alvin Bragg hit pause on a grand jury that has been hearing evidence against Trump since mid-January. The reason for the pause could be unrelated to the grand jury's investigation.
It is also possible that prosecutors are executing a shift in strategy.
In a Wednesday post to Truth Social, Trump wrote that Bragg "is having a hard time with the Grand Jury, especially after the powerful testimony against him by Felon Cohen's highly respected former lawyer."
Prosecutors are barred from divulging grand jury details; Bragg's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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