The grand jury hearing evidence in the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation into former President Donald Trump will not sit on the case again this week, multiple sources told Fox News Tuesday.
A court administration source, and others, told Fox News the grand jury, which was expected to reconvene Wednesday, is done with the case until next week.
The secret grand jury wrapped its proceedings Monday afternoon without voting on Trump’s case, sources told Fox News on Monday. Those proceedings came after they were canceled twice last week by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
TRUMP SUGGESTS MANHATTAN DA BRAGG ‘ALREADY DROPPED THE CASE’ AGAINST HIM: ‘IT’S A FAKE CASE’
Bragg has been investigating the $130,000 hush-money payment that then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. That payment was made in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference after the sentencing hearing of the Trump Organization at the New York Supreme Court on January 13, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Cohen has said Trump directed the payments. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 through his own company and was later reimbursed by Trump’s company, which logged the payments as “legal expenses.”
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing with regard to the payments made to Daniels, and he has repeatedly said the payments were “not a campaign violation” but rather a “simple private transaction.”
The Trump Organization “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement for Daniels’ payment for “tax purposes,” according to federal prosecutors who filed the 2018 criminal charges against Cohen for the payments.
TRUMP-MANHATTAN DA: GRAND JURY WRAPS MONDAY PROCEEDINGS WITH NO VOTE IN TRUMP PROBE
Federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019, even as Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Over the weekend, Trump suggested the case had already been dropped against him.
DAVENPORT, IOWA – MARCH 13: Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Adler Theatre on March 13, 2023 in Davenport, Iowa. ((Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images))
“I think they’ve already dropped the case,” Trump told reporters aboard his plane after appearing at his first 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Texas.
“It’s a fake case,” he said. “Some fake cases, they have absolutely nothing.”
When asked for comment about Trump’s claim the case has been dropped, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital: “This has been dropped because everyone knows this was a partisan witch-hunt by a radical, leftist DA that sought to politically weaponize the Justice system to influence an election.”
Meanwhile, Bragg has slammed House Republicans who have called for him to testify on Capitol Hill about the investigation.
“We evaluate cases in our jurisdiction based on the facts, the law, and the evidence. It is not appropriate for Congress to interfere with pending local investigations,” the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
The office told Fox News Digital that Bragg stands by his previous pledge to publicly state the conclusion of the investigation, “whether we conclude our work without bringing charges, or move forward with an indictment.”
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When Bragg took over as district attorney in January 2022, he stopped pursuing charges against Trump and suspended the investigation “indefinitely,” according to one of the top prosecutors who resigned from the office in protest.
Prosecutors Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, who had been leading the investigation under former DA Cyrus Vance, submitted their resignations after Bragg began raising doubts about pursuing a case against Trump.
The Manhattan DA’s investigation into Trump began in 2019 by then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance. The probe was focused on possible bank, insurance and tax fraud. The case initially involved financial dealings of Trump’s Manhattan properties, including his flagship Fifth Avenue building, Trump Tower, and the valuation of his 213-acre estate Seven Springs in Westchester.
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The investigation last year led to tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization and its finance chief, Allen Weisselberg.
Grand jury deliberations and votes are secret proceedings, and an indictment typically remains under seal until an arraignment.
