Is Manhattan district court judge Alvin Bragg actually helping Donald Trump in winning the 2024 presidential election against Joe Biden or any other candidate from the Democratic Party? According to media reports, the ongoing media buzz centering Trump’s payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels is actually giving Trump massive media coverage and every day he is getting new fans, new supporters and new voters.
Meanwhile, there’s been another development in the Manhattan grand jury case regarding former President Donald Trump. New reports indicate the jury did not meet on Thursday regarding Trump and it does not appear that an alleged indictment is coming this week.
A report from The Wall Street Journal details “chaos and last-minute shuffling within the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office”, adding that District Attorney Alvin Bragg is “scrambling” to indict Trump. The grand jurors who will eventually hear the Trump case did convene on Thursday, but discussed “another matter unrelated” to Trump.
“It is common for grand juries in New York to hear multiple cases at a time”, the Journal’s Corinne Ramey wrote. “Grand jury schedules can be unpredictable because panels juggle cases with competing demands and deadlines, former prosecutors said”.
The case involves Trump’s alleged role in hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, allegedly to keep Daniels quiet about an affair the two of them had in 2006.
Bragg responded on Thursday to a potential indictment and arrest of Trump and issued a vague statement that did not actually provide any information about what might happen next.
Bragg sent a letter to members of the House Judiciary Committee after they sent their own letter “demanding communications, documents, and testimony relating to Bragg’s unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority and the potential indictment of former President Donald Trump”.
In his letter, the Manhattan DA said his office will “publicly state the conclusion of our investigation—whether we conduct our work without bringing charges, or move forward with an indictment”.
Bragg also addressed the letter the House Judiciary Committee previously sent to his office and said, “Your letter dated March 20, 2023, (the ‘Letter’), in contrast, is an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution.
The letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to
intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for a congressional inquiry”.
A new report from The Daily Mail reveals there’s speculation that prosecutors have hit problems in building their case.
“They are having trouble convincing the jury to swallow the case. It’s a weak case and has caused divisions in the DA’s office”, a source allegedly told the Daily Mail.
“Other reports suggested the DA’s office could be contemplating a change of strategy. The grand jury meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but postponements are not unusual and jurors are warned to expect last-minute changes. Either way, it leaves the nation with a cliffhanger”, the Daily Mail reported.
— Dane Alan #2 (@danealanfafo) March 22, 2023
Trump’s 2024 campaign has brought in a whopping US$1.5 million in grassroots contributions since he posted online that he could be arrested by the Manhattan district attorney.
“The former president’s initial messages blasting the ‘HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE’ and his call for supporters to ‘PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK’ were immediately amplified in nonstop media reports and statements from his allies and supporters”, the New York Post reported.
“Trump also didn’t let up — nor did his campaign — even though Tuesday came and went without his arrest. He assailed Bragg, Daniels, and Michael Cohen, his former longtime attorney and fixer who became a star witness in the probe, to his 5 million Truth Social followers, while pleading that he did nothing wrong and characterizing the investigation as “another witch hunt” that was interfering in a presidential election,” the outlet added.
Trump’s campaign reportedly raked in $1.5 M since his claims of arrest https://t.co/lnV09GK97v pic.twitter.com/ymaIWqeIgF
— New York Post (@nypost) March 22, 2023
A law enforcement source told Fox News Monday that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and law enforcement discussed extra police and barriers and the logistics of closing down streets.
The indictment has triggered outrage from many given federal prosecutors in the US attorneys office for the Southern District of New York chose not to charge Trump in 2019 related to the payment to Daniels.
The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
The DA’s reported decision also comes as Trump is running for president in 2024, which has led to some arguing that the investigation and charges are politically motivated.
A lawyer for Donald Trump described the most likely scenario at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate should he be indicted this week by a Manhattan grand jury.
The attorney stated earlier this week that Trump would not resist and would surrender to authorities in the event of an indictment in Bragg’s investigation into the alleged hush-money agreement.
