President Trump won’t testify before a Manhattan grand jury in the Stormy Daniels hush payment case.
This was expected.
Defendants rarely agree to testify before a grand jury.
“It’s not what we do. This is not what we do. We are distorting laws to try and bag President Trump. I don’t know if it’s because he’s leading in the polls,” Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said on Good Morning America. “I don’t know what it is, but this prosecutor and this prosecutor’s office has made an agenda. They have scoured his personal life and business life for seven years to try to find something.”
WATCH:
FIRST ON GMA: Former Pres. Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina speaks about Trump’s invitation to testify before grand jury.@GStephanopoulos pic.twitter.com/We1Ku2LFAp
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 13, 2023
Earlier this year the Manhattan District Attorney’s office revived its criminal investigation into Trump’s ‘hush payments’ to porn star Stephanie Clifford, AKA, Stormy Daniels.
Trump has been accused of paying Daniels ‘hush payments’ in a scheme to silence her and stop the story about their alleged affair from being published in the National Enquirer.
Trump has denied the affair.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s predecessor previously rejected the Trump ‘hush payments’ case because it wouldn’t stand up in court.
Fast-forward a couple years and now the Manhattan DA has revived the Stormy Daniel hush payments probe to counter Trump’s 2024 White House bid.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified before the grand jury on Monday.
“My goal is to tell the truth,” Michael Cohen said to reporters on Monday as he prepared to testify to the Manhattan grand jury. “My goal is to allow Alvin Bragg and his team to do what they need to do. I’m just here to answer the questions.”