As we reported, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Donald Trump for campaign finance violations. These allegations concern so-called “hush money” payments made to Stormy Daniels.
Politico reports that the break will push indictments against former presidents up to April. However, grand juries can alter their schedule. According to the report, no evidence in the Trump case was expected to be reviewed by the grand jury on Thursday.
Although it is possible that the scheduling was altered, this is not the most important thing about the indictment. It seemed that there would be no indictment for these past weeks.
First, Robert Costello was a former legal advisor to Michael Cohen. This was a surprise testimony that caused the grand jury to cancel the next session. The case involving Trump was not heard by the grand jury when they reassembled.
Additional reports suggested that Trump’s lawyers had difficulty persuading the jury to accept their recommendations
“They are having difficulty convincing jurors to accept the case.” A source close to the investigation said that the case was weak and caused divisions at The DA’s Office.
The grand jury indicted Trump within a week. Costello’s testimony was not heard.
Bragg started to downplay Trump’s possibility of being indicted. He accused Trump of “false expectations” of an upcoming indictment. I think Bragg was too involved with his witchhunt to stop pushing it until he won.
An egregiously partisan district lawyer could target a former president for a non-felony offense. This means that you can be targeted even if your political views aren’t the right ones.