Donald Trump has been offered the chance to testify before a grand jury in relation to an investigation into hush money he allegedly paid to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels. The payment of $130,000 was made just before the 2016 presidential election. The New York Times reported that the offer to testify “almost always indicate[s] an indictment is close”. If indicted, Trump would become the first former US president to be charged with a crime. Trump’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, confirmed that the Manhattan district attorney’s office had invited the former president to testify, but said there was no legal basis for a case and that it was “just another example of them weaponizing the justice system against him”.
Trump is currently facing several criminal investigations at state and federal levels over possible wrongdoings before, during and after his first term in office. He has not yet been charged for any of them. In 2019, Cyrus Vance Jr, the predecessor of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, launched an investigation into Trump’s finances which resulted in a years-long legal battle over the billionaire’s tax documents. In Georgia, a prosecutor is investigating Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state. The district attorney in Atlanta has said decisions are “imminent”. The former president is also the subject of a federal investigation into his handling of classified documents as well as his possible involvement in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
The hush money payment to Clifford was allegedly intended to stop her from publicly disclosing her affair with Trump. It was made by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen, who said he was later reimbursed. The payment to Cohen, if not properly accounted, could result in a misdemeanour charge in New York, but that could be raised to a felony if the false accounting was to cover up a second crime, such as a campaign finance violation. Several figures close to Trump have been spotted in recent days entering Bragg’s office for meetings with prosecutors, including his former political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks. Tacopina said there was no crime and no precedent for this kind of investigation.
Trump has already declared another bid for the White House and he lashed out on Thursday at his Truth Social page, calling the New York investigation “a political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party”. He denied having had an affair with Clifford and said he had “relied on counsel in order to resolve this Extortion … which took place a long time ago”. It was not immediately clear if he was admitting that the payment had been made.