Speaking to NBC News on Monday (March 13), former President Donald Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina revealed Trump would not be appearing before the Manhattan Grand Jury probing the hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Tacopina explained that following a meeting Trump’s legal team had with the former President in Florida over the weekend, the former President decided he wouldn’t appear before the Grand Jury in New York.
The Manhattan District has convened the Grand Jury to look into a hush money payment made to Daniels days before the 2016 Presidential election.
Daniels had been publicizing an alleged affair she had with Trump while former First Lady Melania Trump was pregnant—allegations the former President denies.
On Thursday (March 9), NBC News was among the first to report that Trump had been invited to testify before the Manhattan Grand Jury in the hush money probe.
It has been suggested the invitation is a sign that Manhattan’s District Attorney is preparing to indict Trump, although the District Attorney hasn’t commented on the probe’s developments.
On Friday, a day after the report, Tacopina expressed doubt that the Manhattan District Attorney would bring a case but indicated the former President’s legal team would “deal with it” if a case emerged.
Trump has described the Manhattan Grand Jury probe as a “Scam, Injustice, Mockery, and Complete and Total Weaponization of Law Enforcement.”
Despite Trump’s unwillingness to testify before the Grand Jury, his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in federal court to making the illegal payment to Daniels, began his testimony before the Grand Jury on Monday, with his testimony set to resume.
