Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Tells Trump Grand Jury To Stay Home But Remain On Standby To Reconvene Thursday
March 22 2023, Published 4:00 p.m. ET
The Manhattan district attorney investigating Donald Trump’s alleged 2016 hush money payments to Stormy Daniels told the grand jury in the case to stay home on Wednesday, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg handed down the instructions in a surprising development to come the same day that charges against former president Trump were expected to be announced.
Instead, Bragg instructed the Manhattan grand jury to remain on standby and prepare to reconvene on Thursday to weigh potential charges against the former president.
According to NBC, it is currently unclear why Bragg instructed the grand jury to stay home.
Sources familiar with the case indicated the grand jury has been ready to issue an indictment against Trump since Friday.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, they last met on Monday to hear from the final witness in the investigation — Trump ally Robert Costello.
Costello, who previously served as a legal advisor to former Trump lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen, reportedly defended the ex-president and provided the Manhattan Criminal Court “with information that contradicted Cohen’s current statements and that could be exculpatory for Trump.”
Following Costello’s testimony, the grand jury ended their session for the day and were expected to reconvene on Wednesday.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Trump is expected to be indicted for charges stemming from alleged hush money payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election.
While Cohen has already admitted to being the one who provided Daniels with the $130,000 hush money payment in November 2016, Trump is accused of reimbursing Cohen for the money using funds from his 2016 presidential campaign.
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Trump is also accused of illegally writing the $130,000 payment off as “legal expenses.”
The speculation that Trump would be arrested this week in connection to the hush money investigation stemmed from the former president himself, who took to Truth Social on Saturday to announce he expected to be indicted on Tuesday.
When the indictment was not issued, sources familiar with the Manhattan investigation indicated Trump would be arrested on Wednesday before turning himself in for arraignment sometime next week.
