Trump Grand Jury Canceled For Rest Of Week After Michael Cohen Letter Throws Wrench In Case: 'They Are Having Trouble Convincing The Jury'
March 23 2023, Published 11:00 a.m. ET
The grand jury weighing charges again embattled ex-president Donald Trump was told to stay home again on Thursday, RadarOnline.com can confirm, meaning the jury will not meet again until Monday at the earliest.
The cancellation of the jury’s session on Thursday came one day after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg already ordered those on the panel to stay home on Wednesday for unknown reasons.
According to Daily Mail, there are reports that the Manhattan grand jury’s session may have been delayed because the panel is preparing to hear from at least one more witness before discussing whether to charge former President Trump with finance crimes connected to an alleged $130,000 hush money payment he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in November 2016.
Even more surprising are reports that Manhattan DA Bragg and prosecutors in the case are having trouble convincing the jury to indict Trump on criminal charges connected to the alleged hush money payments made to Daniels nearly seven years ago.
“They are having trouble convincing the jury to swallow the case,” one source told Daily Mail on Thursday morning. “It's a weak case and has caused divisions in the DA's office.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, a letter penned by Michael Cohen’s attorney in 2018 has reportedly thrown a wrench in the Manhattan DA’s case against former President Trump.
According to the 2018 letter, neither Trump nor Trump’s 2016 campaign reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 hush money payment made to Daniels from Cohen’s own personal funds in November 2016.
The letter seemingly contradicts Cohen’s previous testimony that, after paying Daniels with his own money, Cohen was eventually reimbursed by Trump using funds from the then-president's 2016 campaign.
"In a private transaction in 2016, before the U.S. presidential election, Mr. Cohen used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford," Stephen Ryan, Cohen’s attorney, wrote in a letter to the Federal Election Commission on February 8, 2018.
"Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly,” the letter added.
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Despite the claims made in Ryan’s letter to the FEC in February 2018, Cohen testified under oath that Trump did reimburse him for at least some of the $130,000 payment made to Daniels via a $35,000 personal check signed by Trump on August 1, 2017.
According to Cohen’s testimony, the $35,000 personal check was from when Trump “was President of the United States — pursuant to the cover-up, which was the basis of my guilty plea, to reimburse me."
Because the grand jury only meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, they are not expected to reconvene until next week – meaning a potential indictment against Trump will not be announced until Monday at the earliest.
