Trump's Legal Exposure Grows: Another Grand Jury Convened

 

Better late than never?

Donald Trump faces new legal jeopardy after Manhattan prosecutors convened a state grand jury to investigate any role he may have played in making hush money payments to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office was to begin presenting evidence to the grand jury on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because it isn’t public. 

Bragg has been investigating whether Trump and his company falsified records to conceal the payments to pornographic film actor Stormy Daniels, intended to keep her from going public about her alleged affair with Trump. Trump has denied the affair.

The empaneling of a grand jury is a major escalation of Bragg’s probe of Trump’s activities, reviving a line of inquiry that appeared to take a back seat as the DA focused instead on tax violations at the Trump Organization. That investigation resulted in a guilty plea from the company’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and the conviction of two Trump business units.  [snip]

One likely key witness for the new grand jury, and any criminal charges that may result, is former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who helped arrange the hush money payments, pleaded guilty to campaign finance and other violations in 2018 and was sentenced to three years in prison. 

Cohen said Monday he has met with Bragg’s office 14 times, most recently two weeks ago.

There's another pecker in the picture (other than the Malignant Loser's), one who's been spotted going into the building where the grand jury is meeting on Monday --

Former American Media chief David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump, struck an immunity deal in 2020 with federal prosecutors as part of their investigation of Cohen. The company, which agreed to sell the Enquirer, entered into a related nonprosecution agreement covering crimes including perjury and obstruction of justice. The deals stemmed from the company’s alleged efforts to aid Trump by purchasing the rights to potentially damaging stories and declining to publish them, a practice known as “catch and kill.”

Just to recap the state of play in the Malignant Loser's circles of legal hell (ed. : this is not Jack Smith Special Counsel)--

 

Please update your crime trackers:

Election interference (GA)
Fraud (NY)
Sexual Assault/Battery (NY)
Bribery (NY)
Election interference (DOJ)
Obstruction of Justice (DOJ)
Seditious conspiracy (DOJ)

*𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴

— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) January 30, 2023

 

Damn, someone somewhere nail this rat.  Please.

BONUS:  Steve M. is reserving judgement.

(Photo: via Stormy Daniels/ My Space)

The Malignant Loser's Very Bad, No Good Week

Someone who should've been in prison long ago had a very bad day, and week:

It was a nightmare day for Donald Trump in court. Again.

The former president has had no shortage of legal and political setbacks since leaving the White House. But in recent weeks, the sheer volume of acute threats — both criminal and civil — have put Trump in a vise unlike any he’s faced before.

On Tuesday, those threats expanded. The Supreme Court put years of Trump’s tax returns in the hands of House Democrats, and a three-judge appeals court panel — which included two of Trump’s own appointees — appeared poised to rule resoundingly in favor of the Justice Department, in a case involving its seizure of documents from Mar-a-Lago.

Consider also:

• Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel — public corruption prosecutor Jack Smith — to oversee the Mar-a-Lago probe, as well as matters arising from Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election and prevent the transfer of power to Joe BIden.

• The Jan. 6 select committee is preparing to unload a massive report and 1,000 witness transcripts that could provide more explosive evidence about Trump’s attempt to subvert the 2020 election, and fuel DOJ’s ongoing criminal probe of the matter.

• Trump’s business empire has been placed under the watch of monitor Barbara Jones, a consequence of New York Attorney General Tish James’ lawsuit alleging widespread fraud by Trump, his businesses, and family members.

• An Atlanta-area district attorney has reached deeply into Trump’s inner circle to obtain testimony about Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday became the latest witness to provide substantive testimony to the special grand jury.

Another investigation not mentioned is the Manhattan D.A.'s re- examination of hush payments made by the Malignant Loser to Stormy Daniels, which may or may not amount to anything given the Manhattan D.A.

The law of averages would suggest that at some point, the Malignant Loser's luck (if that's all it is) will run out in one or more of these investigations.  One would think.