ISLAMABAD/NEW YORK: Supporters of Donald Trump erected barricades outside a Manhattan courthouse on Monday as New York City pulled up socks for a possible indictment of former US president over his alleged hush-money payment to porn star, Stormy Daniels, during his 2016 presidential campaign.
This would be the first-ever criminal proceeding against any US president. On Saturday, Trump urged his supporters on social media to protest against his looming arrest.
In his call for protests, Doland Trump raised concerns for law enforcers that his supporters might engage in pa itched battle similar to the January 6, 2021 onslaught on the US Capitol in Washington.
Fearing arrests, several far-right groups had opted not to heed his call for protest, security analysts said.
A grand jury that heard further testimony on Monday, could bring charges against Trump as soon as this week. Trump, who has declared himself as the Republican candidate for the White House again in 2024, had feared he might be arrested on Tuesday.
On Monday the grand jury heard lawyer Robert Costello, a witness, who said Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen had handled the alleged hush-money payments without Trump’s involvement.
Costello told media after testifying to the grand jury at Trump’s lawyers’ request that Michael Cohen decided on his own and that was what he told them to see if he could take care of this.
Cohen, who earlier testified twice before the grand jury, publicly said that Trump directed him to make the payments on his behalf.
An indictment could hurt Trump’s comeback attempt to the White House. Some 44 per cent of Republicans say Trump opt out of the presidential race if he was indicted, a seven-day Reuters/Ipsos poll survey showed.
The investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was one of several legal challenges being faced by Trump. Trump office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 for federal campaign finance violations linked to his arranging payments to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, and another unnamed woman in exchange for their silence about affairs they claimed with Trump.
NO SIGN OF UNREST
New York Mayor Eric Adams told media that police were monitoring social media and watching for “inappropriate actions” in the city. The New York Police Department, meanwhile, said that there were no known tangible threats to peace.
If charged, Donald Trump would travel from his Florida home for fingerprinting and other processing. Several media outlets reported that law enforcement officials met on Monday to discuss the logistics.
Sources said that Bragg’s office was presenting evidence to the grand jury about a $130,000 payment made on behalf on Trump to Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election campaign.
Trump’s fellow Republicans have widely criticized the investigation as politically motivated.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s rival for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Monday that Bragg was imposing a “political agenda” , which compromised the rule of law. Still, he also took a veiled swipe at Trump.
He said he did not know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” he told reporters.
