NEW YORK (AP) — A New York grand jury investigating Donald Trump gave the impression to be listening to from final witnesses as cops speeded up safety arrangements Monday upfront of a conceivable indictment and as fellow Republicans staked out positions in a legal probe anticipated to shake up the 2024 presidential race.
Testimony from Robert Costello, a legal professional who had a falling out with the important thing executive witness within the Trump investigation, got here because the grand jury that for months has been investigating Trump over hush cash paid to a porn celebrity all over his 2016 marketing campaign gave the impression to be wrapping up its paintings.
Costello used to be invited to seem after pronouncing he had information elevating questions in regards to the credibility of Michael Cohen, a key witness within the investigation who has already gave the impression more than one instances sooner than the grand jury. Costello’s testimony used to be anticipated to present the previous president an oblique alternative to make a case that he shouldn’t face legal fees, regardless that there have been no transparent indicators his look had modified the process the grand jury probe.
Cohen were to be had for over two hours to rebut the testimony however used to be no longer wanted, his legal professional mentioned Monday.
Costello had equipped Cohen, himself a legal professional, prison services and products a number of years in the past. In a news convention after his grand jury look, he informed newshounds that he had come ahead to supply exculpatory information about Trump and to shed light on that he didn’t consider Cohen, who pleaded responsible to federal crimes and served time in jail, may well be relied on.
“If they want to go after Donald Trump and they have solid evidence then so be it,” Costello mentioned. “But Michael Cohen is far from solid evidence.”
Responding to Costello’s claims on MSNBC later Monday, Cohen mentioned that Costello used to be by no means his legal professional and “he lacks any sense of veracity.”
The testimony got here two days after Trump mentioned he anticipated to stand legal fees and suggested supporters to protest his conceivable arrest. In a sequence of social media posts throughout the weekend, the previous Republican president criticized the New York investigation, directing specifically antagonistic rhetoric towards Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
It’s no longer transparent when prosecutors would possibly wrap up their paintings, however legislation enforcement in New York has been making bodily arrangements for any unrest surrounding a conceivable indictment. In the morning, a New York Police Department truck started shedding off moveable steel barricades which may be used to dam off streets or sidewalks.
Costello in brief acted as a prison adviser to Cohen after the FBI raided Cohen’s house and condo in 2018. At the time, Cohen used to be being investigated for each tax evasion and for bills he helped orchestrate in 2016 to shop for the silence of 2 ladies who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.
For a number of months, it used to be unclear whether or not Cohen, an established legal professional and fixer for the Trump Organization who as soon as boasted that he would “take a bullet” for his boss, would stay unswerving to the president.
Cohen in the end made up our minds to plead responsible in reference to the bills to porn actor Stormy Daniels and style Karen McDougal, which he mentioned had been directed by means of Trump. Since then, he has been a vociferous Trump critic, attesting sooner than Congress after which to the Manhattan grand jury.
Trump, who has denied having intercourse with both girl, has branded Cohen a liar. Costello broke with Cohen sooner than he pleaded responsible, after it changed into transparent he used to be not in Trump’s camp.
In the years since, Costello, a veteran New York legal professional, has represented Trump allies together with his former political strategist Steve Bannon and his non-public legal professional Rudy Giuliani.
Even because the New York investigation pushes towards conclusion, Trump faces legal probes in Atlanta and Washington that, taken in combination, pose important prison peril and elevate the possibility of upending a Republican presidential race during which Trump stays a number one contender. Some of his most probably warring parties have attempted to strike a steadiness between condemning a possible prosecution as politically motivated whilst warding off condoning the behavior at factor.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an anticipated GOP presidential candidate, criticized the investigation but in addition threw one in all his first jabs on the former president in a transfer more likely to accentuate their simmering political competition.
“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some kind of alleged affair,” DeSantis mentioned at a news convention in Panama City. “I can’t speak to that.”
But, he added, “what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush money payments, that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. And I think that’s fundamentally wrong.”
Mike Pence, the previous vice chairman who’s anticipated to problem Trump for the Republican nomination, castigated Trump in an ABC News interview closing weekend as “reckless” for his movements on Jan. 6 and mentioned historical past would grasp him responsible. Even so, he echoed the previous president’s rhetoric that an indictment could be a “politically charged prosecution.”
“I have no doubt that President Trump knows how to take care of himself,” Pence mentioned. “And he will. But that doesn’t make it right to have a politically charged prosecution of a former president.”
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Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Michelle L. Price, Aaron Morrison, Jill Colvin, Ted Shaffrey, David R. Martin, Noreen Nasir, Seth Wenig and Larry Neumeister contributed to this file.
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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP.