No grand jury proceedings set for day after former legal advisor to Cohen testifed
Rudy Giuliani, former lawyer to Donald Trump, his attorney Robert Costello, left, and Vernon Jones, former Republican Representative candidate for Georgia, right, arrive at Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022.
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images
No grand jury proceedings are expected in Manhattan today, a day after a former legal advisor to Trump’s ex-personal attorney Michael Cohen testified to the panel.
The next scheduled grand jury date is Wednesday, which suggests that is the earliest day that Trump could be indicted in the case.
On Monday, the attorney Bob Costello appeared before the grand jury as a rebuttal witness to Cohen, who is believed to have testified at length about paying off porn star Stormy Daniels at Trump’s behest in 2016.
Costello is a former top federal prosecutor who has recently represented former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump ally who himself has faced criminal investigations into his conduct.
“There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Michael Cohen has great difficulty telling the truth,” Costello said in a statement to reporters after he finished testifying. “He is, after all, a convicted perjurer, and our track record with Mr. Cohen convinced us that he was a serial liar.”
Despite Costello’s statement, prosecutors on Monday did not call Cohen back to the stand to rebut Costello’s testimony.
“The facts and documents speak for themselves,” Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis said afterward.
— Dan Mangan
NYPD cops ordered to report in full uniform in preparation for protests
Officers with the New York Police Department set up barricades outside the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in New York City on March 20, 2023.
Leonardo Munoz | Afp | Getty Images
All New York Police Department officers have been ordered to report to work in full uniform so that they can be sent out to the street if needed to deal with any protests related to the grand jury probe of Trump.
A small protest is expected to begin at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan and head downtown to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Separately, a small caravan of cars driven by Trump backers is headed into the city from Long Island.
But if Monday was any indication, those cops might be all dressed up with no place to go.
That afternoon, a paltry number of New York Republican Club members rallied in downtown Manhattan to voice opposition to the criminal probe, where they were significantly outnumbered by members of the media assigned to cover the event.
Trump in a social media over the weekend post had urged supporters to “Protest, take our nation back!” as he announced he expected to soon be arrested.
“We must save America! Protest, protest, protest!”
— Dan Mangan