The New York grand jury considering possible criminal charges against former President Donald Trump related to hush money payments to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election is not expected to be asked to vote on an indictment this week, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The grand jury is not expected to meet Wednesday, the sources said, the next day the panel had been regularly scheduled to convene.
The grand jury concluded its activities Monday without having voted on any indictment stemming from allegations made by Daniels, an adult film star who said she had an affair with Trump beginning in 2006.
NBC News reported in late January that prosecutors had convened a grand jury to hear testimony in New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s probe into the $130,000 payment to Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. The investigation has been focused on allegations that Trump falsified business records in connection with the payment.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty in 2018 to making the illegal payment to Daniels for the “principal purpose of influencing” the 2016 presidential election, saying in federal court that he did so on Trump’s orders and that Trump paid him back.
Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison in connection with the payment and other crimes, testified before the Manhattan grand jury this month.
The grand jury heard from an additional witness in the investigation Monday.
The panel has been meeting Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The sources cautioned that the schedule is subject to change but said that the grand jury for now is expected to return Thursday to hear a matter separate from the Trump hush money case.
Trump has repeatedly said he did not have a relationship with Daniels, and he has denied any wrongdoing regarding the payment.
“I never had a relationship with her. I never had an affair with her. It’s all made up,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Monday night.
Trump, who maintained that the payment to Daniels was not a campaign contribution, also claimed that Bragg’s probe was an effort to cheat in elections by his opponents. “It’s called election interference,” he said on Fox News.
