In the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into the hush-money payment to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels made before the 2016 election, former President Trump has formally declined to testify.
Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina wrote in a letter on Monday to the head of the New York City Department of Investigation Jocelyn Strauber, “He won’t be participating in that action—a proceeding that we and most election law experts feel is with absolutely no legal foundation.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation is “outrageous,” Tacopina had earlier in the day told ABC’s “Good Morning America” anchor George Stephanopoulos, adding that the payment to Daniels in October 2016—who claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006—was not “directly related” to the presidential campaign.
The district attorney may soon decide on charges in the probe, which would be the first criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president. The Trump lawyer had acknowledged on Thursday that He had offered the former president the chance to testify before a grand jury.
The investigation is focused on a $130,000 payment made to Daniels by Michael Cohen, who served as Trump’s longtime personal attorney. Cohen claims that Trump then paid him back in equal monthly payments and incorrectly listed the sum as a retainer fee.
Afterwards, Cohen entered guilty pleas to several offenses, was sentenced to a year in jail, and has since been working with the prosecution. On Monday, Cohen testified before Bragg’s grand jury.
“I expect justice to prevail, and if that’s the case, George, there shouldn’t be an indictment,” Tacopina said to Stephanopoulos on Monday.
Really, this case is absurd, he continued. “There ought to be a good amount of revulsion from the bar, the legal profession, and both prosecutors and defense attorneys. Not what we do, in fact. Not what we do, actually. We are changing the legislation to impeach President Trump.
