- A grand jury in Manhattan will continue to hear evidence on Monday in the Trump hush-price probe.
- A final witness must testify before the panel considers and votes on a potential indictment.
- Monday is the earliest day Trump could be indicted, but charges are quickly sealed.
A possible “hush money” indictment against Donald Trump is on hold until the final witness testifies before a Manhattan grand jury on Monday afternoon.
“We have one more witness,” a source familiar with the investigation told Insider on Saturday night.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of the grand jury proceedings.
Sources declined to identify the witness, but the testimony will conclude a two-month grand jury presentation by prosecutors under District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told insiders that the witness was not Trump’s former CFO, Allen Weisselberg. who is serving a five-month sentence Admitted to masterminding a payroll tax evasion scheme at the Trump Organization.
Monday’s Grand Jury Witness News CNN first reported.
Former Trump attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness who admitted to wiring adult film actress Stormy Daniels a $130,000 illegal payment just days before the 2016 election, said: He, who told reporters he expects to be the final witness for a grand jury, testified last Monday and Wednesday.
A surprise final witness provides the latest clue about the possible indictment of Trump and his accomplices.
Meeting in secret in a lower Manhattan office building, grand juries meet only to hear testimony at three-hour sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
It has between 16 and 23 members and a vote could be reached by the end of the three-hour meeting on Monday.
But it is unlikely. An expert who described the Manhattan grand jury process to insiders says there are several steps between final testimony and voting.
After testimony, the prosecutor “indicts” the jury. That is, potential counts of indictments he goes through one by one and accounts for each count of potential indictments.
Sources told Insider they expect the top suspect to be first-degree falsification of business records. This is a low-level felony alleging that Trump and other co-defendants falsified documents to cover up another crime. Campaign financial statements.
Trump vehemently denied any wrongdoing or relationship with Daniels, calling the prosecution “fraud, fraud, ridicule, and the complete and total weaponization of law enforcement to influence the presidential election.”
After the indictment, the prosecutor, barrister, and stenographer leave the room and the grand jury begins its deliberations.
If 12 or more vote to indict, the foreperson will sign a hard-copy indictment, at which point the former president will be officially indicted, albeit in secret.
The hard copy indictment will be sent to a nearby clerk’s office and sealed there. It would be unsealed at Trump’s arraignment, but given the great public interest, Bragg could have asked the judge to open it early.
It’s a lot of work to fit in 3 hours. If the process is incomplete, the grand jury can return Wednesday afternoon to continue working.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump called it “truth” that he would be “arrested next Tuesday” and told his supporters to “protest and take back our country!” But that timing, already challenged by his lawyers, never worked out given the new final witness.
The panel has heard so far from a constant stream of witnesses, including Cohen. Former Trump advisors Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway also appear.
