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Former President Donald Trump was invited to testify before a New York grand jury next week as the Manhattan District Attorney’s office weighs bringing criminal charges.
Manhattan prosecutors offered Trump the opportunity to testify next week before a New York grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the potential case of hush money payments made on his behalf during his 2016 presidential campaign.
According to a New York Times report, the testimony opportunity given to Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg almost always indicates an indictment is close. “It would be unusual for the district attorney’s office to notify a potential defendant without ultimately seeking charges against him” the report says.
“The Manhattan District Attorney’s threat to indict President Trump is simply insane,” a spokesman for the former president said in a statement, adding: “It’s an embarrassment to the Democrat prosecutors, and it’s an embarrassment to New York City.”
“Our country has become the investigation capital of the world,” Trump said in a Truth Social post late Thursday night. “Actually, that’s all we do and it’s only good for our many enemies.”
Donald Trump under numerous investigations
This is not the only investigation Trump and his family face in New York.
New York’s Attorney General Letitia James has been investigating Trump and the Trump Organization for potentially misleading lenders, insurers, and tax authorities by providing them false financial statements.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that the family must testify in front of a grand jury last February, where they pleaded the fifth. Judge Engoron also ordered Trump to be sanctioned $10,000 per day for failing to comply with a December 2021 subpoena as part of the state’s investigation into the Trump Organization.
Last month a New York appeals court upheld those sanctions against Trump, forcing him to pay a total of $110,000.
If criminal charges do come from the Manhattan District Attorney, it would mark the first indictment of a former President in U.S. history. What happens from there will be unprecedented as Trump has already announced his presidential bid for 2024.