In Trump probe, NYC grand jury hearing from final witnesses

By ERIC TUCKER and MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press

A grand jury was hearing from final witnesses Monday in the investigation into Donald Trump as law enforcement officials accelerated security preparations in advance of a possible indictment and as fellow Republicans staked out positions in a criminal probe expected to shake up the 2024 presidential race.

Robert Costello, a lawyer who had a falling out with the star government witness in the Trump investigation, arrived in court Monday afternoon after being invited to appear before the grand jury in New York. His testimony was expected to give the former president an indirect opportunity to make a case that he shouldn’t face criminal charges over hush money paid during his 2016 campaign.

Costello was asked to appear by the Manhattan district attorney’s office after he said he had information raising questions about the credibility of Michael Cohen, a key witness in the investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss secret legal proceedings.

Costellos’ appearance is yet another indication that prosecutors are moving to wrap up their probe, with grand jurors presumably being offered an opportunity to consider any testimony or evidence favorable to Trump that could weaken the case for moving forward with an indictment. It was unclear whether Costello’s testimony has any potential to change the course of a grand jury probe that seems close to concluding, and Cohen is also expected to have a chance to testify again by way of a rebuttal.

The testimony is coming two days after Trump said he expected to face criminal charges and urged supporters to protest his possible arrest. In a series of social media posts through the weekend, the former Republican president criticized the New York investigation, directing particularly hostile rhetoric toward Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.

It’s not clear when prosecutors might wrap up their work, but law enforcement in New York has been making physical preparations for any unrest surrounding a possible indictment. Scaffolding surrounds most of the building where the grand jury is meeting and the building across the street that houses the district attorney’s office. In the morning, a New York Police Department truck began dropping off portable metal barricades that could be used to block off streets or sidewalks.

Even as the New York investigation pushes toward conclusion, Trump faces criminal probes in Atlanta and Washington that, taken together, pose significant legal peril and carry the prospect of upending a Republican presidential race in which Trump remains a leading contender. Some of his likely opponents have tried to strike a balance between condemning a potential prosecution as politically motivated while avoiding condoning the conduct at issue.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an expected GOP presidential candidate, criticized the investigation but also threw one of his first jabs at the former president in a move likely to intensify their simmering political rivalry.

“I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some kind of alleged affair,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Panama City. “I can’t speak to that.”

But, he added, “what I can speak to is that if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush money payments, that’s an example of pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office. And I think that’s fundamentally wrong.”

Costello briefly acted as a legal adviser to Cohen after the FBI raided Cohen’s home and apartment in 2018. At the time, Cohen was being investigated for both tax evasion and for payments he helped orchestrate in 2016 to buy the silence of two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.

For several months, it was unclear whether Cohen, a longtime lawyer and fixer for the Trump Organization who once boasted that he would “take a bullet” for his boss, would remain loyal to the president.

Cohen ultimately decided to plead guilty in connection with the payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal, which he said were directed by Trump. Since then, he has been a vociferous Trump critic, testifying before Congress and then to the Manhattan grand jury.

Trump, who has denied having sex with either woman, has castigated Cohen as a liar. Costello broke with Cohen before he pleaded guilty, after it became clear he was no longer in Trump’s camp.

In the years since, Costello, a veteran New York attorney, has represented Trump allies including his former political strategist Steve Bannon and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.