A grand jury in Manhattan, expected to vote soon on whether to indict Donald J. Trump, may hear testimony on Monday attacking the prosecution’s lead witness, according to people with knowledge of the case.
The testimony would come from an attorney, Robert J. Costello, who would appear at the request of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, the people said. Mr. Costello was once legal counsel to Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer who has been a star witness for the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
Mr. Costello and Mr. Cohen had a fall outand Mr. Costello only seems to undermine Mr. Cohen’s credibility, the people said.
Under New York law, a person expected to be charged may request that a witness appear on his or her behalf. Mr. Trump’s attorneys have asked Mr. Costello to testify, but the final decision rests with the grand jury; it is unclear whether they have made a decision. The grand jury has heard evidence of the former president’s involvement in a hush money payment to a porn star.
Mr. Costello’s appearance would come shortly after Mr. Cohen completed his own grand jury testimony. If Mr. Costello testifies, is there also a chance that Mr. Cohen is asked to return to verify some of Mr. Costello to refute.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment, as did Mr. Costello. An attorney for Mr. Cohen, Lanny J. Davis, declined to comment.
District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat, is expected to file charges against Mr. Trump this week. There have been several signs that an indictment may be imminent: Prosecutors gave Mr. Trump a chance to testify, a right given to those soon to be charged. They’ve now questioned nearly every major player in the hush money saga before the grand jury.
Mr. Cohen made the $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to bury her story of an affair with Mr. Trump.
The payment came ahead of the 2016 presidential election, and Mr Trump subsequently paid Mr Cohen back. Prosecutors are expected to accuse Mr. Trump of overseeing the false registration of the fees in his company’s internal records. The records erroneously stated that the payments to Mr Cohen were for “legal fees”.
Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing, as well as having an affair with Ms Daniels, and has labeled the investigation politically motivated. He has also called Mr. Bragg, a Democrat and the first black person to serve as a prosecutor, a “racist.”
The appearance of Mr. Costello in the grand jury on Monday would likely mark the start of a series of assaults from Mr. Trump on the credibility of Mr. Cohen. If the case goes to trial, they are expected to highlight that Mr. Cohen himself pleaded guilty to federal crimes in 2018 as a result of the hush money payment, as well as bring up other episodes from the former fixer’s personal history.
But prosecutors may counter that Mr. Cohen lied about the hush money payment on behalf of Mr. Trump, and that he has been consistent in telling his story over the years.
Mr. Costello will probably argue that Mr. Cohen cannot be trusted. In 2018, when Mr. Cohen was facing the federal investigation into hush money, a mutual friend introduced the two men. Mr. Costello volunteered to represent Mr. Cohen, and they spent hours meeting and speaking on the phone.
As a Republican attorney associated with Mr. Trump’s legal team, Mr. Costello volunteered to serve as a bridge between Mr. Cohen and the president’s lawyers. At one point, Mr. Costello contacts one of Mr. Trump to ask if the President Mr. Cohen pardoned.
But the pardon never came, and Mr. Cohen never formally hired Mr. Costello. Mr Cohen later relinquished their attorney-client privilege, Mr Costello said.
Their relationship took a turn for the worse when Mr. Cohen broke away from Mr. Trump and became one of his main opponents.
“We will not be involved in that journey,” Mr Costello wrote to Mr Cohen in an email from 2018, adding that his law firm “will bill you”. When it came, Mr. Cohen refused to pay.