Trump calls reported convening of grand jury in NY probe ‘purely political’
Prosecutors in New York (NY) have convened a grand jury to decide whether to indict former United States (US) President Donald Trump on criminal charges, local media report.
According to the details, the jury will consider evidence gathered during investigations into Trump’s business dealings and the alleged payment of hush money to women on his behalf. However, Trump, 74, denies any wrongdoing, alleging a political witch hunt.
A grand jury is set up to determine if there is enough evidence to pursue a prosecution.
“This is purely political, and an affront to the almost 75 million voters who supported me in the Presidential Election, and it’s being driven by highly partisan Democrat prosecutors,” the former president said in a statement.
“This is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history,” Trump wrote. “It began the day I came down the escalator in Trump Tower, and it’s never stopped. They wasted two years and $48 million in taxpayer dollars on Mueller and Russia Russia Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and it continues to this day, with illegally leaked confidential information.”
“No other President in history has had to put up with what I have had to, and on top of all that, I have done a great job for our Country, whether it’s taxes, regulations, our Military, Veterans, Space Force, our Borders, speedy creation of a great vaccine (said to be a miracle!), and protecting the Second Amendment,” he continued.
The decision to convene a grand jury appears to indicate that the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance hopes to move towards bringing charges as a result of his two-year investigation. Vance went through a long court battle to obtain Trump’s tax records and part of his investigation has focused on tax deductions and write-offs claimed by the Trump Organization.
Her spokesperson said the inquiry into Mr Trump’s property company was “no longer purely civil”. However, Trump responded by saying the prosecutor was “in desperate search of a crime”.