Testimony could discredit a key witness in a case involving Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels

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NEW YORK — Michael Cohen’s former legal adviser is expected to testify Monday before a grand jury that will weigh whether President Donald Trump committed any crime by indirectly paying adult-film star Stormy Daniels — a development that appears to aimed at discrediting a key prosecution witness.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is investigating a $130,000 payment that Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, said he made before the 2016 election that he said was to ensure Daniels’ silence about her alleged affair with Trump. Trump has denied the affair but admitted he paid Cohen for the payment to Daniels, which Trump said was made “to prevent the false and extortionist accusations he made.”

Cohen’s former counsel, Robert Costello, said he was asked by Bragg’s team to appear before a grand jury panel in Lower Manhattan on Monday afternoon — but Costello said the request originally came from the legal team. by Trump. Under New York law, prospective defendants can request witnesses to appear before grand juries on their behalf.

What we know about the Donald Trump-Stormy Daniels payment case

The fact that Costello was a witness requested by the defense suggests that Trump’s lawyers believe he can smear Cohen’s account of the events surrounding the Daniels payment and the reimbursement. Costello previously told federal investigators from the US attorney’s office in Manhattan about his discussions with Cohen, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.

Federal prosecutors charged Cohen in connection with the payments to Daniels but did not charge Trump.

Cohen waived attorney-client privilege in 2019, Costello said, freeing him to tell investigators about their conversations. He declined to elaborate on those conversations when reached by phone Sunday.

“I think I have an ethical obligation to report what I know, once the attorney-client privilege is waived,” Costello said. “It’s too important.”

Attorneys for Trump did not respond to a request for comment. A Trump adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Costello’s appearance was the result of a move by the former president’s defense team.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which has met with Cohen more than 20 times since the investigation began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. first spoke with Costello on Friday, a person with knowledge of the situation said. A spokesman for Bragg declined to comment. Lanny J. Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, declined to comment.

Cohen has said publicly that he paid Daniels $130,000 with the expectation that Trump would pay him back. Trump, in turn, reimbursed Cohen by accounting for the installments as regular legal fees, Cohen said. Cohen, who long handled business and personal affairs for Trump before he became president, said Trump wanted to hide the true nature of the payments to protect his campaign — a suggestion repeated Trump again denied.

Last week, Cohen testified in two sessions before the same grand jury that Costello will face. Cohen’s credibility has been widely criticized, and he served prison time for lying in congressional testimony, tax evasion and campaign finance fraud related to the Daniel affair.

Trump and his allies have suggested Bragg’s investigation is aimed at derailing his bid for the presidency in 2024. Trump has been actively campaigning after announcing his latest bid for the White House in November.

Trump has called for protests over what he says is his imminent arrest

Costello also played a role in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller’s 2019 report described interactions between Costello and Cohen; according to Mueller, Cohen began talking to Costello in April 2018, days after Cohen’s office and a hotel room were raided by FBI agents, who seized evidence including material related to the Daniels payment .

In the emails, Costello told Cohen that he had a “backchannel” to Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. “You are ‘loved’ … they are in our corner. … Sleep well tonight[]you have friends in high places,” the Mueller report said.

Mueller indicated that the messages made Cohen feel he would continue to have the support of Trump’s White House “if he toes the party line.”

Bragg suggested he was reviewing all aspects of the long-running Trump investigation — which covers the former president’s dealings with banks and lenders, as well as tax practices at the Trump Organization. The grand jury focused on Daniels’ payment, and Bragg’s team is widely believed to have focused on the possibility that Trump violated state law by falsifying business records to cover up the amount of the campaign donation.

On Saturday, Trump used social media to call for protests in response to what he claimed would be his imminent arrest, on Tuesday, in the Manhattan investigation. His language, along with a fundraising pitch sent by his 2024 presidential campaign, echoed rhetoric used by Trump before his supporters’ attack on the US Capitol in Jan. 6, 2021.

On Sunday afternoon, Trump posted again on Truth Social, insisting: “No crime, period.” He also labeled Bragg’s investigation as “Prosecutorial Misconduct and Interference with an Election.”

Bragg’s office is expected to meet with law enforcement and court officials early this week to discuss security concerns in the event the former president is called to appear at a criminal courthouse in Manhattan to face charges.

Helderman and Dawsey reported from Washington. Azi Paybarah contributed to this report.

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