(NewsNation) — The New York grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump over alleged hush money payments has yet to release word on when it might be asked to vote on a possible indictment.
Trump has been surrounded by several criminal investigations recently, including two at the federal level, one on the Jan. 6, 2021 riots, one on the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home and the Georgia elections case.
So, what exactly is Trump being investigated for in this case and what is the Manhattan grand jury looking into in terms of his innocence or guilt?
John Bolton, a former White House National Security ambassador under the Trump administration, told NewsNation the grand jury’s investigation is complicated because there are two separate legal issues.
“The first is a New York State fraud count likely, at least that’s speculated to be for falsifying his company’s books,” he said.
Bolton said that’s a misdemeanor, but there’s a dispute on whether that normally would be handled by actually indicting someone or through a consent mechanism.
“What makes the case complicated is the speculation that the Manhattan DA will add, try and turn it into a felony by saying that the cooking the books action was actually also to conceal another crime in this case, allegedly a campaign contribution,” Bolton explained.
Bolton said that complicates things because the campaign contribution violation that people think would be alleged would be a federal law and not in New York law.
While some observers have speculated this is not a strong case, Bolton said, “It’s pretty strong on the facts.”
“But there are several legal questions. There’s a statute of limitations question, and it raises in the minds of some people the argument that any case with this many difficulties has to have some political motivation in back of it,” he explained.
The grand jury has heard from several witnesses, including Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, who has said he orchestrated the payoffs. He admitted to paying $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election to keep her from telling her story to media outlets.
“I think the fact that Michael Cohen himself confessed and was convicted of the crime involving this precise transaction, so that at the federal level, the prosecutors thought they had enough to prosecute him now they declined to go after Trump, which is another argument about the alleged weakness of Bragg’s case,” Bolton said.
Trump denies the affair and has called the case a “witch hunt.”
The Manhattan grand jury is next scheduled to meet Wednesday.
