Trump to meet with legal team on strategy for hush-money probe

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has invited Trump to testify before a grand jury next week. His lawyers have not indicated whether he will accept the invitation.

By Adam Reiss and Zoë Richards

Lawyers for Donald Trump are meeting with the former president in Florida this weekend to discuss how to handle the latest developments in a Manhattan probe focused on a hush money payment during the 2016 campaign.

Joe Tacopina, one of Trump’s attorneys, told NBC News on Friday that Trump’s lawyers have “no plans” to meet with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which has convened a grand jury to look into a payment to Stormy Daniels, the actress who said she slept with Trump before he became president.

NBC News reported Thursday that Trump was invited to testify before the grand jury. Trump’s lawyers have not said whether he will accept the invitation, and the district attorney’s office has declined to comment on the matter.

“We are not convinced they will bring a case, but if so we will deal with it,” Tacopina said Friday.

Trump, who in November launched his 2024 presidential bid, said in a lengthy statement on his Truth Social site Thursday night that he “did absolutely nothing wrong,” and suggested the investigation was politically motivated. He has repeatedly denied having an affair with Daniels.

Meanwhile, Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in federal court in 2018 to making the illegal payment to Daniels, met for more than seven hours with prosecutors Friday. The meeting was Cohen’s 20th sit-down with them, in preparation for a grand jury appearance Monday afternoon.

Cohen has said he gave the hush money to Daniels on Trump’s orders, and that the payment was for “principal purpose of influencing” the 2016 presidential election

The hush-money probe is just one of several investigations centered around Trump.

Special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation of the Jan. 6 riot and the criminal probe of Trump’s potential mishandling of classified documents.

In Fulton County, Georgia, a special grand jury recently wrapped up its examination into whether Trump and his allies tried to interfere with the state’s 2020 election results. The foreperson for the jury said last month that jurors recommended indicting more than a dozen people, whose names have not been made public