Trump offered chance to testify to New York grand jury

NEW YORK: New York prosecutors have offered Donald Trump an opportunity to testify to a grand jury, signaling an investigation into hush money the former president allegedly paid a porn star may soon end in an indictment, US media reported on Friday.

Trump was offered a chance to testify next week to a New York grand jury, whose investigation is said to involve a $130,000 payment made just before the 2016 presidential election to an adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels, The New York Times and Washington Post reported.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had an affair with Trump years before he became president. The Times said that such offers to testify “almost always indicate an indictment is close.”

Both papers quoted people with knowledge of the proceedings led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who took office in January. His predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr, also a Democrat, had launched an investigation into Trump´s finances in 2019, which resulted in a years-long legal battle over the billionaire´s tax documents.

If an indictment were to be filed, it would mark the first time a former US president has been charged with a crime. The district attorney´s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump, who has already declared another bid for the White House, is facing several criminal probes at the state and federal level over possible wrongdoing before, during and after his first term in office. He has not yet been charged in any of them.