After former president Donald Trump said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, the indictment is now on hold– as he announced a surprise witness while giving away his legal strategy.
Trump indictment on hold as grand jury awaits testimony from surprise witness
On Saturday, former president Donald Trump said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday in connection with a years-long investigation into a hush-money scheme with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Although Trump said in his Saturday social media post that the “leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States will be arrested on Tuesday of next week,” his team said afterward that it had not received any notifications from prosecutors, CNN reported.
But now the arrest appears to be on hold pending the testimony of one, possibly two witnesses before the grand jury.
On Sunday, in a post on Truth Social, Trump said “the most important witness” will testify before the grand jury, hinting that this surprise witness would be “a highly respected lawyer” as the former president inadvertently gave away his legal strategy.
“THE INFORMATION HE WILL PRESENT WILL SUPPOSEDLY BE CONCLUSIVE AND IRREFUTABLE! WITCH HUNT!!!” Trump wrote in an all-caps post, Yahoo! News reported.
Due to the requirement that grand jurors must hear all evidence and then be informed of the relevant law by prosecutors before deliberations and voting can begin, any indictment of Trump in New York will remain on hold as additional grand jury witnesses must first testify.
Trump reveals surprise witness
The surprise witness that Trump was teasing as a game changer on his behalf has been identified as Rudy Giuliani’s lawyer Robert Costello, who previously served as an attorney for key prosecution witness Michael Cohen.
In turn, Cohen himself may then be called by the prosecution to rebut Costello, making him a second witness the grand jury may be required to hear.
The grand jury meets in secret on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, and is scheduled to convene for three hours on Monday.
A grand jury is typically between 16 to 23 members in number. While it is possible the grand jury could reach a vote by the end of the three-hour session on Monday, the last-minute witness testimonies make it unlikely that an arrest of Trump could occur on Tuesday, according to reports.
