Manhattan DA convenes grand jury to weigh criminal charges against Trump and his business executives, report says

NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors have impaneled a grand jury to weigh evidence in their criminal probe into former President Donald Trump and his namesake business, according to a report Tuesday.

The group of Manhattan residents will mull whether to criminally charge Trump and his business executives as part of District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s long-running investigation into alleged financial fraud at the Trump Organization, according to The Washington Post.

It was unclear when officials first convened the panel in person. In April, Jennifer Weisselberg, the former daughter-in-law of Allen Weisselberg — who has managed the Trump Organization’s finances since the 1970s — told the New York Daily News that she had handed over years’ worth of documents to Vance’s investigators by order of a grand jury subpoena.

“Yesterday, I get a call saying that there was a subpoena issued by the grand jury for the boxes. They said, ‘We want to pick up your stuff tonight, your evidence,’” Jennifer Weisselberg told the Daily News on April 8. “They came by this morning.”

Jennifer Weisselberg was not available for comment. Her spokesperson Juda Engelmeyer said she had been ordered to evict her Upper West Side apartment Wednesday after Allen Weisselberg stopped paying the rent.

Another critical witness the grand jury is sure to hear from is Trump’s former fixer and personal attorney Michael Cohen, who is cooperating in the probe. Cohen recently dropped off a caseload of documents to the district attorney, a source told the Daily News.

Cohen declined to comment when reached by the Daily News.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who launched a civil probe into the Trump Organization in March 2018, several months after Vance, last week confirmed that her investigation is now criminal in nature. Two assistant attorneys general have since been embedded in the Manhattan DA’s office.

Both offices have said in court papers that they are investigating Trump, his company and business associates over their alleged habit of artificially inflating and deflating the value of assets to secure bank loans, tax breaks and other financial benefits. Such activities can amount to fraud.

Grand jury proceedings are confidential, and it’s unclear if Vance plans to bring charges against Trump, his executives or the Trump Organization itself.

In a statement Tuesday, Trump trotted out a familiar line, calling it “a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history.”

While Vance appears to have had a grand jury operating for months in the Trump probe, University of Richmond Law School professor Carl Tobias said Tuesday’s development signals the DA is ready to take his investigation to the next level.

“Now he will present that info to the grand jury and try to persuade the members to indict, so that he can formally charge the defendants and move the case forward,” Tobias said. “I think that it is a major development, and my sense is that it could well lead to criminal charges against Trump.”

In a case as complex as the Trump probe, however, Tobias argued Vance’s success would be contingent on prosecutors making comprehensive presentations. He said this likely explains why the DA has reportedly set a six-month session for the impaneling, which is longer than regular grand jury assignments in New York.

“Much will depend on the quantity and quality of the evidence that Vance presents and how persuasive the presentation is,” Tobias said.

“Most important will be evidence that comprehensively shows clear violations of law by Trump, which Trump thought he could get away with but people who lacked money, power and connections could not.”

Whether or not Vance brings charges, he won’t be the one to try Trump. In February, the three-term DA announced that he would step down at the end of the year. If indictments come down, it will be his successor’s job to bring them to trial.

Vance spokesman Danny Frost declined to comment.