Robert Costello, Michael Cohen’s former legal adviser, to appear before Trump grand jury
Quote:
Attorney Robert "Bob" Costello, once a legal adviser to Michael Cohen, has told NBC News that he will testify Monday before the New York grand jury considering former President Donald Trump's case Monday.
Trump’s attorneys asked the district attorney in Manhattan for Costello to testify in the case involving a hush money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
The fact that Costello will be appearing at the request of Trump's team indicates he may contradict Cohen, who has been a key witness in the case.
Cohen alleged that Trump directed him to pay the hush money for the “principal purpose of influencing” the 2016 presidential election. He said he will return to the district attorney’s office Monday to stand by as a rebuttal witness.
Costello said Sunday that he never signed a retainer agreement. He also said Cohen waived the attorney-client privilege in 2019 — a move that shocked attorneys who became aware of it.
Cohen, meanwhile, said Costello never represented him.
McCarthy says Americans should not protest if Trump is indictedQuote:
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy urged calm Sunday and said Americans should not protest if former President Donald Trump is indicted and arrested in a hush-money investigation in New York, contradicting Trump, who called on his supporters Saturday to “Protest, take our nation back!”
“I don’t think people should protest this, no. And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn’t believe that, either,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said in response to a question from NBC News during House Republicans’ retreat in Orlando.
He said later: “Nobody should harm one another.”
But during the same news conference, McCarthy gave a full-throated defense of Trump, dismissing New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation as politically motivated and saying he’s uninterested in cracking down on rising crime in New York City.
“Lawyer after lawyer will tell you this is the weakest case out there, trying to make a misdemeanor a felony,” said McCarthy, flanked by members of his leadership team in an outdoor courtyard at the JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes.
“The last thing we want … is somebody putting their thumb on the scale [of justice] simply because they don’t agree with somebody else’s political view,” McCarthy added. “That is what’s wrong, and that’s what infuriates people. And this will not hold up in court if this is what he want
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