Attorney says Trump has “no intention” of participating in Manhattan grand jury investigation

Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told AFP Monday that he has “no intention” of taking part in a Manhattan grand jury investigation into former President Donald Trump’s hush-hush payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s Good Morning America.

“We have no intention of participating in this procedure,” Tacopina said. “The decision has not been made yet. There is no set deadline, so we will wait and see.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating whether former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen falsified business documents as part of a $130,000 payment he made to Daniels before the 2016 election. Prosecutors said that prevented him from speaking out about the matter, which he has long denied, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Cohen is scheduled to testify before a grand jury on Monday, ABC News previously reported.

Prosecutors notified Trump last week of his right to testify before a grand jury as part of the investigation, a possible signal that prosecutors are seeking to make an indictment decision.

Suzanne Necheles, another Trump attorney who is handling the case, met with prosecutors, Tacopina said.

“Will Trump be impeached?” Tacopina answered: “I expect justice to prevail. If so, George, there should be no accusation.’

“This prosecutor and his prosecutor’s office … clearly have an agenda,” he said. “They spent seven years trying to find something about his personal life and his professional life.”

Tacopina has called the funds an extortion payment and has repeatedly said the payment was not directly related to the Trump campaign.

“I don’t know when we decided to prosecute extortion victims,” ​​Tacopina said. “He vehemently denied the affair, but he had to pay because, regardless of the campaign, there would be a very embarrassing public accusation.”

When asked if the payment was properly reflected in the Trump Organization’s records or if a false entry was made to show it was a legitimate representation, Tacopina said, “To my knowledge, there were no false records. »

“This is not a contribution to his campaign,” Tacopina said. “He did it out of his own funds so that nothing was wrong, but to avoid embarrassment to himself and his family’s young son. This is not a campaign finance violation, not at all.”