Donald Trump just got indicted (updated!)

Update: surprise, Donald Trump just got indicted! We will have more tomorrow!

Yep, Lucy-with-the-football. That’s what this whole “Donald Trump will be indicted, arrested, handcuffed and hog-tied” storyline was at the end of the day. Just another pipe dream. To be fair, I think Trump believed he was about to be arrested at any moment. He said as much two weekends ago, and his statements were the starting point of Donald Trump Arrest Watch 2023. We all dutifully followed through, as did law enforcement in New York. There were supposedly high-level coordination meetings about how to handle it if and when Trump was arrested for the whole Stormy Daniels payoff. Now it’s looking like there won’t be any indictments until late April. Or May. Or maybe never.

The Manhattan grand jury examining Donald Trump’s alleged role in a hush money payment to a porn star isn’t expected to hear evidence in the case for the next month largely due to a previously scheduled hiatus, according to a person familiar with the proceedings.

The break would push any indictment of the former president to late April at the earliest, although it is possible that the grand jury’s schedule could change. In recent weeks, the Manhattan district attorney’s office hasn’t convened the panel on certain days. But it is District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prerogative to ask the grand jury to reconvene if prosecutors want the panel to meet during previously planned breaks.

The grand jury, which heard testimony in the Trump case on Monday, isn’t meeting Wednesday and is expected to examine evidence in a separate matter Thursday, the person said. The grand jury, which typically meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, is scheduled to consider another case next week on Monday and Wednesday, the person said, and isn’t expected to meet Thursday due to the Passover holiday.

The following two weeks are set to be a hiatus that was scheduled when the grand jury was first convened in January, the person said.

[From Politico]

Whatever happened to “the DA could indict a ham sandwich?” Like, that’s a thing – you convene a grand jury, the DA presents a one-sided account of the crime and the grand jury indicts. Why is this so complicated?? Just indict the motherf–ker and let’s be done with it. As for the breaks… Easter is coming up, as is Passover. Obviously, I understand why there would be a built-in hiatus for the holidays. But… did DA Bragg think he was going to get an indictment before Easter? Was this schedule always the plan and Trump stepped all over the plan and tried to rush the indictment? I don’t even know anymore. Anyway, IF Trump does get indicted, it won’t happen until the Met Gala, basically.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.