Thursday, March 23, 2023

Plausible Explanations

Per Insider:

The Manhattan 'hush-money' grand jury, after being told by prosecutors not to come in on Wednesday, is not 'likely' to meet Thursday either, law enforcement sources told Insider. ... Wednesday's pause in the grand jury's activity -- especially if the panel indeed takes the rest of this week off -- will likely delay the process into next week.

What explains this?

According to Donald Trump, it has to do with testimony heard Monday: "[prosecutor Alvin Bragg] is having a hard time with the Grand Jury, especially after the powerful testimony against him by Felon Cohen's highly respected former lawyer."

I can think of at least three more likely reasons:

  1. Perhaps there have been threats against the grand jury or the venue in which it meets;
  2. Perhaps Bragg is playing the news cycle, wanting a Friday indictment so that there's not a lot of time for any other event to come along and compete for prominence on the weekend news shows and in the Sunday papers; or
  3. Perhaps Bragg wants (or has been asked by law enforcement) to keep the exact timing of the indictment a surprise until the last moment to reduce MAGA World's ability to plan rio ... er, "protests" ... around the announcement.
Personally, I think the third explanation is the most likely explanation.

Keep in mind: Bragg announcing (or leaking claims) that the grand jury won't be meeting is not the same thing as intending for the grand jury to not meet. If he's at the point of taking an indictment vote, there may be unmarked police cars out picking up grand jury members right now and taking them to some alternate venue to hold the vote and get indictments in hand before the press/public/Trump/MAGA World know it's happening.

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