(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Former Manhattan DA says Trump DOJ asked him to 'stand down' in Stormy Daniels hush-money probe [1] ['Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags', 'Showtags Popular_Tags'] Date: 2023-04-04 In an MSNBC interview on Sunday, Vance told host Jen Psaki: “The Southern District of New York at the same time as ourselves at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office were looking at the so-called `hush money payment’ issue. And then we learned from the Southern District of New York that they asked us to `stand down.’ And by `stand down’ I mean they were communicating that they had this ongoing investigation and they wished that we put our efforts on hold while they completed their investigation. “And obviously that was a discretionary call by me whether or not to do that, but I felt it was entirely appropriate. Obviously the Southern District of New York is an excellent organization with great leaders and prosecutors and I felt it was appropriate for me to press the pause button." x “We learned from the Southern District of New York that they asked us to stand down... they wished that we put our efforts on hold.” Fmr. Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance to @jrpsaki on SDNY's request to pause their investigation of Donald Trump & the hush money to Stormy Daniels pic.twitter.com/DCFHImr1Yw — Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) April 2, 2023 RELATED STORY: Let’s not make the mistake of underestimating Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg as Donald Trump did MSNBC legal analyst Renato Mariotti said Vance’s revelation raised questions about the role of Barr and Trump in getting the Manhattan DA’s office to hold off on its hush money investigation. x Cy Vance stated today that the SDNY, while Trump was President, asked him to hold off on the hush money investigation. Did then-Attorney General Barr play any role in that request? Did Trump? It's an odd request because SDNY did not indict Trump or anyone else after that point. https://t.co/6CXq3gvM1B — Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) April 2, 2023 MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann wrote that one GOP line of attack against Bragg was that Vance had declined to prosecute Trump in the hush-money case, and that Bragg is “so out of control that he is bringing political charges rejected by calmer and cooler heads, even the Democratic district attorney who immediately preceded him.” x Bragg’s predecessor didn’t take up the case. The Justice Department didn’t take up the case. Bragg first said he would not take up the case. This is very political, not a matter of justice. In this case, let the jury be the voters. — Jeb Bush (@JebBush) April 1, 2023 “That narrative is false, as was exposed by Psaki on Sunday in her trenchant interview with Vance, who “broke his post-DA silence,” Weissmann wrote. Vance had begun his investigation into the hush money payment in 2018, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-personal lawyer and fixer, had coordinated a $130,000 payment to Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election. Cohen later that year pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including tax evasion and campaign finance violations, brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. In a December 2018 sentencing memo, the government wrote that Cohen “acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1,” an apparent reference to Trump. Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. But in July 2019, the federal government indicated that it had “effectively concluded” the investigation and that future charges were unlikely, which The New York Times described as a likely “legal victory” for Trump. In his interview on Inside with Jen Psaki, Vance added: "I was surprised, after Michael Cohen pleaded guilty, that the investigation from the Southern District on that issue did not go forward. By that time we had moved on to other matters." [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/4/2162016/-Former-Manhattan-DA-says-Justice-Department-asked-him-to-stand-down-in-Trump-hush-money-probe Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/