The saga of Stormy Daniels isn’t over just yet. The New York Times reports that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is now picking up where federal prosecutors left off and launching its own investigation into the infamous $130,000 payment to Daniels, which was allegedly made by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen at the then-candidate’s behest. The reported investigation is expected to focus on whether the Trump Organization, which reimbursed Cohen, broke New York state law by falsifying business records about the transaction.
Per the Times, Manhattan D.A. Cyrus R. Vance Jr. issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization Thursday as part of the inquiry, which is still in its earliest stages. The Manhattan investigation is expected to focus on the Trump-led company’s senior executives, though the Times notes it is unclear whether the probe will reach Trump himself. (The president has denied having an affair with Daniels and any wrongdoing in the subsequent alleged cover-up.) “It’s just harassment of the president, his family and his business, using subpoenas as weapons,” Trump Organization attorney Marc L. Mukasey told the Times, calling the subpoena a “political hit job.” “We will respond as appropriate.” In addition to the Trump subpoena, Vance also reportedly issued a separate subpoena to National Enquirer publisher American Media Inc., which issued a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal before the 2016 election to cover up her own alleged affair with Trump.
The Manhattan investigation comes weeks after the Southern District of New York’s much-hyped federal inquiry into the hush-money payments ended with a whimper. Though news of the investigation’s conclusion was accompanied by the release of unredacted documents suggesting likely conversations between Trump, Cohen, and Hope Hicks about the payments, no additional charges are expected to be filed in the probe. (Cohen is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for charges related to the Daniels payment.) The Trump Organization seems to have gotten off particularly easy in the federal investigation, as CNN reported that while prosecutors initially sought to interview company executives in January, they never followed up on the request and the interviews never took place. Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who was allegedly involved with the payments, was granted immunity for cooperating with prosecutors, as were executives from American Media Inc.
Whether Vance’s investigation will be able to accomplish what federal prosecutors could not, though, remains to be seen. As the Times notes, the Manhattan D.A. has a history of not following through on holding the Trumps accountable, having previously declined to charge Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. over allegedly misleading investors in Trump SoHo. (According to ProPublica, Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz, who donated $25,000 to Vance’s reelection campaign, reportedly urged Vance to drop the charges.) And even if the falsification charges against the Trump Organization actually come to fruition, they won’t carry quite the same heft as potential federal charges in the SDNY’s probe: Unless business records are being falsified to cover up a crime, which is still unclear in this particular case, violating the New York state law is only considered a misdemeanor. Still, the investigation could provide another avenue to hold the Trump Organization accountable for the president’s alleged transgressions, even if it lacks the spectacle of the federal probe. And much to Trump’s likely chagrin, should any of his business colleagues face state charges—the president won’t be able to save them with a pardon.
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