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Fri, Mar 24 2023 5:36 PM EDT

A federal judge ordered Trump's former aides, including his ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows, to testify before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., investigating Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, NBC News reported Friday.

The developments in the D.C. case, which are separate from the Manhattan district attorney's hush money probe, pile yet more legal pressure on Trump, who is embroiled in numerous investigations as he simultaneously runs for the Republican presidential nomination.

In a sealed order, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled against Trump's bid to block his aides from speaking to the grand jury on the grounds of executive privilege, people familiar with the matter told NBC.

Executive privilege is the legal doctrine that allows for some executive-branch communications to be kept confidential. Trump is expected to appeal the ruling, which was filed in secret because it involves grand jury matters, according to NBC.

NBC's sources said the other aides affected by the ruling are former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, former national security advisor Robert O'Brien, former senior aide Stephen Miller, former Director of National IntelligenceJohn Ratcliffe, former deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, former assistant Nick Luna and former White House Presidential Personnel Officedirector John McEntee.

Kevin Breuninger

Fri, Mar 24 2023 2:56 PM EDT

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg exits a building, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in New York.

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez | AP

An envelope containing suspicious white powder with a note saying "Alvin I'm gonna kill you" was sent to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whom Trump has called an "animal" and "degenerate psychopath" in recent days.

The envelope was found in the DA's mail room, in the same courthouse where a grand jury has been hearing testimony in a criminal probe of Trump over a 2016 hush money payment to a porn star, a court spokesman and New York Police Department spokesman told CNBC.

The envelope contained a note inside that threatened to kill the DA, WNBC reported.

Police said the powder was deemed "non-hazardous," and no injuries were reported at the scene. The investigation into the situation is continuing.

Trump has blasted Bragg's probe and the DA personally on his Truth Social account.

In a scathing post early in the day, Trump warned of the potential for "death & destruction" if he were to face criminal charges.

Dan Mangan

Fri, Mar 24 2023 1:11 PM EDT

Evan Corcoran, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, departs after testifying before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's handling of classified documents, at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., March 24, 2023.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Trump's lawyer Evan Corcoran testified before a Washington, D.C., federal court grand jury for nearly three-and-a-half hours before leaving for the day, NBC News reported.

The grand jury is reviewing evidence in a criminal probe of Trump for keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club residence in Florida and for resisting efforts by government authorities to recover those records.

A federal appeals court earlier this week rejected Trump's effort to block a judge's order that required Corcoran to appear before the grand jury.

Dan Mangan

Fri, Mar 24 2023 12:27 PM EDT

A coterie of New York leaders, including Rev. Al Sharpton, former Gov. David Paterson and Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, defended Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg after Trump labeled the prosecutor a "Soros-backed animal."

Trump and other Republicans have accused Bragg of being closely tied to or controlled by billionaire progressive donor George Soros, but those claims areoverblown. Soros has become a prominent character in some antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Noting that Bragg is Manhattan's first Black DA, the joint statement from the New York leaders decried Trump's "unprecedented" criticism.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg exits a building, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in New York.

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez | AP

"This disgraceful attack is not a dog-whistle but a bullhorn of incendiary racist and anti-semitic bile, spewed out for the sole purpose of intimidating and sabotaging a lawful, legitimate, fact-based investigation," the statement read.

"These ugly, hateful and anti-American attacks on our judicial system must be universally condemned without equivocation or hesitation. It is clear that Trump would burn down the greatest values of our democracy, and destroy honest, ethical officials performing their constitutional duties, to escape accountability," the statement added.

The statement was posted on Twitter by an account that appeared to be related to Bragg's 2021 campaign for DA.

In a tweet promoting the statement, Espaillat added, "Harlem and the entire nation has your back D.A. Bragg. We're New Yorkers we don't back down to bullies. The justice system will prevail."

Trump's attack is one of many he has fired off at the DA since Bragg's probe of Trump's involvement in a 2016 hush money payment appeared to enter its final stages.

Kevin Breuninger

Fri, Mar 24 2023 11:17 AM EDT

A man inspects a plane of former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Palm Beach International Airport, days after he posted a message on his Truth Social account saying that he had expected to be arrested, and called on his supporters to protest, in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. March 22, 2023.

Marco Bello | Reuters

Trump is scheduled to travel to Waco, Texas, on Saturday for what his campaign has billed as the first official rally of his 2024 presidential bid.

The kickoff event, which comes months after Trump formally launched his third White House campaign, coincides with the 30-year anniversary of the infamous siege that took place east of Waco.

The standoff between FBI agents and members of the Branch Davidians religious cult began in February 1993 and ended nearly two months later in a deadly blaze that engulfed the group's compound. Dozens of the group's followers and its leader, David Koresh were killed in the siege, as were four federal agents.

Trump's campaign has not linked his rally with the tragic anniversary. In a press release announcing the event, the campaign declared, "It is undisputed that Texas is Trump Country," pointing to the success of Trump-endorsed candidates in the state and some favorable polling data on Texas Republicans.

Trump's spokesman told The New York Times that the site was selected "because it is centrally located and close to all four of Texas' biggest metropolitan areas."

The rally comes at the close of a week in which Trump wrongly predicted he would be arrested on charges from the Manhattan District Attorney's office related to a 2016 hush money payment to a porn star who alleges she had a tryst with Trump. The former president has railed against the DA and portrayed himself as a victim of government overreach.

Trump is scheduled to speak at the rally at the Waco Regional Airport at 5 p.m. local time on Saturday.

Kevin Breuninger

Fri, Mar 24 2023 10:46 AM EDT

Former US President Donald Trump sits in the rear of his limousine as he leaves from Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 23, 2023.

Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images

After ramping up his campaign of vitriol against the Manhattan district attorney pursuing a hush money case against him, Trump left his Palm Beach, Florida, resort home and headed to his golf club, NBC News reported.

The former president's motorcade arrived at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach shortly after 9 a.m. ET, according to NBC.

Around the same time, Trump posted a two-word, all-caps message on Truth Social: "PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!"

It was the latest in a series of escalating attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, which had reached a fever pitch overnight as Trump warned of "potential death & destruction" if charged in the probe.

Kevin Breuninger

Fri, Mar 24 2023 10:06 AM EDT

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (C) arrives at the Manhattan District Attorney's office in New York City, on March 23, 2023.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

The lawyer for Michael Cohen, Trump's ex-fixer turned key witness in the Manhattan district attorney's hush money case, said he would be let down if the former president is not charged in the probe.

"I'll be disappointed" if the DA Alvin Bragg ultimately decides not to indict Trump, attorney Lanny Davis told Politico.

"But I will grant him a good-faith judgment. And judgments can always be disagreed with, but I'll be disappointed for sure," Davis said.

Davis also told Politico that the probe began after he invited the former Manhattan DA, Cyrus Vance Jr., to visit Cohen in prison in Otisville, New York, where he was serving his sentence for financial crimes related to the hush money payment.

Their first meeting "did not go very well," Davis said, because Cohen had felt "mistreated" by federal prosecutors. But "they got past that," and "the next two sessions were very productive. And then it led to an open investigation."

Kevin Breuninger

Fri, Mar 24 2023 9:36 AM EDT

Evan Corcoran, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, arrives to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump's handling of classified documents, at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., March 24, 2023.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Evan Corcoran, an attorney for Trump, arrived at a Washington, D.C., courthouse ahead of a planned appearance before a federal grand jury reviewing evidence of Trump's retention of classified government records at his Florida home.

Corcoran's arrival came two days after an appeals court quickly denied a bid by Trump to block the lawyer's appearance, which a lower court judge had ordered.

The Justice Department is eyeing Trump in the criminal probe for failing to comply with a law requiring former presidents to return government records when they leave office.

He also is being investigated for potential obstruction of justice in refusing to turn over records to government officials when lawyers including Corcoran were being asked about such documents.

Last June, Corcoran told a fellow Trump lawyer Christina Bobb to give the DOJ a statement that an extensive search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club had not found any more government documents than the ones returned to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier in 2022.

Two months later, FBI agents in a raid of Mar-a-Lago found hundreds of such documents, many of them marked highly classified.

Dan Mangan

Fri, Mar 24 2023 9:31 AM EDT

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a rally to support Republican candidates ahead of midterm elections, in Dayton, Ohio, U.S. November 7, 2022.

Gaelen Morse | Reuters

Trump in an ominous early-morning social media post suggested there could be "death & destruction" if he is hit with criminal charges.

The implication of violence came more than two years after thousands of the former president's supporters, spurred by his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, stormed the Capitol in a deadly attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's victory.

Trump in his Truth Social post cited his status as a former president and a current White House contender as he lashed out at an unnamed prosecutor. He argued that any criminal charge against him would be baseless.

"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?"

"Why & who would do such a thing?" he added. "Only a degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA."

The post came hours after a federal judge in Manhattan ruled that the jury in Trump's upcoming civil trial for allegations that he raped and defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll would be anonymous. The decision was in part due to Trump's verbal and written attacks on legal system officials such as prosecutors, as well as individual grand jurors.

Trump faces a potential indictment next week in the Manhattan grand jury probe related to the Stormy Daniels hush money payment. Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford.

He also is the target of a federal criminal probe related to efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden, and his actions surrounding the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot by his supporters after he urged them to protest the election results in Washington.

Dan Mangan

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Trump live updates: Threatening letter with nonhazardous white powder found at Manhattan DA's office - CNBC

Donald Trump also warned of a "nuclear world war".

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States, claimed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine conflict "within 24 hours" during an interview with Fox News. He said he would do so by presiding over peace talks, but "refused" to explain how.

Mr Trump informed that if the war doesn't conclude by the end of the US 2024 presidential elections and if he is re-elected to the White House, he would "within one day" have a peace settlement in place. Speaking to the outlet, he claimed that talks between Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and himself would be "easy".

"If it's not solved, I will have it solved in 24 hours with Zelensky and with Putin, and there's a very easy negotiation to take place, but I don't want to tell you what it is because then I can't use that negotiation," said Mr Trump.

"But there's a very easy negotiation to take place. I will have it solved within one day, a peace between them," he noted.

The former US President noted that the negotiations will not start for a "year and a half", adding "that's a long time". He also mentioned that there is a possibility that the war may get much worse in the meantime.

Discussing his good relationship with the Russian President, Mr Trump said that the conflict would not have happened if he was re-elected to office in 2020.

Furthermore, he also warned of a "nuclear world war". "If this thing isn't solved by the time we have the election - which it's possible it won't be, and it's also possible we'll be in World War Three with these idiots that are doing what they're doing- you could end up in a nuclear world war which will make World War I and World War II look like patty cakes," he said during the interview.

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Donald Trump Claims He Can End Russia-Ukraine War "Within 24 Hours" - NDTV

NEW YORK -- There is still no decision on when, or if, a Manhattan grand jury will indict former president Donald Trump.

The district attorney is investigating an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 and whether Trump falsified records to hide it.

RELATED STORY:Threatening note, powdery substance sent to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg amid Trump investigation

Former federal prosecutor Annemarie McAvoy says a decision from the grand jury could go either way.

"Hard to say exactly what's going to happen. It seems now there's been some hesitation, potentially, as to looking for a true bill from this grand jury. So I think there is a possibility it could go either way at this point, perhaps an indictment and perhaps not," she said.

RELATED STORY:Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump unlikely to decide on any possible charges this week, sources say

The grand jury is expected to resume deliberations next week.

For more analysis on the case, watch "The Point with Marcia Kramer" at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on CBS2.

The CBS New York team is a group of experienced journalists who bring you the content on CBSNewYork.com.

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Former federal prosecutor says Manhattan grand jury decision in possible Donald Trump indictment "could go either way" - CBS News

The civil trial is scheduled to start April 25 at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan just a few blocks from where a grand jury has been hearing evidence against Donald Trump in a probe stemming from a payment of hush money in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels. | Scott Olson/Getty Images

Donald Trumps recent call for protest against his potential indictment on a hush-money-related charge helped spur a judges decision Thursday to impose an unusual level of secrecy around the jury that will serve in an upcoming civil trial in New York over a rape allegation against the former president.

Citing a very strong risk that jurors will fear harassment, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the use of an anonymous jury for the trial set to begin next month on writer E. Jean Carrolls civil suit alleging that Trump raped her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

Trump has vehemently denied the allegation, including through a crude counterattack where he asserted that Carroll was not my type.

Neither Carroll nor Trump asked Kaplan, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, to block access to the jurors names, addresses and similar information. Kaplan raised the idea on his own and announced Thursday he will impose the secrecy despite objections from two news outlets: the Associated Press and the New York Daily News.

Tracking Trump investigations

The secrecy measure is typically reserved for criminal cases involving alleged mafia or drug kingpins. But Kaplan cited a series of alleged threats of violence by Trump, his public attacks on jurors in other cases and various reports describing Trumps role in fomenting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his statement Saturday urging his followers to protest what he said was his looming arrest in a probe led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Mr. Trumps quite recent reaction to what he perceived as an imminent threat of indictment by a grand jury sitting virtually next door to this Court was to encourage protest and to urge people to take our country back, Kaplan wrote in an 18-page decision. That reaction reportedly has been perceived by some as incitement to violence. And it bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked courts, judges, various law enforcement officials and other public officials, and even individual jurors in other matters.

Even as he recounted a litany of provocative statements by Trump, Kaplan was careful to say that he was not accusing the former president of being responsible for incitement, only that the specter created by his statements could be seen as intimidating.

For purposes of this order, it matters not whether Mr. Trump incited violence in either a legal or a factual sense. The point is whether jurors will perceive themselves to be at risk, the judge wrote.

Kaplan noted that neither side in the case objected to the proposed jury-secrecy order, which instructs court personnel not to reveal the names, addresses or places of employment of prospective jurors or actual jurors empaneled in the trial, scheduled to start April 25 at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan just a few blocks from where Braggs grand jury has been hearing evidence against Trump in a probe stemming from a payment of hush money in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Carolls lawsuit is the second she filed in connection with Trumps alleged attack on her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1995 or 1996. The first, filed in 2019, accused Trump of defamation for his statements denying her rape claim. The second suit, which Kaplan has ordered be tried first, was filed in November and seeks damages against Trump directly for the alleged rape. Carolls lawyers have said they couldnt file that case until last year, after New Yorks Legislature extended the statute of limitations for civil suits alleging sexual abuse or harassment.

Trumps attorneys argued that the extension was unconstitutional, but Kaplan disagreed.

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Court orders anonymous jury in civil suit over alleged rape by Trump - POLITICO

Former President Donald Trump. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

On Saturday, former President Donald Trump called for his supporters to protest an expected indictment against him.

In a Truth Social post, he claimed he would be arrested on Tuesday and blasted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is overseeing an investigation into payments he made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who says she had an affair with him.

"THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK," Trump said on his website Truth Social. "PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!"

It's Tuesday. Trump hasn't been arrested.

Trump isn't even in New York, one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, told Insider.

He appears to be staying home in Mar-a-Lago. The Associated Press captured a photo of a Secret Service agent stationed at the Florida estate on Tuesday morning. Trump's plane was parked at the Palm Beach International Airport at noon, indicating he was still in Florida, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

"He's going about business as usual, doing what he does, enjoying the fact that he seems to be rising in the poll numbers the more this thing picks up steam," Tacopina told Insider.

The Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump typically meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. It's scheduled to meet with another witness on Wednesday, according to Fox News, before the jurors are given instructions on how to decide whether to bring criminal charges in the case.

Tacopina told Insider he doesn't know the identity of any other potential witnesses. He said he didn't plan to bring any witnesses to speak in Trump's defense other than Robert Costello, who testified on Monday.

Costello said he served as a rebuttal witness to Michael Cohen, who says he facilitated hush-money payments to Daniels on Trump's behalf on the eve of the 2016 election.

"We don't really present the case in the grand jury," Tacopina told Insider. "It's a very one-sided process. It's not our time to present our case. We'll do that when there's an indictment."

If Trump is indicted, it would likely remain under seal until Trump appears in court, an event that would be carefully choreographed with multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service. It's also possible he could have a virtual arraignment over video.

On Truth Social, Trump spent Monday and Tuesday bragging about his poll numbers and criticizing Bragg.

A Morning Consult poll taken between March 17 and 19 found that Trump enjoyed 54% support in the Republican 2024 presidential primary, ahead of his top rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who sits at 26%. Trump's support rose and DeSantis's support slid by two percentage points compared to a week earlier, according to Morning Consult, although the poll has a margin of error of two percentage points. Trump also shared the results of a Rasmussen poll from earlier this month that showed him ahead of DeSantis in Arizona.

"Ron DeSanctimonious is dropping in the Polls so fast that he soon may be falling behind young Vivek Ramaswamy," Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday, referencing a long-shot candidate for the presidential nomination.

On Tuesday, Trump also lost a bid to delay the trial, scheduled for October 2, for a civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney Letitia James, who alleges Trump and his three eldest children broke state laws by misrepresenting the Trump Organization's property values.

Alina Habba, an attorney representing Trump in the lawsuit, told reporters outside the courthouse that a decision from the grand jury to indict the former president would be "a grave mistake."

"He's sad by what's going on here," Habba said.

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Donald Trump having normal day when he said he'll be arrested - Business Insider