Less than two weeks after New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that both the New York and Manhattan investigations into the Trump Organization had escalated to criminal, rather than civil, investigations, reports broke that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has convened a grand jury.
The latest escalation of the years-long investigation suggests that Vance believes he has enough evidence to charge the Trump Organization, its executives, or even former President Donald Trump himself with a crime.
Over the course of the investigation, Vance has gained access to Trump's long-withheld financial records after years of litigation.
Trump exploded at the news on his personal blog, recycling his go-to list of phrases like "witch hunt" and "hoax."
The lengthy statement reads in part:
"This is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history. It began the day I came down the escalator in Trump Tower, and it's never stopped. They wasted two years and $48 million in taxpayer dollars on Mueller and Russia Russia Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and it continues to this day, with illegally leaked confidential information."
The pity party continued:
"No other President in history has had to put up with what I have had to, and on top of all that, I have done a great job for our Country, whether it's taxes, regulations, our Military, Veterans, Space Force, our Borders, speedy creation of a great vaccine (said to be a miracle!), and protecting the Second Amendment."
The grand jury will sit for three days a week for six months, the Washington Post reports, and will likely consider charges on several criminal investigations.
Trump has repeatedly decried any attempts to hold him accountable as a "continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history." He did so with his second impeachment, with the Supreme Court decision to grant access to his tax returns, and now with the impaneling of a grand jury in the Manhattan criminal investigation.
Judging by Trump's reaction, some suspect Vance has got his witch.
Time to catch that witchhttps://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1397389550817878018\u00a0\u2026— Grendel Loingseach (@Grendel Loingseach) 1621998740
Totally appropriate hunt for the biggest \u201cwitch\u201d to ever hold the office of the POTUS.https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1397389550817878018\u00a0\u2026— Deborah L Phillips (@Deborah L Phillips) 1622005928
It\u2019s amazing how many witches they have found so far.https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1397389550817878018\u00a0\u2026— SK88 (@SK88) 1621999306
It\u2019s \u201ca continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history,\u201d said the greatest witch in American history.https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1397389550817878018\u00a0\u2026— Mike Fancher (@Mike Fancher) 1621998938
The news of the grand jury made waves across social media.
The TRUTH will always set you FREE...Lying gets you INDICTED. One will fall and they all will fall!https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1397299996983181315\u00a0\u2026— Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (@Stephanie Winston Wolkoff) 1621991717
This is good news for America.https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1397299996983181315\u00a0\u2026— Victoria Brownworth (@Victoria Brownworth) 1621979049
There better be accountability and justice.https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1397299996983181315\u00a0\u2026— Bonilyn56 (@Bonilyn56) 1621982192
The right step in the right direction.....https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1397299996983181315\u00a0\u2026— AladuraPatriarch Ositelu (@AladuraPatriarch Ositelu) 1621983333
Tick tock MFhttps://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1397299996983181315\u00a0\u2026— Lily Scott (@Lily Scott) 1622040715
It's going to be a long six months.
