THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

That means the long-dormant cash-for-silence scandal--in which Daniels was paid to keep quiet before the 2016 election--has suddenly become one more looming criminal threat hanging over the former president as he revs up for the 2024 campaign. Trump already faces multiple other serious investigations, including one led by a state prosecutor in Georgia into potential election meddling, and a federal special counsel probe into his handling of sensitive government documents and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol uprising. 

There are multiple signs that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg means business this time. Bragg's team recently gathered up the phones of Trump's estranged former attorney, Michael Cohen. They have reportedly warned Trump's longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, the elderly financier now serving out a five-month sentence on Rikers Island after admitting financial crimes, that he could face fresh charges in an otherwise unrelated insurance matter if he refuses to cooperate with Bragg's prosecutors. And they've begun calling in witnesses from the Trump Organization, his 2016 campaign, and the National Enquirer.

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