トランプ氏、世界の要人からの手紙集出版へ 金正恩氏の未公開書簡も

【ワシントンＤ．Ｃ．（米国）ＡＦＰ＝時事】ドナルド・トランプ前米大統領が世界各国の有力者から受け取った手紙１５０通以上を集めた書籍が来月、米国で出版される。トランプ氏と出版社が９日、明らかにした。北朝鮮の金正恩朝鮮労働党総書記や中国の習近平国家主席から送られた未公開書簡も含まれるという。（写真はドナルド・トランプ前米大統領。資料写真）
　書籍は「Ｌｅｔｔｅｒｓ ｔｏ Ｔｒｕｍｐ（トランプへの手紙）」と題され、発行元はトランプ氏の長男ドナルド・ジュニア氏が共同創業者の出版社ウィニング・チーム・パブリッシング。
　トランプ氏が過去４０年間に受け取った手紙を３２０ページにわたり紹介する内容で、リチャード・ニクソン氏やロナルド・レーガン氏ら歴代大統領の他、オプラ・ウィンフリーさんやマイケル・ジャクソンさん、クリント・イーストウッドさんら芸能人、エリザベス英女王からの私書も含まれる。各書簡には、トランプ氏による解説が添えられるという。
　発売日は来月２５日で、価格は通常版が９９ドル（約１万３５００円）、サイン入りが３９９ドル（約５万４０００円）。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/03/10-16:26）

New York prosecutors have offered Donald Trump an opportunity to testify to a grand jury, signaling an investigation into hush money the former president allegedly paid a porn star may soon end in an indictment, US media reported Thursday.
Trump was offered a chance to testify next week to a New York grand jury, whose investigation is said to involve a $130,000 payment made just before the 2016 presidential election to an adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels, The New York Times and Washington Post reported.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had an affair with Trump years before he became president.
The Times said that such offers to testify almost always indicate an indictment is close.
Both papers quoted people with knowledge of the proceedings led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who took office in January.
His predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr, also a Democrat, had launched an investigation into Trump's finances in 2019, which resulted in a years-long legal battle over the billionaire's tax documents.
If an indictment were to be filed, it would mark the first time a former US president has been charged with a crime.
The district attorney's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump, who has already declared another bid for the White House, is facing several criminal probes at the state and federal level over possible wrongdoing before, during and after his first term in office. He has not yet been charged in any of them.
- Criminal probes -
In Georgia, a prosecutor is investigating Trump and his allies' efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state.
The former president is also the subject of a federal probe into his handling of classified documents as well as his possible involvement in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
That investigation was handed to an independent special counsel shortly after Trump formally announced his new candidacy for the White House.
Trump lashed out Thursday evening on his Truth Social page, calling the New York investigation a political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party.
I never had an affair with Stormy Daniels, nor would I have wanted to have an affair with Stormy Daniels, he said, without confirming that he had been offered the chance to testify.
The hush money payment, made two weeks ahead of the November 2016 election, was allegedly intended to stop Daniels from publicly disclosing her affair with Trump.
It was made by a close Trump aide, the lawyer Michael Cohen, who said he was later reimbursed.
The payment to Cohen, if not properly accounted, could result in a misdemeanor charge in New York, but that could be raised to a felony if the false accounting was to cover up a second crime, such as a campaign finance violation, the Times said.
Trump said on Truth Social that in the Daniels matter, he had relied on counsel in order to resolve this Extortion... which took place a long time ago. It was not immediately clear if he was admitting that the payment had been made.