Michael Cohen Alleges NY Prosecutors 'Pressured and Coerced' Anti‑Trump Testimony
Michael Cohen, longtime former personal attorney to President Donald Trump and a central witness in two New York cases against him, has publicly alleged that prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York Attorney General’s Office "pressured and coerced" him to give testimony tailored to securing convictions of Trump. In a new Substack post, Cohen claims Alvin Bragg’s and Letitia James’ teams made clear they only wanted information that fit a pre‑set narrative, used leading questions when his answers did not support their theory, and blurred "the line between justice and politics" to advance their own careers as officials who "took down Trump." Cohen says he cooperated while incarcerated in hopes of sentence relief and now speaks out as a federal appeals court considers Trump’s request for further review of the Manhattan hush‑money conviction, where Cohen was a key prosecution witness on 34 falsified‑business‑records counts. He insists he is not defending Trump but warning about prosecutors "pick[ing] their target first and then seek[ing] evidence to fit a predetermined narrative." The AG and DA offices declined or have not yet issued detailed responses, but the statement is already fueling partisan claims of "lawfare" and could be cited in Trump’s ongoing appeals and broader attacks on the legitimacy of the New York cases.
📌 Key Facts
- Cohen alleges in a Substack post that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s and NY AG Letitia James’ prosecutors "pressured and coerced" him to provide testimony that would help convict Donald Trump, and showed little interest in exculpatory or neutral information.
- He says that when his answers did not advance the state’s case, prosecutors "frequently asked inappropriate leading questions" to elicit responses that fit their narrative.
- Cohen was a star witness in James’ 2023 civil fraud trial, where Trump was found liable for inflating asset values, and in Bragg’s 2024 hush‑money trial, where a jury convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
- Cohen writes that he cooperated while in prison hoping for sentence reduction, and is now speaking as a federal appeals court weighs Trump’s effort to move the hush‑money case to federal court for further review.
- He frames his criticism as a warning about politicized prosecutions, accusing both offices of using the Trump cases to boost their own reputations as the ones who "took down Trump."
📊 Relevant Data
During his 2021 campaign for Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg emphasized his record of suing the Trump administration over 100 times and pledged to hold powerful figures accountable, which included references to investigating Donald Trump.
Did Alvin Bragg Campaign on a Promise To Prosecute Trump? What ... — Newsweek
Letitia James, in her 2018 campaign for New York Attorney General, explicitly stated that her run was motivated by a desire to investigate and hold Donald Trump accountable, describing him as an 'illegitimate president' and promising to pursue legal avenues against him.
Tish James just sued Trump — but they've been at it for years — Politico
In New York, larger prosecutorial offices tend to have greater racial and ethnic diversity among line prosecutors, with offices led by non-White District Attorneys showing higher diversity levels, such as 45% non-White prosecutors in some jurisdictions.
DIVERSITY IN PROSECUTION — Prosecutorial Performance Indicators
Historical examples of politically motivated prosecutions in the US include the 1920s case of Sacco and Vanzetti, where Italian immigrants were convicted amid anti-anarchist sentiment, later widely regarded as a miscarriage of justice due to biased proceedings.
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