Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former attorney who testified against the president twice, has accused New York prosecutors of pressuring him into providing testimony that served a predetermined political agenda. In an article published on his Substack platform in mid-January titled “When Politics Blind Justice,” Cohen described how government lawyers made him the “key witness” in two cases against Trump.
Cohen stated that prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and the New York Attorney General’s office approached him while he was serving a three-year prison sentence in 2019, urging cooperation to expedite his release. After being freed in September 2020, Cohen continued meeting with prosecutors under the expectation that they would shorten his supervised release term. He claimed he consistently felt “compelled and coerced” to deliver testimony aligned with their goals, noting prosecutors repeatedly asked “inappropriate leading questions to elicit answers that supported their narrative.”
Cohen further alleged that Attorney General Letitia James had publicly vowed during her 2018 campaign to target Trump, and her office explicitly sought testimony designed to advance that objective. He accused both James and Bragg of sharing a “same playbook” that blurs the line between justice and politics by prioritizing political outcomes over legal integrity.
A mid-level appeals court recently overturned James’ $454 million penalty against Trump—later growing to $500 million with interest—a decision James has since appealed. In Bragg’s case, Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts but received an unconditional discharge, meaning the convictions stand without punishment. Trump has filed an appeal to have those convictions removed from his record.
On Wednesday, Trump’s attorneys sent a formal demand letter to James’ office requesting all communications between Cohen and her prosecutors. They argue such records would have been critical for cross-examining Cohen during trial and claim James’ office has refused to produce them despite repeated demands.
