Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen says New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg pushed him to give testimony that supported their cases against President Donald Trump, alleging he felt pressured to help prosecutors secure a civil judgment and a criminal conviction.
In a Substack post published Friday, Cohen wrote that he felt “compelled and coerced” to provide what investigators wanted as the state pursued its civil fraud case and the “hush money” prosecution.
“I felt compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking,” Cohen wrote. “Letitia James and Alvin Bragg may not share the same office or political calendar, but they share the same playbook.”
Cohen’s remarks come as Trump seeks to have his appeal to overturn Bragg’s conviction heard by a federal appeals court. Trump’s legal team is also still fighting the $454 million civil fraud judgment, which stems from allegations that he inflated the value of assets tied to his real estate business.
Cohen claimed that from his earliest meetings with investigators through the trials themselves, he felt intense pressure to stick to testimony that advanced the government’s objectives.
“From the time I first began meeting with lawyers from the Manhattan DA’s Office and the New York Attorney General’s Office in connection with their investigations of President Trump, and through the trials themselves,” Cohen wrote, “I felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government’s desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump.”
He also suggested he believed cooperating could benefit him personally after serving more than a year in federal prison following convictions for tax evasion, bank fraud, and lying to Congress.
Focusing on Bragg’s case, Cohen said prosecutors were interested only in testimony that could help convict Trump and claimed they used leading questions when they didn’t like how his answers were landing.
“During my time with prosecutors, both in preparation for and during the trials, it was clear they were interested only in testimony from me that would enable them to convict President Trump,” he wrote.
“When my testimony was insufficient for a point the prosecution sought to make, prosecutors frequently asked inappropriate leading questions to elicit answers that supported their narrative.”
Cohen leveled a similar accusation at James’ team, saying they signaled the kind of testimony they wanted—testimony, he claimed, that would directly “go after President Trump.”
Cohen argued that legal fights now playing out on appeal haven’t erased the conviction or the civil judgment, but he said they highlight what happens when prosecutors rush toward a desired outcome and apply pressure to witnesses.
“You may reasonably ask why I am speaking out now. The answer is simple. I have witnessed firsthand the damage done when prosecutors pick their target first and then seek evidence to fit a predetermined narrative,” Cohen wrote.
“Justice must be more than effective; it must be credible,” he added. “When politics and prosecution become indistinguishable, public trust erodes.”
Trump responded on Truth Social, calling both New York cases a “SET UP from the beginning,” and argued that those involved should face consequences.
“These horrible Radical Left people, doing everything possible to destroy our Country, should pay a big price for this!” Trump wrote.
“New York Courts, with many fair and wonderful Judges, are embarrassed by what has happened! We cannot let this pass,” he added.
Representatives for Bragg and James did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cohen testified in Trump’s civil fraud trial that he worked with former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to inflate asset values on financial filings. Trump, responding to Cohen’s testimony, said Cohen was a “proven liar” who was “totally discredited.”
In the criminal “hush money” trial, Cohen told jurors Trump was closely involved in an effort to pay porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from publicly discussing claims of a 2006 sexual encounter. Cohen also acknowledged on the stand that he had lied repeatedly in the past and said he stole $60,000 from Trump, as defense attorneys attacked his credibility.
