Michael Cohen Claims He Was “Coerced” by NY Prosecutors to Build Cases Against Trump
Michael Cohen, former personal attorney to Donald Trump and key witness in two high-profile New York cases against the president, says he was “pressured and coerced” by prosecutors into giving testimony aimed at securing Trump’s convictions. Cohen wrote on January 16 in a Substack post that lawyers from the offices of New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg repeatedly pushed him to tailor his testimony to fit their narrative.
Cohen’s allegations instantly reignited political and legal controversy just as Trump’s legal team is pushing appeals in the civil fraud and hush-money cases. Critics seized them as evidence of prosecutorial overreach, while supporters of the prosecutions dismissed them as self-serving and unfounded.
According to Cohen’s post, he first met with prosecutors in 2019 while serving federal prison time and hoped cooperation would lead to leniency. He said during preparation and trials, prosecutors were uninterested in any testimony that didn’t help secure judgments or convictions.
Adding a political twist, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to call the two New York actions a “SET UP from the beginning,” accusing “Radical Left people” of trying to destroy his career.
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The fallout was swift in media circles: left-leaning network MeidasTouch announced it would no longer host Cohen’s shows following his coercion claims.
Cohen’s critics on the left have pointed to his history of changing positions and past convictions, suggesting his timing serves personal or political interests, not evidence of prosecutorial misconduct.
Neither James nor Bragg has directly answered these coercion claims, and no court has validated them. As legal teams press appeals in both the civil fraud and criminal hush-money cases, questions about witness credibility and prosecutorial practices are likely to resurface in briefs and hearings. What happens next could influence both Trump’s legal strategy and broader debates about political influence in high-profile prosecutions.
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