Overview
- In a Substack post, Michael Cohen wrote that he felt "pressured and coerced" by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James to provide testimony aligned with their cases against President Donald Trump.
- Cohen alleged prosecutors used inappropriate leading questions when his answers did not support their narrative, saying the approach blurred the line between justice and politics.
- He served as a key witness in two New York cases: the 2023 civil fraud trial that produced a $454 million judgment later overturned on appeal, and the 2024 criminal hush money trial that yielded 34 convictions now under procedural review.
- A three-judge federal appeals panel directed U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein to revisit whether the hush money prosecution should be moved from state to federal court.
- Cohen said he cooperated while incarcerated seeking sentence relief via a Rule 35(b) motion and insisted he is not defending Trump; the president responded on Truth Social calling the prosecutions a "SET UP."