Trump lawyer threatens Alvin Bragg with 'serious' consequences if Michael Cohen testifies

05 March 2024

Former President Donald Trump will face his first of four criminal trials later this month, and his legal team is now making moves to dissuade the prosecution's top witness from testifying.

Newsweek reported Tuesday that Trump attorney Todd Blanche warned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that he would face "serious legal and ethical consequences" if Michael Cohen — who worked as Trump's lawyer and "fixer" for years — takes the witness stand in Manhattan. He also contrasted Bragg's treatment of former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg (who pleaded guilty to perjury in the civil fraud trial) with his treatment of Cohen.

In his letter to Bragg's office, Blanche accused Cohen of perjury, saying that during his testimony in the civil fraud trial in Judge Arthur Engoron's courtroom, Cohen lied on the stand when asked about whether Trump told him to artificially inflate the values of his properties. Cohen initially said that Trump instructed him to commit fraud, but when defense lawyers cross-examined him, Cohen stated that Trump never actually gave him specific instructions to lie to regulators, but instead strongly insinuated that he do so, like "a mob boss" who "tells you what he wants without specifically telling you."

"[The District Attorney's office's] conscious choice to ignore obvious and admitted criminal conduct by Cohen and to instead deploy unethical, strong-armed tactics against an innocent man in his late 70s underscores the irresponsibility of your conduct in office," Blanche wrote. "This dereliction of duty renders you fully unfit to serve as District Attorney, and exposes innocent citizens, like Mr. Weisselberg, to irreparable and life-altering harm."

Weisselberg agreed this week to a plea deal with Bragg's office for perjuring himself both in a 2020 deposition and in Engoron's courtroom in late 2023, regarding false statements he made under oath attempting to distance himself from the former president's fraud scheme. At the time, Forbes reported that Weisselberg said on the stand that he had nothing to do with Trump lying about the size of his Manhattan penthouse apartment at the top of Trump Tower, which was 10,996 square feet but had a valuation based on 30,000 square feet, which was a fabricated figure. But Forbes' review of documents found that Weisselberg was directly involved with the fabrication.

"In 2015, Trump hosted three Forbes journalists inside Trump Tower, with Weisselberg by his side," Forbes recalled in October of 2023. “'This is the entire floor of Trump Tower, just so you understand,' Trump said, showing off his penthouse. 'Now, this wraps all around the building. All around the elevators. And I have three times three. So there’s like 11,000 feet on a floor. So I have three. So 33,000—and I have the roof.'”

Blanche's effort to cast doubt on Cohen's credibility is likely due to the importance of Cohen's testimony in proving Trump's guilt. In 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison for carrying out the hush money scheme Bragg is now prosecuting Trump for allegedly orchestrating. A DOJ press release about Cohen's sentencing explained how he facilitated hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about the affair she had with then-candidate Trump shortly after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron.

"COHEN made a $130,000 payment to [Daniels] through an LLC he incorporated for the purpose of making the payment. COHEN was reimbursed for the latter payment in monthly installments disguised as payments for legal services performed pursuant to a retainer, when in fact no such retainer existed," the press release read. "COHEN made or caused both of these payments in order to influence the 2016 election and did so in coordination with one or more members of the campaign."

The DOJ stating that Cohen made those payments for the express purpose of influencing the 2016 election is a key element of Bragg's prosecution. Typically, falsification of business records is only a misdemeanor in New York. However, Bragg has escalated the charges against Trump to felonies under the premise that the alleged falsification of business records related to the Daniels payment constituted a campaign finance violation, as it was done to advance his presidential campaign. A contribution amounting to $130,000 is well above the maximum allowable individual donation.

Trump's Manhattan trial is scheduled to begin on March 25. If he's found guilty of any of the 34 felony charges he's facing in New York, he would be unable to pardon himself if elected president in November, as his pardon powers only extend to federal crimes.

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