President Trump demanded Tuesday that the legal cases against him be dismissed because his former lawyer said he was “coerced” into testifying against Mr. Trump during the investigations.
In a lengthy Truth Social post, Mr. Trump said he was “an innocent man who has been horribly treated,” called for the “swift and immediate dismissal” of cases against him and demanded that New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg face punishment for their actions.
“When a Star Witness totally recants, and in every way reveals that he was pressured and coerced to give testimony, and when the Prosecutor admits that this Witness was the single reason that the case was brought, there was no other, how can that Case not be immediately dismissed? That is exactly what happened in the Democrat New York Attorney General and Manhattan District Attorney’s Hoaxes against me,” the president posted.
The president cited former attorney Michael Cohen’s January Substack post stating that he was pressured by Mr. Bragg and Ms. James to provide information that would damage Mr. Trump. He was a key witness in both cases.
“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, 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,” Mr. Cohen wrote on Substack.
“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,” he added.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Cohen was “pressured and coerced” into testifying against him.
“Now that his testimony is wiped away, the unAmerican, Political Charade ‘cases’ are even further discredited, they should be put out of their misery and dismissed, once and for all. Our Constitution and the Rule of Law demand immediate and swift dismissal,” Mr. Trump posted.
Mr. Cohen, who served as Mr. Trump’s “fixer” before he became president, admitted in the 2024 hush money case brought by Mr. Bragg that he facilitated payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair ahead of the 2016 election. He testified that he did so at Mr. Trump’s direction.
A jury found Mr. Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in that case. An appeals panel revived Mr. Trump’s bid to move the case into federal court so that he could appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court by invoking its presidential immunity ruling.
Mr. Cohen was also the key witness in a case brought by Ms. James against Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization in 2023, testifying that he “reverse-engineered” financial statements. A jury concluded Mr. Trump’s business inflated its net worth to secure tax and insurance benefits.
The Trump Organization was fined $500 million in the case, but it was later tossed by an appeals judge. However, the judgment still stands.
