In a November 2020 interview with CBS News, Alvin Braggwho was then a Democratic nominee for Manhattan District Attorney, said that among the “staggering” number of cases “revolving” around then-President Donald Trump, the one involving Trump’s former “fixer,” Michael Cohen, stood out.
“You know, we haven’t talked about Michael Cohen yet and the campaign finance part,” Bragg said during the interview, stressing that he can’t “prejudge” any issue until he sees the evidence.
Bragg, a former New York state deputy attorney general who previously clashed with Trump Inc. in civil lawsuits, noted that he has followed media coverage of Cohen’s federal case.
Cohen entered a guilty plea to federal tax evasion and campaign finance violations in 2018, in connection with $130,000 “silence” payment For adult movie star Stormy Daniels. Cohen, who was previously Trump’s attorney, was sentenced to 3 years in prison. He has since said the former president directed the payment to prevent Daniels from speaking publicly about an alleged affair, and to cover up the payment — allegations Trump has vehemently denied.
The charge sheet in Cohen’s case describes that he was scheming with an individual referred to as “Fred-1,” an unnamed “alleged co-conspirator” who became President of the United States in 2017.
Bragg referred to the “Fred-1” moniker in a 2020 interview.
“If the reports around it are accurate and you know, I mean, the Southern District of New York had a freighter where the Chief appears to be Individual-1, right?” Bragg, later said, “a co-conspirator with someone who pleaded guilty and, you know, said the President was his co-conspirator.”
“And so, the evidence is supposed to be there. And if it’s a matter of, sort of, the prosecution’s discretion, I mean, if they say it’s already in a shipment. So I suppose it could be, you know, accurate and ready shipment,” Bragg said. .
It is a case federal prosecutors have chosen not to pursue against Trump, Bragg noted.
Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images
within candidates For the DA, Bragg was perhaps the most tested in the battle against Trump and his company. At the New York Attorney General’s office, he oversaw multiple aggressive Legal battles with Trump entitiesincluding a lawsuit against Trump Foundation — which accused the president and his children of using the nonprofit as a “personal checkbook” — and another charge against the now-closed Trump University, which alleged the school used illegal business practices and made false allegations to prospective students.
Bragg was elected Manhattan attorney general in November 2021. He inherited the Trump office investigation from his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr. Under Vance, probewhich began in 2018 as an investigation into Daniels’ payments, has evolved into a sprawling study of Trump’s finances — an investigation all the way defied to the Supreme Court by then-President Trump.
Early in his tenure, the investigation was called into question when Two of the prosecutors leading the investigation have resigned. In a resignation letter first reported by The New York Times, the former assistant district attorney Mark Pomerantz He wrote that Bragg “has come to the decision not to proceed with the grand jury presentation and not to seek criminal charges at this time.”
“The investigation has been suspended indefinitely,” Pomerants wrote.
But the Prague office insisted on an investigation remained active.
In August 2022, his office acquired a prof guilty plea From former Trump Organization CFO, Allen Weisselberg, in a tax fraud case stemming from the same investigation – turning Weisselberg into a prosecution witness in the trial of two Trump Organization subsidiaries.
The two companies were sinner On December 6 of 17 criminal charges related to tax fraud and other crimes.
By then, investigators in Bragg’s office had returned to Daniels’ payments. In the months that followed, a group of former Trump staffers and White House staffers have been questioned by a grand jury considering the deal.
Among them were the obvious star witness for the prosecution: Cohen, who has met with prosecutors nearly a dozen times this year, and Testified before the grand jury for about five hours over two days in mid-March.
Cohen and his attorney, Lani Davis, have described prosecutors as “meticulous” and “professional,” while acknowledging that they believe he is the key witness against Trump.
Cohen described transferring the money in October 2016 through a newly created LLC. Cohen and Daniels alleged that she and Trump agreed to a non-disclosure agreement using the aliases David Dennison and Peggy Peterson.
Pomerantz described the possible case in his recent memoirs. Pomerantz said office prosecutors believe Daniels’ payments were indicative of falsifying business records, a misdemeanor he says would likely be charged as a felony under New York law if it was intended to conceal a second offense: in this case, an alleged illegal campaign contribution. .
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly denounced the case and criticized Bragg on his social media platform, calling it a politically motivated “witch-hunt”. Trump called for a protest if he was charged.
“There was no crime, period,” the 2024 Republican presidential candidate wrote Sunday. “Prosecution Misconduct and Election Interference”.
Trump’s lawyers have asked to hear a defense witness before the grand jury on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The Prague office has asked a rebuttal witness to be nearby and ready if needed: Michael Cohen.
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