President Donald Trump said Friday that he plans to ask the state of New York to close the book on the criminal case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
In 2023, Bragg brought 34 felony charges against Trump regarding allegedly falsified business records used to conceal “hush money” payments made to Stormy Daniels to prevent her from speaking publicly about an alleged sexual relationship she had with Trump. Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal attorney, was the prosecution’s star witness but has since publicly stated that Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James coerced him into cooperating.
“I am pleased to report that Michael Cohen, the Prosecution’s Star Witness and, in actuality, only Witness in the New York State Attorney General and Manhattan DA Witch Hunt Cases brought against me, has just fully RECANTED his testimony,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday afternoon. “He was ‘pressured’ and ‘coerced’ to say things that were not true.”
Trump recently reconciled with Cohen and appeared on his podcast in late August. In his post, Trump thanked Cohen “for having the Wisdom and Courage to step forward and do the right thing,” adding that “His Act of Bravery is a Great Credit to the Justice System in New York City and State. I am sure it was not easy for him!”
“Now we are asking that any remnant of those Politically Weaponized Cases against me be immediately terminated and dismissed,” the president concluded. “Their Star Witness said everything they did was WRONG and UNLAWFUL! Letitia James and Alvin Bragg broke the Law in order to do this in order to prevent me from becoming the President of the United States.”
Trump’s legal team submitted a four-page court filing in New York state court on Thursday, indicating the defense team is seeking an order requiring the attorney general’s office to identify and preserve any communications with Cohen.
Trump’s lawyers asked the court to direct “NYAG to state, in writing … whether the Requested Materials … exist,” and, if they do, to confirm “on a document-specific basis” that they “have been and continue to be preserved.”
It is not immediately clear when the office of the New York attorney general or the Manhattan district attorney will respond to the request, or whether the court will agree to the request.
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Starting in January, Cohen began making his claims about being coerced into working with the prosecution in the New York case. His team did not respond to questions about whether he had formally retracted his testimony and statements to the government.
Trump last week lost a renewed bid to transfer the case out of state court and into federal court, and he has already appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. His legal team is still appealing the guilty verdict in state court.