LETITIA JAMES AND ALVIN BRAGG ACCUSED OF PRESSURING MICHAEL COHEN TO TESTIFY AGAINST TRUMP

Michael Cohen reveals he was 'coerced to turn on Trump by two top Democrats'... as president says 'radical left will pay a BIG price'

 

By Sophie Gable 

 

Daily Mail

Jan 16, 2026

 

 

Michael Cohen claimed Letitia James and Alvin Bragg 'coerced' him to provide only information that would satisfy the government’s 'desire to build the cases and secure a judgment' against Donald Trump

 

Michael Cohen, a former 'fixer' and personal attorney to Donald Trump, has sensationally accused two top Democrats of pressuring him to testify against the president. 

Cohen was convicted in 2018 for his role in facilitating hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal during Trump's 2016 presidential election. 

He also served as a star witness in Trump's 2024 trial, where the president was found guilty on 34 state felony counts of falsifying business records. 

In reaction to Cohen's newest claims, the president wrote on Truth Social: 'These horrible Radical Left people, doing everything possible to destroy our Country, should pay a big price for this! 

'It was a SET UP from the beginning. New York Courts, with many fair and wonderful Judges, are embarrassed by what has happened! We cannot let this pass.'

Cohen has accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of pressuring him into testifying against Trump in a bombshell new essay. 

'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,' he wrote on his Substack on Friday. 

Cohen testified in two highly-publicized trials against Trump. The first was a civil action brought by the New York Attorney General's Office, and the second was a criminal suit prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

 

Michael Cohen, pictured outside his apartment before testifying against Donald Trump, has now claimed that he was pressured to testify against the president

Cohen pleaded guilty to facilitating hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, pictured above with Trump 

Trump, pictured above with Cohen at a campaign event in September 2016, has slammed the investigations against him

 

The essay, which he titled, 'When Politics Blind Justice,' detailed what he claims occurred behind closed doors during both the civil trial in 2023 and the criminal one in 2024. 

'There are moments when silence becomes complicity. When letting the record stand without context feels less like restraint and more like consent. This is one of those moments,' Cohen wrote. 

Despite Trump's conviction, his lawyers are still attempting to appeal the case to a federal court. 

Cohen wrote in his essay that the legal disputes over whether Trump's criminal case should be heard in a state or federal court served as an example of how 'verdicts are rendered' in the American justice system. 

He recalled his first meeting with prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in the summer of 2019. 

Cohen admitted to asking how he would benefit from testifying against the president, confessing that he wanted to return home to his family. 

'After my release, I continued to meet with prosecutors and hoped that, in exchange for my cooperation, my home confinement and later my supervised release sentence would be shortened,' he wrote. 

Cohen accused prosecutors of asking 'leading questions' and probing testimony that would fit their narrative. 

 

Cohen, pictured above in a court drawing from Trump's hush money trial in 2024, accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of coercing him before his testimony 

Cohen, pictured above testifying in a 2023 trail into alleged fraud by the Trump Organization, said in a recent essay that 'verdicts are rendered' in the American justice system 

 

Cohen accused James of pursuing an agenda against Trump during a 2023 civil probe into the president's alleged fraud. 

He referred to her 2018 campaign promises to hold Trump accountable, adding that her office 'made clear' that they wanted him to provide testimony that would 'go after' the president. 

Cohen wrote that James and Bragg pursued litigation against Trump to elevate their profiles rather than act in the name of justice. 

The disbarred lawyer went on to explain that he decided to write the essay as Trump's attorneys attempt to overturn the president's criminal conviction. 

A federal appeals court revived the case in November and sent it back to District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein for further litigation. 

Hellerstein has already twice denied Trump's request to move his case to a federal court. 

Trump's lawyers hope a federal court will consider the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling on presidential immunity to overturn his conviction. 

 

Cohen accused Letitia James, pictured above at a press conference in December, of pursuing a narrative against Trump in a civil case 

James is pictured above at Zohran Mamdani's inauguration with (left to right) Governor of New York Kathy Hochul, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jane Sanders and her husband US Senator Bernie Sanders 

Cohen accused Alvin Bragg, pictured above at a press conference in July 2024, of using his position as Manhattan District Attorney to 'take down Trump' 

 

Cohen was thrust into the national spotlight in 2018 when his home was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

He pleaded guilty that year for facilitating hush money payments to Daniels and McDougal. Cohen testified extensively about the president's efforts to silence the two women. 

He also pleaded guilty months later for lying to House and Senate committees when he testified about Trump's plans to build a skyscraper in Moscow. 

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, but was released after only a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The former 'fixer' was disbarred for his criminal record. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to James and Bragg for comment on Cohen's allegations.