Michael Cohen’s Confession That Letitia James ‘Pressured and Coerced’ Him To Testify Against Trump Turbocharges President’s Appeal

President Trump’s latest appeal of the gargantuan civil fraud verdict against him secured by New York’s attorney general Letitia James cites an unlikely authority — his attorney turned enemy, Michael Cohen.Mr. Trump is asking New York’s highest court — called the Court of Appeals — to rule that the trial judge, Arthur Engoron, “erred as a matter of law” when he found Mr. Trump, his two adult sons, and their family business liable for “persistent fraud” without holding a trial. Ms. James, an elected Democrat who campaigned on a promise to investigate Mr. Trump, accused the Trump Organization of falsifying the value of his properties in order to get favorable mortgage and insurance terms.After a lengthy penalty phase, where Mr. Trump’s legal team was allowed to make arguments in court, Judge Engoron imposed a judgement that eventually ballooned to over $500 million. An intermediate appellate court struck that down as a violation of the Constitution’s prohibition of “excessive” fines.Judge Engoron’s underlying verdict, though, remains intact. The jurist, with whom Mr. Trump locked horns, ruled that the “frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience” and the size of the penalty was necessary to “protect the integrity of the financial marketplace and, thus, the public as a whole.” A highly fractured appellate tribunal stopped short of completely exonerating Mr. Trump, though several judges were clearly skeptical of the case.Mr. Trump has argued that his business operated just the same as any major New York City real estate company, and that he was being targeted politically. Now he is asking the Court of Appeals to “overturn the Supreme Court’s erroneous finding of liability on all causes of action, set aside its sweeping injunction, and put an end to this legally deficient case.” The reason for reversal, the president’s lawyers write, is a Substack post from Mr. Cohen, who was once so close to Mr. Trump that he facilitated the payments to the adult film performer Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, that resulted in the criminal convictions of Mr. Trump secured by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg. Mr. Trump has appealed that verdict, and has separately argued that the case belongs in federal court. Mr. Cohen, in his post from January — after Mr. Trump’s appeal was heard — writes that “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.”Michael Cohen departs his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, May 16, 2024, at New York. AP/Andres KudackiMr. Cohen — who served prison time for perjury related to his association with Mr. Trump and had turned on the president — adds that Ms. James “made it publicly known during her 2018 campaign for attorney general that, if elected, she would go after President Trump. Her office made clear that the testimony they wanted from me was testimony that would help them do just that. Again, I felt compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking.” Judge Engoron found Mr. Cohen’s testimony against Mr. Trump to be “credible” — despite Mr. Cohen having pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple crimes, including fraud and perjury.Mr. Trump’s latest appeal contends that Mr. Cohen “felt ‘compelled and coerced’ by NYAG to ‘deliver what they were seeking.’ As Cohen has recently publicly explained, he only provided information and testimony that would help ‘secure a judgment… against President Trump.’” In addition to serving three years in prison and under house arrest, Mr. Cohen had to pay a $50,000 fine, and was disbarred in New York.Despite the enmity that now exists between Messrs. Cohen and Trump, the former writes that “Letitia James and Alvin Bragg may not share the same office or political calendar, but they share the same playbook. Both used their platforms to elevate their profiles, to claim the mantle of the officials who ‘took down Trump.’ In doing so, they blurred the line between justice and politics; and in that blur, the credibility of both suffered.”Mr. Cohen, a self-described “key”witness in the hush money and civil fraud cases, anticipates skepticism of his timing. He writes in his Substack — for which he charges a subscription fee — that “You may reasonably ask why I am speaking out now. The answer is simple. I have witnessed firsthand the damage done when prosecutors pick their target first and then seek evidence to fit a predetermined narrative. I have lived inside that process. I have suffered from that process.”Not immediately clear is how a higher court will consider Mr. Cohen’s reflections on his testimony. Notably, Mr. Cohen did not contend that he lied on the stand or otherwise misspoke. Mr. Trump, though, could develop an argument that the coercion directed toward Mr. Cohen suggests that the entire case was “selective and vindictive” and therefore injurious to Mr. Trump’s due process rights under the Constitution and New York law. Mr. Trump’s appeal goes beyond arguing that Mr. Cohen’s testimony was tainted. His brief explains that the “theory of liability adopted by the Supreme Court” — that’s Judge Engoron — converts into ‘fraud’ unremarkable, proper conduct that no industry participant would consider deceptive — including the firms that were allegedly defrauded here, which actually profited handsomely.” That echoes the view of the intermediate appellate court that the case resembled a “commercial dispute.”Ms. James is now the subject of two criminal referrals to the Department of Justice from the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte. Those referrals allege that she fraudulently filled out information on loan forms. Earlier criminal charges against Ms. James, for bank fraud, were dismissed after the prosecutor in charge was found to be unlawfully appointed.

Michael Cohen’s Confession That Letitia James ‘Pressured and Coerced’ Him To Testify Against Trump Turbocharges President’s Appeal

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