President Trump’s onetime fixer, Michael Cohen, has publicly accused New York prosecutors of strong-arming him into testimony that would fit a prearranged narrative against the president, a claim first detailed in outlets including Fox News. Cohen says he felt “pressured and coerced” by both the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York Attorney General’s Office to deliver testimony tailored to secure convictions and huge civil judgments. If true, this is not just corruption of a trial — it’s a brazen politicization of justice that every American who believes in the rule of law should fear.
Cohen spelled out his charges in a Substack post published mid-January, saying prosecutors frequently asked leading questions and dismissed testimony that didn’t advance their case, a pattern he says lasted from the first interviews through the trials. Conservative commentators and Fox correspondents like C.B. Cotton have highlighted the timing and tone of Cohen’s revelations, arguing they line up with a larger pattern of prosecutorial overreach in high-profile political cases. Whether you trust Cohen or not, his account underscores the urgent need to examine prosecutorial conduct when powerful political figures are targeted.
For context, Cohen was a key witness for prosecutors in New York civil and criminal matters tied to Mr. Trump — including testimony that helped produce a civil fraud judgment and evidence presented at the Manhattan criminal trial that led to guilty findings on falsified business records. Those outcomes have been widely covered, and they make Cohen’s new claim more combustible because they call into question the fairness of landmark rulings against the former president. The American people cannot accept a two-tiered justice system where outcomes are engineered to fit political goals rather than facts.
Cohen also names names, pointing to New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg as officials who allegedly pursued cases with an eye toward political glory rather than neutral enforcement. His charge that James publicly promised to “go after” Trump during her 2018 campaign and that Bragg’s office acted with a predetermined target should set off alarms in every household that values impartial justice. This smells like classic lawfare — prosecutors using the levers of the state to attack a political rival and curry favor with the media elite.
Make no mistake: Cohen’s credibility is complicated by his own criminal convictions and past lies, a fact Democrats and the media will use to dismiss his allegations. He pleaded guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and other crimes, which rightly undermines his standing as a witness in the eyes of many. Still, a man with a tarnished past blowing the whistle on potential prosecutorial misconduct is a red flag that demands investigation, not reflexive dismissal from partisans who profit from weaponized prosecutions.
Americans who love this country should be furious that our justice system is being turned into a political cudgel, and conservatives must push for full, transparent probes into these accusations. Republican lawmakers, state oversight bodies, and independent watchdogs should demand documents, testimony, and accountability from prosecutors who would blur the line between justice and politics. We cannot let the weaponization of law stand — defend the innocent, hold the powerful to account, and restore a system where justice is blind, not partisan.
