Trump legal team accuses DA Bragg of misconduct over treatment of Cohen, Weisselberg

Attorneys for Donald Trump on Monday accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of prosecutorial misconduct in his case against the former president.

Writing directly to Bragg, attorneys Todd Blanche, Emil Bove, and Stephen Weiss insisted that he was engaging in such conduct "in violation of the federal and state constitutions and [his] ethical obligations."

Specifically, they contrasted Bragg's "decision to turn a blind eye to the admitted and repeated perjury of your star witness, Michael Cohen" and what they deemed "vindictive and oppressive pressure and plea negotiations leading, today, to a forced-upon guilty plea for 2 counts of perjury by Allen H. Weisselberg."

Weisselberg on Monday received a five-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to perjury. 

Trump's attorneys further asserted that the Weisselburg plea was the result of pressure tactics by the DA's office and that Bragg's team had threatened the ex-Trump organization executive with years in prison if he did not plead guilty to false perjury charges. Should he have opted against such a plea, they assert, he would have risked a "draconian" sentence from Judge Juan Merchan.

"DANY’s conscious choice to ignore obvious and admitted criminal conduct by Cohen and to instead deploy unethical, strong-armed tactics against an innocent man in his late 70s underscores the irresponsibility of your conduct in office," they asserted. "Indeed, while you waste public resources in a desperate attempt to impede President Trump’s ongoing ascent to the White House, in violation of applicable prosecutorial guidelines prohibiting such election interference, you regularly and repeatedly allow those guilty of brutal attacks on law enforcement and murderers to roam free. This dereliction of duty renders you fully unfit to serve as District Attorney, and exposes innocent citizens, like Mr. Weisselberg, to irreparable and life-altering harm."

They further pointed to testimony Cohen made in New York Attorney General Letitia James's civil fraud case against Trump in which he admitted to lying to a judge in court and making misleading statements.

"At a bare minimum, Cohen’s testimony demonstrates that he has committed perjury—either when pleading guilty to the federal charges or when recently testifying in New York state court that he did not commit the crimes to which he pleaded guilty. The truth cannot cut both ways," Trump's attorneys declared.

"We again urge you to reconsider your positions regarding Cohen and Mr. Weisselberg and put an end to the selective and oppressive misconduct of your office," they concluded. "In addition, because of the manner in which your office has selectively leaked information you deem favorable throughout the investigation and prosecution, as well as the extensive redactions you have convinced Judge Merchan to authorize in otherwise-public filings, we will be making this letter public."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.