Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg saw case against Trump as potentially "charge ready" years ago

At the time, Alvin Bragg, a Democrat running for Manhattan district attorney position, explained in a November 2020 interview with CBS News that amidst an "astonishing" number of cases "floating around" then-President Donald Trump’s office, one involving his former “fixer,” Michael Cohen stood out.

He added during the interview that he could not make any “prejudgement” about any case before he had reviewed the facts. Moreover, we have not spoken about Michael Cohen and campaign financing yet.

Bragg who is a former deputy attorney general for New York state once litigated against Trump business in civil actions said he followed media coverage of Cohen’s federal case.

In 2018, however, Cohen pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and campaign finance charges related to $130k “hush money” payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Three years was the jail term handed down to Trump’s previous lawyer and confidant. Since then, he has claimed that the former president ordered him to cover up the money and make the payment in order to stop Daniels from disclosing information about an alleged affair. Trump has categorically denied these allegations.

According to charges against Cohen, it is alleged that he colluded with Individual-1 who was never known but become USA president-elect by 2017 as indicated by court documents.

“Individual-1,” Bragg raised this name during an interview in 2020.

Again if you got reports on it as well as like whatever there is some charging document out of Southern District of New York where I guess Individual-1 was supposed to be President? You know someone who pled guilty and said ‘yeah this guy was my co-conspirator’. He later added.”

“That way we must have evidence as well since if even prosecutor already stated so in their charging doc’ which can thus be a prosecutorial discretion matter. My guess would then be that this may be true and chargeable” argued Bragg.

Bragg noted that the office of Federal Prosecutors dropped it against Trump.

Probably, Bragg was the D.A.’s candidate who had most experience with battling Trump and his businesses. Among aggressive cases he handled as a New York Attorney General’s Office chief were those against Trump Foundation accusing its president and kids of turning it into “private purse” and another one that caught the eye of Trump University when it closed down due to accusations on unethical business practices and misrepresentation to potential students.

In November 2021, Bragg was selected as Manhattan district attorney replacing Cyrus Vance Jr. regarding President Trump. During Vance’s time, the investigation which initially focused on Daniels’ payment in 2018 but later grew to become an extensive probe into Trump’s finances had been continuously contested by then-President Trump till reaching Supreme Court.

This raised doubts about the investigation after two prosecutors overseeing quit early in his tenure. In his resignation letter, Mark Pomerantz stated that Bragg “made the decision not to proceed with the grand jury presentation and not to seek criminal charges at this time.”

“The investigation is thus put off indefinitely,” writes Pomerantz.

Nevertheless, the attorney's office of Mr.Bragg confirmed that there was still ongoing inquiry.

In the same probe, in August 2022, Weisselberg, the ex-CFO of the Trump Organisation pleaded guilty to a case of tax evasion which made him main witness for prosecution in the trials of two corporations under the Trump Organisation.

On December 6th, a jury found both firms guilty on seventeen criminal charges including evading taxes.

By that time, Bragg’s investigators were already reverting to Daniels payment. A grand jury investigating this deal has interrogated many former staffs at White House and some ex-Trump employees over several months since then.

Among them was Cohen who appeared as though he would be giving incriminating evidence against Trump. His sessions before the grand jury lasted nearly five hours over two days in mid-March. Almost twelve times did Cohen meet with prosecutors this year.

Cohen and his lawyer Lanny Davis have admitted they believe he is their most important witness against Trump and commended “meticulous” and “professional” prosecutors.

As per Cohen, funds went through a newly formed LLC in October 2016. According to Cohen and Daniels, she also claims that neither Donald nor her signed any non-disclosure agreement except using David Dennison and Peggy Peterson as pseudonyms.

Pomerantz wrote about what could become an investigation in his last memoir. In this context, Pomerantz told us that lawyers from his office believed that paying off Daniels constituted business record falsification or omission which may reflect a felony offense under New York law if undertaken with intent to hide minimum one other crime like alleged illegal campaign contribution.

Trump’s social media recently has repeatedly criticised or attacked Bragg branding it as politically motivated witch-hunt – on his platform called witch hunt.This has prompted him to call for demonstrations should charges be filed against him.

The March 19 post by Republic Presidential candidate 2024 read "there was no crime period" "Prosecutorial Incompetence and Election Interference."

When the grand jury investigating the Daniels payment chose to indict him in late March, Trump was the first former U.S. president ever charged with a crime. On April 4th, he surrendered himself to authorities for booking at the police station where he faced thirty-four counts of first degree business record falsification as according to state law. He denied all charges.