Alvin Bragg Under Pressure Over Michael Cohen Testimony

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference at the Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building on March 21, 2024 in New York City. He was criticized for calling Donald Trump's former lawyer as a witness in his hush money case.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has come under fire for calling Michael Cohen as the star witness in Donald Trump's hush money case.

Cohen, a former Trump attorney and fixer who is now a vocal critic of the former president, testified for four days during the trial .

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Trump staffer Paul Ingrassia said Cohen's testimony should have led to the case being "dismissed." "President Trump and his legal team should feel triumphant," he writes. "No sane jury would ever in a million years rule in Bragg's favor."

The trial, which is drawing to a close, will determine whether Trump falsified business records over payments facilitated by Cohen to former adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep an alleged affair secret before the 2016 election, as alleged in a criminal indictment by Bragg's office.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges. He also denies an affair with Daniels, and claims the trial is part of a political witch hunt against him.

Cohen, who was jailed in 2018 for illegal campaign contributions, tax fraud and other charges in connection with the payment said in evidence that Trump instructed him to pay $130,000 in hush money to Daniels to prevent her from saying that she had sex with Trump in Nevada in 2006. Cohen said he took out a home loan to pay the money to Daniels and was then reimbursed by Trump. Prosecutors say this was done to avoid scandal during Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign.

On Monday, on his third day of cross-examination, Cohen also admitted that he had lied to reporters about Trump's alleged affair with Daniels, and also admitted that he stole from Trump's parent company, the Trump Organization. This led to commentators criticizing him, and Bragg in turn for allowing him to testify.

Newsweek contacted Cohen by email to comment on this story.

Po-Trump commentator Rogan O'Handley said Cohen's admission to stealing was "a more severe crime than the BS they charged Trump with."

"Alvin Bragg will go down in history as a Marxist slob," he said.

Donald Trump Jr., one of Trump's sons called the testimony a "clown show."

Alyse Adamson, a former federal prosecutor, told CNN that she was "frankly shocked" by the testimony. "This is a lie that cuts at the heart of the evidence in the case," she said.

Elie Honig, a CNN senior legal analyst said the stealing Cohen admitted to was a "higher degree of felony than what Donald Trump is charged with," which affects his credibility.

However, Neama Rahmani, president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers firm in Los Angeles said "the prosecution did a good job" with Cohen.

Rahmani told Newsweek: "But for someone who is a convicted felon, an admitted liar, and not likable, he did better than expected. The prosecution did a good job getting bad evidence out on direct examination and through other witnesses.

"That lowered the expectations for Cohen and took the sting out of the defense's attack. Cohen is still neither likable nor credible, so the state needed to corroborate his testimony with independent evidence."

Closing arguments in the hush money trial are expected from Monday.

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