Trump Accuses Manhattan DA of ‘Prosecutorial Misconduct,’ Calls for Investigation

Former President Donald Trump has accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of misconduct over his office’s investigation into an alleged hush money payment and has called for an investigation into whether Bragg is interfering in the 2024 election. On Saturday, Trump said he would be arrested on Tuesday on charges connected to the investigation amid anonymously sourced reports that Bragg was looking into procedural rules around indicting the former president. A day later, he wrote that there was no crime and again accused Bragg of acting in a politically motivated manner.

Trump claimed that all other Democrat law enforcement officers who looked at the alleged crime, including former Manhattan DA Cy Vance and Bragg, took a pass. Much later, however, Bragg changed his mind. Trump believes the change of heart is due to prosecutorial misconduct and interference with an election. He has therefore called for an investigation into the investigators. According to Trump, Bragg, a Democrat, initially decided not to pursue the investigation. Later, the Biden White House, Democrats, and other entities pressured him into bringing a case against the former president.

Bragg is investigating whether Trump falsified business records by concealing his reimbursement of his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment Cohen made to Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a. Stormy Daniels, in 2016. Trump denies any wrongdoing and denies having had an affair with Daniels.

Trump did not say in his Truth Social posts whether or not he had been formally notified of forthcoming charges, and he did not discuss the possible charges in the posts. A spokesperson for Trump, Steven Cheung, told The Epoch Times that his team had not been formally notified of any pending arrest.

In a statement, Trump attorney Susan Necheles said that, were the DA’s office to charge Donald J. Trump, a victim of extortion, with a crime because his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, a convicted liar, paid the extortionist, it would be “unprecedented and outrageous selective prosecution.” No U.S. president, while in office or afterward, has faced criminal charges. Trump has said he will continue campaigning even if charged with a crime and is expected to hold a rally in Waco, Texas later in March.

Trump is also facing a state-level criminal probe in Georgia over efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state. Furthermore, a special counsel named by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is currently investigating Trump’s handling of government documents after leaving office and the aftermath of the 2020 election. In all of these cases, Trump has denied wrongdoing and described the investigations as politically motivated.

Reuters contributed to this report.