Donald Trump has misleadingly claimed that prosecutors in New York could soon be forced to drop hush money charges against him.
In a 12.24am all caps post on Truth Social on Sunday, Mr Trump wrote that “legal experts are saying” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will have to drop his “weak and disparaged case against ‘Trump’”.
Mr Trump claimed that the DA’s financial crimes investigator Jeremy Rosenberg had “corruptly colluded with a disgraced, disbarred, and convicted felon & perjurer”, referring to his former attorney turned bitter enemy Michael Cohen.
The outburst came soon after the publication of a New York Post story claiming Mr Rosenberg had been suspended by the DA’s office over his contact with Mr Cohen.
Citing law enforcement sources, the Post reported that Mr Rosenberg had his gun removed while it investigated how he shared communications about Mr Cohen with the DA’s office.
In a statement to the Post, Mr Bragg’s office did not mention Mr Rosenberg by name, saying: “The office is conducting a review of an investigator’s compliance with internal office protocols.”
Mr Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis told the Post that interactions between the former NYPD detective and Mr Cohen were professional and “focused on Mr Cohen’s security”.
The article contained commentary from former prosecutor Mark Bederow who was quoted as saying the development “might not affect the case”, but the defence team would be interested in finding out more about it.
The Independent did not immediately hear back after making enquiries with the DA’s office and Mr Davis.
In April, Mr Bragg indicted the former president on 34 counts of falsifying business records connected to hush money payments before the 2016 presidential election.
It was the first time a sitting or former US president had been indicted on state crimes, and came as Mr Trump faced multiple criminal probes for election interference and his handling of classified documents.
Mr Cohen, a former fixer for the ex-president, is a key witness in Mr Bragg's investigation and testified several times during the grand jury investigation.
He served two and a half years in prison after pleading guilty in 2018 to federal charges for arranging payouts to adult actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep them from going public with stories of their affairs with Mr Trump.
Mr Trump has denied the claims.
On Twitter, Mr Cohen responded to Mr Trump’s Truth Social post that he and Mr Rosenberg had become “close friends with lifestyle money”.
“Coming from the draft dodging, golf cheating, King of Chapter 11’s, twice impeached, one term, civilly liable sex offending and criminally indicted (more to come) Mandarin Mussolini…your statement about me means NOTHING!!! Have a wonderful day,” Mr Cohen wrote.
