President Donald Trump’s legal team is demanding that New York Attorney General Letitia James turn over all communications her office had with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen after Cohen claimed he was pressured into testifying against the president.
The request came in a 25-page legal filing submitted Wednesday as part of the ongoing legal battle surrounding the civil fraud case brought against Trump by the New York attorney general’s office.
Trump’s lawyers are asking the court to order the release of every record tied to interactions between Cohen and the attorney general’s office. The request includes interview transcripts, notes, emails, letters, recordings, and any other documentation related to conversations between Cohen and prosecutors.
According to Trump’s legal team, Cohen’s testimony played a central role in the case and helped trigger what they described as a politically motivated investigation into Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization.
Because of that, Trump’s attorneys argue that Cohen’s communications with investigators are critical as they evaluate whether to pursue a motion to vacate the judgment in the case.
The filing also asks the court to require confirmation that the attorney general’s office has preserved all records related to Cohen until the litigation process is fully concluded.
The request comes after Cohen published a post on Substack on January 16 in which he made explosive claims about how his testimony was obtained.
In the post, Cohen said he felt pressured by both the New York attorney general’s office and the Manhattan district attorney’s office to deliver testimony that would help build cases against Trump.
“I felt compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking,” Cohen wrote, adding that prosecutors appeared focused on securing judgments and convictions against the president.
Cohen specifically referenced meetings he had with investigators from the attorney general’s office and the Manhattan district attorney’s office during their investigations.
He claimed he felt pressure to provide testimony that matched the narrative prosecutors were trying to build in their cases against Trump.
During the civil fraud trial, Cohen testified that he had worked with former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to inflate the value of Trump’s assets in financial statements.
Trump’s legal team argues that communications between Cohen and prosecutors would have been essential during cross-examination at trial. They claim the attorney general’s office never produced those records despite requests.
According to the filing, Trump’s lawyers contacted the attorney general’s office again after Cohen published his Substack post and demanded the release of all related communications.
They say the response from the attorney general’s office has been surprising.
Trump’s attorneys claim the office said it does not know whether such records exist and has not taken steps to determine whether they do.
The legal battle comes as the New York State Court of Appeals prepares to review whether the half-billion-dollar civil fraud penalty against Trump, which was thrown out last August, should be reinstated.
With that deadline approaching, Trump’s legal team says the Cohen communications could be crucial in determining the next steps in the case.
