Trump attacks Michael Cohen days before hush money trial begins

Two days before Donald Trump’s criminal trial began in New York, the former president attacked his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness in the case.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “Disgraced lawyer and criminal Michael Cohen was prosecuted for LYING? Only TRUMP people are prosecuted by this judge and these thugs! A dark day for our country.”

Cohen’s allegations that Trump directed him to facilitate secret payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign are at the center of the criminal case filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. It is unclear what Trump was referring to, although Cohen admitted in court last year that he made false claims to Congress about Trump’s finances.

Asked on MSNBC’s “The Weekend” on Saturday how he was feeling before the trail, Cohen said he was “stressed, nervous.”

He added: “The attacks are relentless because that’s what he does. He attacks the judge, attacks the judge’s daughter, attacks witnesses, attacks anyone again thinking this is a positive strategy. Yes, I’m worried. And a little, you know, a little apprehensive.

It is unclear whether Trump’s new posts violate a gag order that prohibits him from making extrajudicial statements about potential trial witnesses.

The gag order, first issued by state Judge Juan Merchan in March, prohibits Trump from “making or ordering others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses regarding their potential participation in the investigation or this criminal proceeding.”

Merchan expanded the gag order to relatives of Merchan and Bragg after Trump attacked Merchan’s daughter in social media posts.

Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, in an alleged attempt to “conceal criminal conduct that concealed damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” according to prosecutors.

In a separate post on Saturday, Trump also attacked the district attorney’s office, saying, “WHY DIDN’T MANHATTAN DA BRING THIS RIDICULOUS AND LAMBASTED CASE SEVEN YEARS AGO? Because they are corrupt and wanted to use it for election interference purposes against Joe Biden’s dishonest political opponent!”

Cohen did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment. Merchan and Bragg’s offices also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.