Former President Donald Trump is now suggesting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg may have dropped his case against him, about a week after he claimed he would be arrested.
“It’s a fake case. Some fake cases, they have absolutely nothing,” the former president said. Trump also reiterated his criticism of Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer who has testified against him in the Manhattan grand jury case and previously served time in federal prison on tax fraud and other charges.
Last week, an attorney in Trump’s circle, Robert Costello, told media outlets that he testified before the grand jury and sought to denigrate Cohen’s testimony against the 45th president in the investigation, which reportedly is connected to so-called hush money payments that were given to adult performer Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. A lawyer for Cohen, when reached for comment, declined to issue a statement, although Cohen told MSNBC last week that Costello never represented him and disputed his testimony.
Bragg’s office has not returned a request for comment, and The Epoch Times cannot verify the authenticity of Trump’s claims. Previous Epoch Times requests for comment from the DA’s office have gone unanswered.
Responding to the House GOP’s letter, Bragg’s counsel wrote that it “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day, and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry.”
During the Waco rally, Trump declared that his “enemies are desperate to stop us” and that “our opponents have done everything they can to crush our spirit and to break our will,“ and that the Manhattan district attorney was investigating him “for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not an affair.”
He added: “But they failed. They’ve only made us stronger. And 2024 is the final battle, it’s going to be the big one. You put me back in the White House, their reign will be over and America will be a free nation once again.”
Trump did not make any direct references in his speech to Waco’s history, telling the crowd of thousands that he told Lt. Gov Dan Patrick he wanted to hold his rally in a place with overwhelming support, not “one of those 50-50 areas,” and said he told Texas officials, “Let’s go right into the heart of it.”
At several points, Trump criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, despite not announcing it, has long been expected to run for president in 2024 and is seen as Trump’s strongest potential challenger for the GOP nomination. Trump called his onetime ally disloyal and said he was “dropping like a rock” in the polls.
In addition to the Manhattan case, Trump is also facing an investigation in Georgia as well as federal investigations into his handling of allegedly classified documents and possible obstruction, as well as statements he made on Jan. 6, 2021. The former president has denied wrongdoing in those instances.
