Fact check: Trump says New York hush money case is 'Biden trial'
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the charges against former President Donald Trump over falsifying business records to pay off adult film actor Stormy Daniels. But Trump says President Joe Biden is really the person behind the case.
Posted — UpdatedManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the charges against former President Donald Trump over falsifying business records to pay off adult film actor Stormy Daniels. But Trump says President Joe Biden is really the person behind the case.
Trump has made the claim many times in many places.
These statements are wrong. There is no evidence that Biden orchestrated the charges against Trump.
"Alvin Bragg is an independently elected state prosecutor who has nothing to do with Biden, the (Justice Department) or the federal government," said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a criminal defense attorney who worked at the Manhattan district attorney’s office before Bragg took over. "In fact, if Trump were convicted, even if he wanted to, Biden could not pardon him. It is wholly and entirely separate in every way."
We contacted a Trump campaign spokesperson for this fact-check and received no reply.
Manhattan investigation into Trump began before Biden was president
The investigation into Trump’s business records is based on New York state law.
The Justice Department prosecutes only federal crimes in federal courts and cannot control state prosecutions, said Frank O. Bowman III, a University of Missouri law professor and former local prosecutor in Denver and federal prosecutor in Florida.
"Local district attorneys prosecute state criminal violations in state criminal courts," Bowman said. "They are not under the control of the U.S. Department of Justice. Moreover, in my experience, they are fiercely independent and would resent any effort from the U.S. Justice Department to interfere in their decision-making."
The Manhattan investigation into Trump began in 2018, before Biden was president. It faced many twists, turns and delays amid the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 presidential election and lead prosecutors quitting.
After federal prosecutors concluded their investigation, Vance in August 2019 subpoenaed Trump’s personal and corporate tax records. Trump’s lawyers fought the subpoena, and the U.S. Supreme Court in July 2020 ruled in Vance’s favor.
By the time Vance obtained the records, it was February 2021, early in Biden’s presidency. Bragg was elected to replace Vance and took office in 2022.
Any cooperation between federal and local prosecutors generally is voluntary, said Melissa Redmon, a former local prosecutor in Georgia and University of Georgia law professor.
"We would have seen much more early information sharing if the offices were acting in concert," Redmon said.
Although Trump was implicated in Cohen’s case, federal prosecutors in New York never charged him.
Bragg hired former DOJ attorney, but that doesn’t prove Biden involvement
In earlier versions of this statement, Trump highlighted a Biden link in one of the attorneys Bragg hired to work the case.
In his two years at the Justice Department, Colangelo helped oversee the antitrust, civil, civil rights, environment and natural resources, and tax divisions.
When Colangelo worked for the New York attorney general, he investigated the Trump Foundation and led lawsuits against the Trump administration. The New York Times reported that Bragg and Colangelo overlapped at the attorney general’s office.
But Colangelo’s presence on Bragg’s team doesn’t prove that Biden, or officials in his White House or campaign, were involved in the case.
Multiple lawyers told us it’s unsurprising that Bragg would hire Colangelo, a longtime prosecutor with experience investigating Trump. Prosecutors commonly move between jobs at federal, state and high-profile local offices.
"The more relevant prior position held by Colangelo is not his DOJ jobs, but the NY AG position in which he participated in the Trump Foundation investigation," Bowman said. "I'd bet that Bragg hired him in part because of his familiarity with the intricacies of Trump's businesses and financial dealings. But, again, that proves exactly nothing about Biden influence on the Manhattan case."
Bill Otis, former head of the Appellate Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and a former special counsel to former President George H.W. Bush, raised questions about Bragg hiring Colangelo.
"There are about a zillion smart lawyers on the East Coast," he said. "Why does Alvin Bragg need to use one with high-level links to Biden's DOJ?"
Nevertheless, Trump is exaggerating, Otis said. Bragg hiring Colangelo "does not prove Biden's personal involvement in investigating and/or charging Trump, but it's another smelly straw in the wind."
PolitiFact ruling
Trump said that "this trial that I have now that’s a Biden trial."
The Manhattan district attorney’s investigation of Trump began in 2018, before Biden was his party’s presidential nominee. Bragg filed the charges in 2023. Trump’s fighting a subpoena lengthened this timeline.
Trump has criticized that Bragg hired Colangelo, a former Justice Department prosecutor who investigated Trump when he worked for the New York attorney general. It’s not uncommon for seasoned prosecutors to move among federal, state and local offices. Reasonable people may question the political wisdom of Bragg’s hire, but it doesn’t prove that Biden has directed the Manhattan investigation.
We rate Trump’s statement False.
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