Trump says business records case about hush money is a “Biden trial.” It’s a Manhattan 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.

Trump has made the claim many times in many places.

"This trial that I have now, that’s a Biden trial," Trump said April 16 in front of a New York City bodega on the second day of jury selection.

"Two days from now, the entire world will witness the commencement of the very first Biden trial," he said at an April 13 rally in Pennsylvania.

"As you witness this Biden trial, I ask all Americans to remember that this is not just about me, this is about our country and this is about you," Trump said in an April 15 video.

These statements are wrong. There is no evidence that Biden orchestrated the charges against Trump. 

Bragg said in April 2023 that Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Daniels made through Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen. (Daniels’ real name is Stephanie Clifford.) 

"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.  

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 Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018, then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. opened an investigation into the payments, Politico reported.

Federal prosecutors could not charge Trump then because of the Justice Department’s policy not to bring criminal charges against a sitting president, Politico reported.

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.

When Bragg sought federal records about Cohen’s telephone, federal prosecutors declined, saying "it would be unduly burdensome." Trump’s attorneys subpoenaed records from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

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"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.

In earlier versions of this statement, Trump highlighted a Biden link in one of the attorneys Bragg hired to work the case. 

One of Bragg’s prosecutors, Matthew Colangelo, worked for the U.S. Justice Department and the New York attorney general’s office before Bragg said he would join the district attorney’s office in December 2022.

In March, Trump called Colangelo a "radical left" prosecutor who was "put into the district attorney's office to run the trial against Trump." 

In his two years at the Justice Department, Colangelo helped oversee the antitrust, civil, civil rights, environment and natural resources, and tax divisions. 

Colangelo served as acting associate attorney general, the department’s third-highest-ranking position, during the Biden administration’s first few months, until Vanita Gupta was confirmed. Colangelo then served as the principal deputy associate attorney general. Colangelo also served in the Obama administration.

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."

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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