Former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway disputed allegations made by former President Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen that are being investigated by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
“Michael Cohen never told me he was using money to pay this person,” Conway, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, told Fox News on Tuesday, responding to details that surfaced about the probe. She was referring to Cohen’s claims that he paid hush money to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, while Bragg’s office is reportedly trying to determine whether Trump misclassified the payment.
Conway met with Manhattan prosecutors several weeks ago and was seen arriving at the district attorney’s office in early March, according to reporters. In her interview with Hannity, Conway confirmed she testified in front of the grand jury, noting that she did so without a lawyer present.
“They are trying to build a case against Donald Trump … based on the testimony of Michael Cohen,” she said, adding that Cohen “had nothing to do with the [Trump] campaign” in 2016.
Two years after the 2016 campaign ended, Cohen was indicted on federal charges and ultimately pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance, and making false statements. Cohen’s three year sentenced ended in mid-2021 and at the time, he told reporters he will work with law enforcement to “ensure that others are held responsible for their dirty deeds and no one is ever believed to be above the law.”
The former Trump lawyer is now back in the spotlight after he was called to testify in Bragg’s case against Trump and after the 45th president wrote on social media that he could be indicted this week in connection to the so-called hush money payment to Daniels. Trump has long denied any wrongdoing in the case and said he never had an affair with Daniels in the early 2000s.
During the Fox News interview, Conway noted that in late 2016, weeks before the November election, nobody believed Trump would win the presidency after several women threatened to come forward with allegations against him. She noted there were “women coming out” constantly and “nothing came of any of that.”
It comes as Robert Costello, a lawyer in Trump’s orbit who represented former New York Mayer Rudy Giuliani, testified in the grand jury case. He told reporters in Manhattan this week that he believes Cohen lacks credibility, although it’s not clear what impact Costello’s testimony could have in the case.
“But Michael Cohen is far from solid evidence,” Costello said. “This guy, by any prosecutor’s standard—and I used to be deputy chief of the criminal division in the Southern District of New York—I wouldn’t have touched a guy like Michael Cohen, especially if he’s a convicted perjurer.”
But Cohen, in interviews this week and through his attorney, denied Costello’s claims as “false statements” that have “no accuracy.” Cohen said that Costello was never his lawyer and never had attorney-client privilege.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Cohen said during an MSNBC segment. “He’s making up so many stories here.”
When contacted by The Epoch Times this week, a lawyer for Cohen declined to comment on Costello’s statements.
More Details
On Thursday, Bragg’s office responded to House Republicans’ request for documents and testimony about the case, dismissing it as an “unprecedented inquiry” with no legitimate basis. In a letter obtained by The Epoch Times, the general counsel for Bragg criticized the congressional request as “an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty.”
“The Letter 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,” general counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote in the letter. “Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry.”
The Republican chairmen of three House committees on Monday wrote to Bragg seeking information about his actions in the Trump case. The Republicans criticized the grand jury investigation as an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.”
The chairmen requested testimony as well as documents and copies of any communications with the Justice Department to be turned over by Thursday.
The request came as Republicans in the House quickly rallied around the former president as the grand jury in New York weighs whether to bring an indictment against him.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
