Florida Leads Amicus Brief in Support of Missouri’s Challenge to New York’s Politically Motivated Prosecution of President Trump

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Release Date
Jul 10, 2024
Contact
Kylie Mason
Phone
(850) 245-0150

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody today led an amicus brief with Iowa in support of Missouri’s legal challenge to New York’s politically motivated prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump. New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s unprecedented, political prosecution of the presumptive Republican nominee for President is a gross misuse of state authority and must not be allowed to proceed during the duration of the presidential election.  

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “Alvin Bragg’s calculated persecution of a political rival is unprecedented and dangerous to American democracy. Bragg is running his office as an extension of the DNC — prosecuting Trump in bad faith, all in an effort to deliver victory to his political party in November.”

According to multiple news reports, Bragg:

  • Boasted on the campaign trail that he “had investigated Trump and his children and held them accountable for their misconduct with the Trump Foundation”;
  • Hosted a political fundraiser with an attorney who worked to impeach Trump;
  • Was accused by a primary opponent of attacking Trump “for political advantage every chance he gets"; and
  • Admitted he “had serious doubts” about the viability of the case. 

 As a result of Bragg’s doubts about moving forward with the bad-faith prosecution of Trump, two of the DA’s top attorneys working on the case resigned. Reportedly, Bragg received “heated” “political backlash.” Then, Bragg’s star witness—Michael Cohen, who a federal judge has suggested perjured himself during testimony—was “furious” and demanded that the prosecutor return documents that he had provided. In the midst of the backlash, Bragg discussed the case with “outside supporters” and decided to revisit the case. As a result, Bragg brought in a Democratic National Committee political operative to prosecute the case that resulted in Trump’s conviction. As the world awaits the sentencing phase, Missouri filed a legal challenge against New York to stay the case during the presidential election. 

Today, Attorney General Moody filed an amicus brief in support of the Missouri challenge. Alaska and Montana joined Florida and Iowa in the filing.

In the brief, Attorney General Moody and the coalition assert, “Alvin Bragg was elected as the Manhattan District Attorney in 2021. He campaigned on using his office to target President Trump and his family. He frequently bragged that he ‘had investigated Trump and his children’ and sued President Trump ‘more than a hundred times.’ He also hosted a campaign fundraiser with a former House of Representatives lawyer involved in President Trump’s first impeachment… When Bragg took office, he inherited a sprawling criminal investigation into President Trump’s financial records. But despite his previously expressed zeal for targeting President Trump, Bragg ‘had serious doubts’ about the investigation. Bragg decided that the case was too weak to charge and brought the investigation ‘to a sudden halt.’… That decision proved unpopular in Bragg’s political circles. It prompted ‘fierce’ and ‘heated’ ‘political backlash.’"  

The attorneys general go on to say, “Bragg ‘went back to square one,’ ‘poring over’ material in search of something to charge. He became increasingly interested in a prosecution centered on payments President Trump had made under nondisclosure agreements to keep confidential alleged personal improprieties—an investigation some in Bragg’s office referred to as the ‘zombie case’ because of how long the office had abandoned it before Bragg brought it back to life… Bragg indicted President Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Those charges would ordinarily constitute misdemeanors in New York, N.Y. Penal Law § 175.05, but at that point the statute of limitations on misdemeanors had arguably run, see N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 30.10(2)(c). So to convert the charges into felonies, Bragg alleged that the records were falsified with ‘intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof,’ without specifying what that other crime was. That decision was striking considering that Bragg’s preferred practice for armed robbers and drug dealers is to downgrade felony charges to misdemeanors.”

Attorney General Moody and the coalition of attorneys general filed the amicus brief in support of Missouri’s motion for leave to file a bill of complaint.

To read the filing, click here.

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