Michael Cohen says Manhattan DA case against Trump is ‘ready to take off’

NEW YORK — Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen expressed confidence Wednesday about the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal investigation into the former president’s hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels.

“I believe that there is a case,” Cohen told reporters outside Manhattan Supreme Court before meeting with prosecutors for District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The “seriousness of the prosecutorial team” was “evident by their in-depth knowledge of all the information,” he told POLITICO in a text following the two-and-a-half hour meeting.

Cohen declined to give specifics about the sit-down, which he said was his 15th time talking with the district attorney’s office. He did say another meeting is planned.

“A 16th meeting has already been set, which indicates to me DA Bragg’s resolve in not allowing this matter to be forgotten,” he said in the text.

Cohen’s appearance comes as former Trump prosecutor Mark Pomerantz is promoting his book, “The People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account,” that criticizes his former boss Bragg for dropping a similar grand jury probe last year.

Cohen said he agreed with Bragg’s decision to stop pursing the case because there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Trump.

“The plane wasn’t ready,” he said outside the courthouse Wednesday of last year’s probe.

But things have changed.

“I think the plane may be right now on the tarmac and ready to take off,” Cohen said.

He was continuing a metaphor used by Pomerantz in the book, which says Bragg led the 2022 probe “into the legal equivalent of the plane crash.”

The revived investigation centers around whether the former president covered up money The Trump Organization paid to Daniels during the 2016 presidential election over an alleged affair, which he has denied having. Cohen has admitted to paying $130,000 to Daniels, which he said was at Trump’s direction.