Spokesman for Manhattan US Attorney’s office says he regrets comments criticizing Trump hush money case

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — A spokesman for the Manhattan US Attorney’s office apologized following the release of a secretly recorded video that captured him slamming Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush money case against Donald Trump as “nonsense” and a “perversion of justice.”

Nicholas Biase, chief public information officer for the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement, “I was recently made aware of a video where I regretfully made some statements in a private and social setting that don’t reflect my views about two local and state prosecutions.” The statement was previously reported by the New York Post.

Biase’s statement about the case, which is outside of his office’s jurisdiction, came hours after conservative podcaster Steven Crowder released a secretly recorded, edited video of conversations between Biase and an unidentified woman that Crowder said occurred in July and August.

Crowder is a conservative political commentator and the host of the “Louder With Crowder” podcast whose previous channel on YouTube was suspended multiple times for violating YouTube policies. The video was released by Crowder’s “Mug Club,” a group with a known political agenda.

While Biase said in the video he has known Bragg for 15 years, he does not work for Bragg or the Manhattan DA’s office and was not involved in the hush money case against Trump.

“I said these things in an effort to please and impress someone I just met, who was secretly filming me,” Biase said. “I’m deeply sorry to the local and state law enforcement officials working on these matters, who deserve more respect than I showed them. I should have known better.”

In the recording, which has been edited into short soundbites, Biase can be heard saying, “The whole thing is disgusting. They’re just out to get him,” referring to Trump.

Biase claimed in the video that Bragg “was stacking charges and rearranging things just to make it fit a case.” He continued: “To be honest with you, I think the case is nonsense.”

CNN has not independently obtained or verified the video.

CNN has reached out to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the Manhattan DA’s office and the Justice Department in Washington, DC.

The judge overseeing the hush money case informed both Trump and the Manhattan DA’s office that he will render his decision on Friday about whether to delay Trump’s sentencing date, according to a court filing. The former president is currently scheduled to be sentenced on September 18, but Trump asked to delay the sentencing until after Election Day, a request the Manhattan DA’s office did not oppose.

Bragg charged Trump in April 2023 with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, alleging that Trump sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election through a hush money scheme as part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information about him. Trump was found guilty of all 34 charges in May.

The former president and his allies have falsely claimed since the start of the trial that Democrats, particularly the Biden administration, are weaponizing the Department of Justice to prosecute him in a politically motivated effort.

The Manhattan district attorney is a state prosecutor and doesn’t report to the Justice Department.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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