Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney and the first Black person to hold the political office, said Tuesday he is not targeting Donald Trump personally. Instead, he is seeking legal punishment for a New York business owner who has flaunted the law.
“This is the business capital of the world,” Bragg said during a press conference following Trump’s arrest and arraignment on Tuesday, April 4.
“We regularly do cases involving false business statements. The bedrock of the basis for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is accurate record-keeping.”
Bragg alleges, and a grand jury agreed, that Trump “repeatedly made false statements on New York business records” and “caused others to make false statements.”
This is the foundation of 34 criminal charges related to falsifying business records. This includes several relating to allegedly making hush money payments to X-rated actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Why did Donald Trump repeatedly make these false statements?” Bragg said. “The evidence will show he did so to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election.”
Bragg, 49, was elected in November 2021, and sworn in at the start of 2022. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and later a law degree from Harvard Law School.
He previously served as an assistant attorney general at the New York State Attorney General’s Office and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
He grew up in the Harlem neighborhood in the 1980s, when the city was gripped by escalating crime rates and a crack cocaine epidemic.
Bragg said during his campaign that, as a child, he was held at gunpoint by police. The experience shaped his thoughts on crime.
This is not the first time that Bragg has legally sparred with Trump.
While serving the New York Attorney General’s Office, Bragg helped bring civil lawsuits against the Trump Foundation. In 2018, while Trump was president, the foundation was charged with misusing funds for Trump’s personal or political benefit. The foundation agreed to close under court supervision, and in 2019, a New York court ordered Trump to personally pay $2 million to settle the suit.
Historic indictment unsealed
Judge Juan Merchan, a former prosecutor with 16 years on the bench, unsealed Indictment No. 71543-23, after Trump’s team reviewed them.
Specifically, the indictment alleges that Trump conspired with others to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election, a contest in which Trump defeated Clinton.
Prosecutors alleged that Trump took part in an unlawful “catch and kill” scheme that included an illegal $130,000 payment he ordered to suppress information that would hurt his presidential campaign. Trump allegedly violated state and local election laws, making the charges a felony.
The charges potentially carry a four-year prison sentence, which could mean that Trump, the current GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner, has entered a race that could end with him either in the White House or in prison.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday in a press briefing that President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris would not be sharing their respective opinions.
“I think the American people should feel reassured that when there is an ongoing case like this one that we’re just not commenting,” she said.
“No one is above the law,” Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a California Democrat running for Senate, wrote on Twitter. “Now do the rest of his crimes.”
“Take responsibility, hold yourself accountable, and go away,” said New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman.
Many Black New Yorkers were outside the courtroom as Trump was arraigned.
Rig Madden, 48, and a combat veteran told The Root,, “I’m here to rub it in MAGAs face.”
“I am here for the historic event of [Donald Trump] being held accountable for his actions,” said Madden.
“The first Presidency in U.S. history to be indicted, not even the treasonous Andrew Jackson got indicted.”
Trump also had a few Black supporters on the scene.
“I just think a man of his character ought to be respected,” said Linda Harrison. “I just want him to know that a few people, African American at that, are here to support him. That we believe in him.”
