- Sam Cabral
- BBC – Washington
Bragg says his office “will not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”
Alvin Bragg made history in 2021 as he became the first black elected District Attorney of New York.
Bragg, 49, could become the first attorney general at the federal, state or local level to bring criminal charges against a former US president.
As the investigation draws to a close, an indictment of former US President Donald Trump may be imminent.
The case began with the $130,000 paid by Trump’s then personal attorney Michael Cohen to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels at the height of the 2016 presidential election, in exchange for her silence about an affair with Trump.
For his part, the former Republican president denies any wrongdoing. Trump had expected to be arrested on Tuesday and called on his supporters to protest and “take America back.”
In an email seen by the BBC, Bragg, a Democrat, said his office “will not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”
Prague is a veteran prosecutor who took office at the beginning of 2022 and is seeking alternatives to imprisonment, with the intensification of white-collar trials and public corruption cases.
His campaign for the position focused largely on his personal resume and desire to reform the Public Prosecution Service.
He was born and raised in Harlem, New York, during the cocaine epidemic of the 1980s.
He was Harvard-educated and specializes in fraud and civil rights cases, such as representing the family of Eric Garner, the black man who died at the hands of the NYPD in 2014.
Bragg said he helped prosecute the Trump administration more than 100 times in his four-year tenure, and also led a lawsuit in New York against famous film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Bragg has experience with prosecutions at all levels of government and previously served as Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Deputy Attorney General of New York and Senior Attorney for the New York City Council.
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The Prague office succeeded in indicting the Trump Organization last year
Days after taking office, Bragg instituted new fee-charging, bail, pleading and sentencing policies for the Manhattan area, and said his office would no longer prosecute “minor” offenses such as fare evasion and cannabis-related misdemeanors.
Protests by local law enforcement and business leaders amid escalating violence in New York City prompted Prague to apologize and revise the policy.
He has since pointed to statistics showing major crime declining under his leadership, but his critics, including Trump and his allies, attack him as a “radical” liberal who is soft on criminals.
Bragg inherited the Trump investigation from his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., who opened the case nearly five years ago while Trump was still in the White House.
Early in his tenure, two attorneys general resigned from his office, with one claiming that the investigation had been “indefinitely put on hold” by the “unwise” Bragg who is unwilling to prosecute Trump.
The Prague office responded that the case was still being examined and that it was “looking at previously unexplored evidence”.
Last December, two of Trump’s companies were found guilty of tax violations in a criminal lawsuit brought by Prague. Trump himself has not been charged, but the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Alan Weisselberg, is currently serving a five-month prison sentence.
Last January, Bragg assembled a grand jury to assess the evidence available in this investigation, and after Trump’s final call to testify, many thought the jury was done.
With Trump’s third attempt to enter the White House, many say that his impeachment could increase his popularity among his supporters and the enthusiasm of his admirers, which enhances his chances of assuming the presidency again.