By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Just over a year after taking office as Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Braga made a career-defining gamble: accusing a former US president of crimes using an untested legal theory.
The roll of the dice paid off on Thursday when a jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts he faced of falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels – a monumental verdict that could turn the presidential election , in which Trump is the Republican candidate.
The conviction does much to ensure Bragg’s legacy as a bold prosecutor unafraid to apply the law to one of the most powerful people in the country.
But it also means that Bragg, a Democrat who was present in the courtroom when the verdict was read, will continue to be the main target of rhetorical attacks from Trump and his Republican allies, who say the charges were politically motivated.
“We had a prosecutor who failed,” Trump said in a speech Friday after the verdict. “Crime is rampant in New York… and Bragg is attending a trial on what they call crimes.”
Bragg’s office said May 30 that overall crime in Manhattan has fallen 8% over the past two years, with murders and shootings falling 27% and 45%, respectively.
Bragg, 50, took over as district attorney in January 2022 after handling public corruption cases as a federal prosecutor and in the New York state attorney general’s office. A graduate of Harvard Law School and the first black man to serve as Manhattan district attorney, Bragg says he decided to become a lawyer after having guns pulled on him six times while growing up in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood — three of them by police.
During his campaign, he promised to refrain from prosecuting some minor offenses and to seek reduced sentences for some crimes. He also highlighted his work overseeing a 2018 lawsuit that forced the dissolution of Trump’s namesake foundation.
In late 2022, he was convicted by the Trump Organization on charges of orchestrating a 15-year tax fraud brought by his predecessor, Cyrus Vance. Trump personally has not been charged in the case.
Bragg also inherited Vance’s investigation into whether Trump misrepresented the values of his real estate holdings. Bragg declined to press charges in that case, but was able to secure an indictment in the silence case in March 2023.
Bragg’s case faced skepticism even from Trump’s critics, who argued that it appeared to be politically motivated and was not as serious as three other criminal cases Trump faces, stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and the handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. . Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“He made a political decision. Bragg may have won the battle for now, but he may have lost the political war,” Mitt Romney, a Republican senator who twice voted to impeach Trump, told The Atlantic journalist McKay Coppins after the verdict.
When asked Thursday about the criticism the case has received, Bragg said, “Lots of voices out there. The only voice that matters is the voice of the jury, and the jury has spoken.”
Bragg’s office declined to comment. Trump’s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.
‘I DID MY JOB’
The trial is likely the only one Trump will face before the Nov. 5 election, in which polls show him tied with incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden.
The case employed a new legal theory. Prosecutors said Trump falsified business records to hide a plot to boost his 2016 presidential bid through illegal means, including a $130,000 payment to Daniels for her silence before the election about a sexual encounter she says she had decade earlier – which Trump denies.
According to a book by Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the office, Bragg’s predecessor, Vance, declined in part to bring charges because questions arose about whether state criminal charges could be filed during a campaign for federal office. Pomerantz resigned in February 2022 after Bragg declined to press charges in the case over Trump’s business practices.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump over his real estate firm’s business practices, resulting in Trump being ordered to pay $454 million in fines and penalties earlier this year. Trump is attractive.
Trump’s lawyers in the silence case argued that state election law does not apply to federal elections — an assertion that will likely be central to their appeal of the verdict after Trump is convicted on July 11.
Although the case is unprecedented, Bragg’s theory has already been supported by two judges: Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial, and U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who denied Trump’s attempt last year to transfer the case. from state court to federal court.
Bragg also rejected Trump’s claims that the case was politically motivated, calling the falsification of corporate records a central concern in Manhattan – the home of Wall Street and the self-proclaimed business capital of the world.
“I did my job,” Bragg told reporters Thursday after the sentencing. “These are the types of cases I have personally handled, and it is a hallmark of the tradition of this office that I am proud to lead.”
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Jonathan Oatis and Daniel Wallis)
