That circumstance has intensified attention and, on the part of Trump and the Republicans, the fierce attacks to this 49 year old progressive prosecutor, who has already gone through turmoil in his 15 months in office. And now, despite being seen by relatives and collaborators as someone who likes to maintain a low profileand trying to avoid politics, Bragg finds himself at the center of a storm what can be done epic both politically and legally.
history with trump
Bragg was born and raised in Harlemwhere he still lives. He studied at the elite private Trinity School in Manhattan and later graduated from the Law School of harvard. Was federal prosecutor and then came to number two in the new york state attorney’s office. There, in addition to working on cases such as the investigation of Harvey Weinsteinsupervised the case against the trump foundationwhich ended with the closure of the same and an agreement by which the businessman agreed to pay two million dollars for having misused donations to “intervene in the 2016 presidential primaries and promote their own political interests“.
There he also investigated police abuse controversial “stop-and-frisk” tactics and was the first head of a special unit dedicated to investigate deaths caused by police violence. Upon leaving that post, and before running as a candidate, he was teacher and civil rights attorneycoming to represent in a lawsuit against the New York police the mother and sister of Eric Garnera black man who was choked to death by officers while selling loose cigarettes in Staten Island.
criminal justice reform
The fighting police abuse and misconduct was precisely one of the proposals on which Bragg campaigned, who also advocated the reform of the criminal justice systemthe end of mass incarcerations and the cash finance system reform that contributes to this overcrowding, especially punishing low-income people and minorities.
Like other prosecutors who are committed to that reform, the Bragg campaign received a donation (of half a million dollars) of Color of Change, a political action committee funded by George Sorosone of the black beasts for Trump and the conservatives, who have not stopped remembering that financing in the last week.
Just two days after taking office, Bragg began to deliver what was promised. He issued a memo recommending to the 500 prosecutors in his office that they they will stop prosecuting some minor offensesurging them not to press charges for minor crimes and to stop recommending jail requests for others such as robbery, assault or possession of a firearm if in those cases there was no other crime.
The response was virulent from the police and the conservative world but Bragg also faced criticism from moderate Democrats. New York mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer who won his election with a campaign focused on security, claimed, for example, that his measures encouraged crime. AND bragg backed downissuing a statement apologizing for the “confusion,” withdrawing the instructions and clarifying that decisions would be made on a case-by-case basis.
Another case against Trump parked
she was not the only one seizure in his first steps in a prosecutor’s office where he has created a new division specialized in victims, has hired new leaders for the one that prosecutes sexual crimes, has intensified work in favor of the rights of tenants or employees and has reinforced the fight against firearms and police abuse.
In February Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz resigned, two prosecutors that under the direction of Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vancethey had been investigating the trump financeswhen Bragg decided to park for the moment that case, centered on the president’s alleged tactics inflating the value of your assets to get credit. They did it to fierce criticism, especially Pomerantz, who later wrote a book.
Those who know and have worked with Braggas well as legal experts, assure that he simply responded to his profile: methodical, attentive to detail, and convinced of Do not raise a case if you do not consider it “very strong”, something that Pomerantz and Dunne did not seem to have achieved. And while Bragg dropped that investigation into the possibility that Trump personally committed fraud, he did not stop working.
Banon imputation
In September he succeeded in indicting Steve Bannon for money laundering, conspiracy and fraud for diverting funds allegedly raised to build the wall on the border with Mexico for which Trump clamored. And in December he secured a conviction on 17 counts of tax fraud and other financial crimes from two units of the Trump Organization, thanks in part to testimony from the financial advisor, Allen Weisselbergwho agreed to testify in exchange for a lighter sentence (five months in prison).
After that conviction of the business network of the former president, in addition, Bragg rose what in the office had been known for years as the ‘zombie case’: the one of the Payments to Stormy Daniels. In January he convened the grand jury, who began to hear testimonies and saw evidence and has now decided to present the historic charges.
Racist insults
Many legal doubts surround the case, which would potentially be built with a novel combination of the crime for Documents forgery to hide payments with a more serious one of violation of campaign finance lawsbut that has not prevented the trump attacks and his allies, who accuse Bragg of “racist” or by links to soros. The former president on Thursday came to insult him as “a animal“.
In the Low cameranow controlled by the Republicans, three committee chairmen have accused him of “unprecedented abuse of tax authority” and have demanded that he meet with them and provide documents about the investigation, including potential records of conversations with the Department of Justice, that would support Trump’s allegations of a “political witch hunt.
Bragg, steady
Bragg has responded strongly. “we will not be intimidated for attempts to undermine the process of justice, we will not let baseless accusations divert us from the fair application of the law,” read a statement issued by a spokesperson. “In each case,” he adds, “we follow the law without fear or favoritism to find out the truth.”
Bragg has also given a catilinary legal response to the three Republicans. In a letter sent Thursday by Leslie Dubeck, his top legal adviser, the prosecutor’s office denounces the Republican efforts as “a unprecedented investigation of a pending local case” and the label of “unconstitutional”.
The letter recalls that the three Republicans’ request for an interview and questioning of Bragg “came after Trump created false expectations that he was going to be arrested and his lawyers urged them to intervene. Neither of these two facts & rdquor ;, it is recalled, “is a legitimate basis for a congressional investigation & rdquor ;.
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The letter also notes that Republicans are asking for information that is confidential by law, and their efforts are described as a “illegal incursion into the sovereignty of New York”. Even so, a meeting is requested to try to understand if the committees have “some legitimate legislative purpose that could be satisfied & rdquor ;.
The three Republicans have also requested to meet and obtain documents from Pomerantz and Dunne, the two prosecutors who resigned in February.