A New York grand jury that voted to indict former President Donald Trump on prices involving funds made throughout the 2016 presidential marketing campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter has refocused consideration on the Manhattan district legal professional steering the case. Alvin Bragg’s choice to convene the grand jury early this yr led to the primary legal cost towards a former U.S. president.
Right here’s what you might want to learn about Bragg:
WHO IS THE MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY?
Alvin Bragg grew to become Manhattan’s first Black district legal professional in 2022, following his election in November 2021.
AS DISTRICT ATTORNEY, WHAT IS BRAGG’S JOB?
The workplace prosecutes almost all legal circumstances in Manhattan, staffed by about 500 attorneys. The district legal professional is also a key political determine, overseeing circumstances that usually contain defendants with immense wealth, fame and affect.
Manhattan district legal professional is among the most high-profile prosecution jobs on the planet, dramatized on TV exhibits like “Regulation & Order” and “Blue Bloods.” Robert M. Morgenthau, who held the job for 35 years, was the mannequin for the fictional character Adam Schiff on “Regulation & Order,” one of many sequence’ unique leads performed by actor Steven Hill.
The workplace has a finances of about $150 million and has used a separate $800 million forfeiture fund bankrolled by Wall Avenue settlements for grants to legal justice and neighborhood organizations and massive initiatives, equivalent to testing backlogged rape kits.
ARE DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ELECTED?
Bragg is one among 5 elected district attorneys in New York Metropolis — one for every of town’s 5 boroughs. Bragg received a troublesome Democratic main after which the final election to turn into Manhattan’s district legal professional. He took over for retiring District Legal professional Cyrus Vance Jr.
Bragg is simply the fourth elected district legal professional in Manhattan within the final eight a long time. Frank Hogan served for 31 years. Robert Morgenthau was in workplace for 34 years, till he was 90. Vance retired on the finish of 2021 after 12 years.
WHAT IS BRAGG’S LEGAL BACKGROUND?
Bragg’s profession consists of time as a federal prosecutor, an assistant legal professional normal for the state of New York and a civil rights legal professional who represented Eric Garner’s mom as she pressured New York Metropolis officers for extra accountability towards the officers and commanders concerned in her son’s 2014 loss of life by a police chokehold.
Bragg’s marketing campaign included guarantees to alter the tradition of the workplace and allied him with different progressive prosecutors aiming to remove money bail.Shortly after taking workplace, he launched a public memo promising the district legal professional would now not prosecute some low-level misdemeanor crimes.
Bragg, who grew up in Harlem, graduated from Harvard Regulation Faculty.
HOW WAS BRAGG INVOLVED WITH THE TRUMP INDICTMENT?
Bragg inherited a yearslong grand jury investigation into hush cash paid on Trump’s behalf throughout his 2016 presidential marketing campaign.
After taking workplace, Bragg slowed down his workplace’s transfer towards an indictment towards Trump and mentioned he had considerations concerning the energy of the case. That sparked a public protest by two prosecutors who had been main the investigation and resigned.
However Bragg convened a brand new grand jury early this yr after efficiently convicting Trump’s household firm for tax fraud. He referred to as that consequence a “sturdy demarcation line” for continuing with different elements of the probe.
Basically, the grand jury course of is seen as extraordinarily favorable to prosecutors.
Proceedings are closed to the general public and there’s no decide. Prosecutors name and query witnesses and grand jurors — individuals drawn from the neighborhood — can ask questions. Grand jurors can both agree there may be sufficient proof to subject an indictment, discover there may be not sufficient proof or inform the prosecutor to file lesser prices.