After being charged by Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg’s office on Thursday, former US President Donald Trump became the first former US president to face criminal charges (March 31). The allegations stem from a 2016 lawsuit in which Trump had his then-lawyer David Cohen pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money to keep her quiet about her and Trump’s alleged romance in 2006. Daniels claimed she slept with Trump, who was hosting the popular American reality show ‘The Apprentice’ at the time after he indicated he could place her on his show – an allegation Trump rejects.
Only a few weeks ago, Trump pushed his supporters to resist his prospective arrest for what he calls a “witch hunt.” Because the indictment is sealed, the actual substance of the allegations and Trump’s future arrest are unknown at this time.
Because the case involves a 2016 event that is linked to a decade-old affair, the DA’s office dubbed it a “zombie case,” according to the Associated Press. Here’s how it was pursued again under Bragg.
Who exactly is Alvin Bragg?
Bragg, 49, is a former federal prosecutor who grew up in New York and went to Harvard. District Attorneys, who represent the government in judicial proceedings, are sometimes elected to office in the United States through municipal elections. Bragg is a member of the Democratic Party. According to his Twitter bio, Bragg’s agenda is about “delivering one standard of justice for all.”
Bragg made his priorities plain with his election in 2022, which he won by a wide majority against the Republican opponent. “The Day 1 job is guns,” he stated, referring to major shootings around the country and gun-related crimes, especially in New York.
According to The New York Times, he has also frequently cited his experiences as a Black man living in New York to highlight delicate themes of policing and the treatment of Black people by police forces. He outlined the experiences that will influence his approach: “Having been stopped by the police,” Bragg said. “Having a homicide victim on my doorstep. Having had a loved one return from incarceration and live with me.”
Additionally on his agenda are issues with the punishments for low-level offenses, some of which result in people being imprisoned for long periods. Bragg has referred to these as “unnecessary incarceration.”
According to a 2021 article in The New York Times, despite his stated goals of changing the system, opponents have detected a divergence in his behavior at times. In the past, a unit he oversaw to investigate police shootings of unarmed individuals reviewed 24 investigations but found no evidence of the prosecution.
How Bragg pursued the case after Donald Trump was accused of a crime
The charges against Trump are thought to be related to recording falsification since, while Cohen paid Daniels off with his own money, he was later repaid by Trump and this payment was documented as “legal costs.” This could indicate a legal breach, probably related to election spending because it occurred just before the 2016 US Presidential Elections.
According to the New York Times, the then-DA began initiating inquiries into The Trump Organization in 2019 to determine whether Trump did so, collecting documents about his tax returns and other financial information. The corporation then sued the office, alleging that a sitting president could not be criminally prosecuted, but they lost the case. The investigation was then resumed.
Bragg took over as DA in 2022. He initially expressed doubt about the case, but it was revealed in August that the probe would continue. Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s Chief Financial Officer, consented to testify against the corporation, but not against Trump personally. At a subsequent trial last year, a jury found the business guilty of tax evasion and other offenses.
Bragg also retained white-collar prosecutor Matthew Colangelo to supervise the investigation. Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was called a key witness. Trump, for one, referred to the inquiry as “the greatest witch hunt in history.” He’s also slammed Bragg, labeling him a racist towards white people.
