Decryption | Justice according to Alvin Bragg

(New York) “Before I was 21, I had a gun pointed at me six times: three times by police and three times by people who weren’t police. I had a knife to my throat, a semi-automatic pistol to my head, and a homicide victim on my doorstep. »

On January 3, 2022, in a memo to his staff, Manhattan’s first black prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, referred to his early experiences with police and criminals as the “son of Harlem” in these terms.

This note earned its author his first controversy for other reasons which will be explained later. But it allows us to measure from the outset the distance between Alvin Bragg’s New York and that of Donald Trump, this scion of a wealthy Queens family from whom he obtained the historic indictment last week.

Not that Alvin Bragg was born to poor parents. The 49-year-old lawyer grew up in a middle-class family who lived in Strivers’ Row, an area of ​​Harlem whose beautiful terraced houses have long attracted the bourgeoisie of this predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhood.

But Alvin Bragg embodies a version of the American dream that has nothing to do with that of Donald Trump.

We know the story of the son of Queens, who became the first former American president to be indicted for a crime.

We know less about that of Alvin Bragg, whose plot is dictated by a conception of justice marked at the corner of progressivism.

In 1995, this story was already attracting the attention of the Harvard Crimson, newspaper of the prestigious American university, which devotes to the future law school graduate an article entitled “The Anointed One”, a reference to the Messiah. Of him, a dean of the university said, “I would push him into politics because he is the perfect example of a politician of stature who can attract votes from white and black voters. »

Alvin Bragg defends himself at the time of being interested in politics. He demonstrated this for two decades, working notably for the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and for the Attorney General of the State of New York, who made him his deputy in 2017.

Two years later, Alvin Bragg finally resolves to run for office under the Democratic banner, announcing his candidacy for the election for the post of Manhattan district attorney, scheduled for November 2021. At the start of his campaign, New York crime is not far from its historic low. And his call for reform of the criminal justice system is part of a national movement that will gain momentum after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

But the climate is not the same in New York when Alvin Bragg assumes his new functions, the 1^er January 2022, after his election. On the same day, a new mayor, Eric Adams, also from the black community, takes the reins of the city after promising to adopt a more traditional approach to combat a sudden rise in crime.

It is in this context that the leak of Alvin Bragg’s note to his staff has sparked controversy. The new Manhattan prosecutor announces that he will refuse to ask for prison sentences for certain crimes.

Accused of “wokism” by the conservative media, including the New York Postand criticized by the new head of the NYPD, Alvin Bragg quickly announces the withdrawal of his directive, saying that it was misinterpreted.

A turbulent investigation

But he is not at the end of his troubles. On February 23, 2022, the two main prosecutors leading an investigation into Donald Trump’s business practices resign. The investigation, started under former Manhattan prosecutor Cyrus Vance, is looking into whether the former president inflated the value of his assets to secure bank loans.

In his letter of resignation, the content of which is revealed by the New York Times on March 30, 2022, one of the prosecutors claims that Donald Trump is “guilty of numerous crimes” and calls the decision of the Manhattan prosecutor not to pursue his indictment a “gross breach of justice”.

But Alvin Bragg is not convinced of the strength of the evidence in this case. His position earned him almost as fierce attack from MSNBC and other media or progressive representatives as he is today from Donald Trump’s allies.

The Manhattan prosecutor repeated in vain that the investigation into Trump continues, no one, or almost, listens to him or believes him.

However, on August 18, 2022, the tide began to turn. Alvin Bragg scores his first major victory by forcing former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to plead guilty to 15 counts of fraud and tax evasion. He continues on December 6 of the same year by obtaining a guilty verdict against the company of the former president, also accused of tax evasion.

And he will reveal Tuesday afternoon the charges brought against Donald Trump in connection with the Stormy Daniels case or any other case. He will no doubt then remember the reason why he applied for the post of Manhattan district attorney.

“I’m running because all too often we have two standards of justice: one for the rich, powerful and connected, and one for everyone else. »