Proving that the US is governed by law

His name is Alvin Bragg, the first African-American elected prosecutor for the District of Manhattan, in the state of New York. He is 49 years old, of which he has spent 24 working in New York state and federal jurisdiction prosecutor’s offices.

He was born, raised, and currently lives in Harlem and received his undergraduate and juris doctorate degrees from Harvard University.

In his biography published by American media, such as the Los Angeles Times, it is stated that in his childhood and adolescence in Harlem, he was pointed at six times with a firearm, three of these times by the New York police themselves, with which he now must work very closely.

In the United States, there are two criminal jurisdictions: that of each of the 50 states and other communities such as Puerto Rico, and the federal one. State attorneys general, as well as district attorneys for state jurisdiction, are elected by direct vote of all citizens.

In other words, these officials usually align themselves with one of the two major US parties or declare themselves independent and run as such, without partisan support.

In the case of federal prosecutors, such as the United States attorney general and district attorneys, they are nominated by the president and ratified by the Senate.

As Manhattan district attorney, Bragg inherited the investigation launched by his predecessor, prosecutor Cyrus Vance, who had not considered indicting Donald Trump for paying a bribe to former porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.

For the payment of this bribe and another similar one to the Playboy model Karen McDougal, then-President Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to 36 months in prison, in 2018, for violation of electoral legislation. Cohen lost his law license and is now one of the prosecution’s witnesses.

Bragg made his 2021 election campaign a chance for New Yorkers to return to living in a community where everyone must obey the law and where powerful people who commit illegal acts are held accountable.

When he worked at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Bragg was part of the team that managed to dissolve the Trump Organization, the former president’s parent company, which for 15 years committed tax fraud against this state.

According to The Guardian, Trump told those close to him that it was time to politically attack prosecutor Bragg. In an image that he posted on his social networks, the former president appeared with a baseball bat in his hand and a photo of the prosecutor on one side. According to various US media, Trump’s lawyers asked him to remove the image to prevent the judge who was going to hear his indictment from considering that the prosecutor was being threatened.

According to the La Tercera portal, Bragg said in his inaugural speech, when he took office: “I think I will be the first district attorney who has had a homicide victim in his building. Or the first district attorney in Manhattan to be pointed at with a semi-automatic weapon. Or the first person who saw a loved one go back to prison and continued with him.

That resilience and life experience will now face his greatest test. It is up to Bragg to confirm what the Financial Times said regarding this case: this serves to prove that the United States “is governed by law.” — Rodrigo Noriega  – La Prensa Analyst.