DA Bragg Raked Over the Coals by Democrat Voters After Trump's Arraignment
In 2022, it was reported that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had downgraded over 50 percent of felonies in his jurisdiction to misdemeanors, despite New York City’s spiking crime rate. On Tuesday, the public learned he had finally found 34 misdemeanors he was willing to upgrade to felonies.
Conveniently, they just happened to be allegations against former President Donald Trump, and flimsy ones at that, based on non-disclosure payments made during the 2016 campaign. But you’ve gotta start somewhere.
Unfortunately for Bragg, Democratic and independent voters that Fox News talked to weren’t impressed, with one calling him the “worst prosecutor in America” to make the case against the former president.
Bragg has defended his decision to elevate the 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree — normally a misdemeanor for which the two-year statute of limitations has long passed — to felonies because they were meant to conceal another crime. However, that alleged crime involved federal campaign finance law, something Bragg has no jurisdiction over and a case the Department of Justice has already decided to pass on.
“Under New York state law is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and intent to conceal another crime. That is exactly what this case is about. Thirty-four false statements made to cover up other crimes,” Bragg said after the indictment was unsealed on Tuesday, according to Fox News.
“These are felony crimes in New York State. No matter who you are, we cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct.”
Again ironic, given that the U.K. Daily Mail reported in November that since taking office as district attorney earlier in the year, Bragg had downgraded 52 percent of felony cases to misdemeanors, which sounds a lot like normalizing serious criminal conduct. The registered Democratic voters that Fox News talked to on Wednesday morning’s “Fox & Friends” agreed.
“I think we’re concentrating on the wrong thing and that this may backfire,” said Sammy Ravelo, a former police officer and member of New York’s Conservative Party who was a losing candidate in the 2021 Democratic primary for Bronx borough president.
Ravelo spoke during a panel discussion with “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy.
In a separate panel discussion with “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt, Ravelo was critical of Bragg for using resources to prosecute the former president while Gotham continues to have issues with crime.
“My whole thing is they found the worst prosecutor in America to prosecute Trump because Alvin Bragg would not prosecute a black-on-black crime or Latino-Latino crime,” Ravelo said. “He’ll set those guys free.
“In the meantime, he goes after a former president.”
Another registered Democrat, Marissa Caro-Cortese, told Earhardt she had been “expecting more” from the indictment.
“Enough is enough already,” the Connecticut woman said.
“If we’re going to start pinpointing politicians for all of their business affairs, looking deeper into things that they’ve done in the past, we need to investigate all of them. He’s not the first person who’s done this.
“Again, I’m not defending him. I would never defend President Trump, but I feel like there’s a lot of distraction going on, and we need to just get away with this and focus on the real issue,” she added.
Meanwhile, independent voter Dominick Ciccarelli noted the irony behind Bragg finally getting tough on crime.
“Alvin Bragg has spent his entire career keeping criminals out of jail, so it’s impossible for me to believe that this is not politically driven,” the New York City resident told Earhardt.
“The American people care about hush money with Stormy Daniels just as much as they care about Bill Clinton and Paula Jones’ sexual harassment settlement cases.
“What the American people care about is presidents becoming richer during their presidencies and becoming presidents, and maybe political figures, to line their own pockets,” he added.
“And America really, I think, is grateful for Trump for putting America first and pushing hard for America and coming out almost less wealthy than he did when he came in because he sacrificed … his personal life supporting the country.”
It’s not exactly a scientific poll, mind you, the Fox panel was not exactly made up of liberal Democrats, much less the leftiest fringe elements of the Democratic Party. But the fallout from Tuesday was brutal for Bragg — with even Democrats and liberal media pundits expressing disappointment over the charges after they were unveiled. Now that the indictment has been unsealed, to call it a nothingburger is an insult to burgers.
Meanwhile, the Manhattan DA’s office will continue to devote more and more of its resources to this farce as crime continues to get worse. Bragg managed to win the Democratic primary in 2021. By the time Bragg he’s up for re-election in 2025, maybe even Democrats will see how screwed up his priorities are.
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