Opinion The jurors just rendered a verdict on Bragg’s critics, too
"From the moment he brought a criminal case against former president Donald Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was himself put on trial in the court of the commentariat, who condescendingly concluded that Bragg’s legal case was weaker than water. Bragg was all but found guilty before the first witness was called.
To no surprise, Trump brought his own case against Bragg, calling the 34 felony count indictment a case of “political persecution” and denouncing Bragg as a “thug” and a “degenerate psychopath.” Trump also unleashed his attack dogs, with sycophantic Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) calling Trump’s indictment a “shocking and dangerous day for the rule of law in America” and “one of the most irresponsible decisions in American history by any prosecutor.” Graham predicted Trump would win in court.
That was to be expected from Trump and his MAGA followers. But they drew succor from members of the commentariat, on both left and right, who dismissed Bragg’s legal case against Trump as flimsy and tangled.
“Underwhelmed” was the pronouncement of David French of the New York Times, who elaborated: “It’s not because of the facts. It’s because of the law.” John Bolton, the former Trump national security adviser turned ardent Trump critic said “this is even weaker than I feared it would be, and I think it’s easily subject to being dismissed or a quick acquittal for Trump.”
And on and on. Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, Bragg was widely painted as an ambitious Democrat who sought the national stage to take down a former GOP president, but who, legally speaking, was in over his head.
That was essentially the narrative until late afternoon on Thursday, when 12 Manhattan jurors spoke. After watching five weeks of trial, and sorting through mounds of evidence and witness testimony, they found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress.
But, but, but, what about the 34-count indictment that many opinion shapers told us was nothing to boast about? What about the legal deficiencies that were all but certain to doom Bragg’s case?
Did they know something about the case that Bragg didn’t know? Or maybe it’s the other way around. What did they know or not know about Bragg’s acumen and expertise before he was subjected to months of legal scorn. Maybe it’s not what you know, it’s what you give weight to.
Here is some of what I found helpful to keep in mind as the case played out: That Bragg, born and raised in Harlem, attended Trinity, an elite private school on New York City’s West Side, before going on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law.
That Bragg possessed copious skills and experience with public corruption and white-collar crime. That Bragg, as Manhattan district attorney, had secured the conviction of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization chief financial officer, on 15 felony counts. That he had won a six-count indictment against Trump’s former strategist Stephen K. Bannon on money laundering and conspiracy charges in a case that has yet to go to trial. And that with the New York State attorney general’s office, Bragg oversaw the investigation against the Trump Foundation that was dissolved by court order to resolve claims of misuse of charitable funds.
Some of the doubters might say that Thursday wasn’t the end of it — that Trump will appeal and Bragg’s work could yet still be undone.
But Bragg is no stranger to the world of Trump. Bragg — and New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, too — always knew an appeal of any conviction was inevitable with this defendant. Don’t expect the prosecutors to be unprepared there either. Neither is Bragg unfamiliar with the crime side of the ledger, having prosecuted armed robberies, assaults, gun possession and gun trafficking cases as a New York state assistant attorney general, and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Bragg wasn’t some street lawyer sticking his nose into white-collar business. He had the bona fides, wisdom and top staff support to fashion a legal strategy and reasoning that could win the first prosecution of a former U.S. president in our nation’s history. An impartial jury affirmed. Will the commentariat?"
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