Alvin Bragg, a 49-year-old DA at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York City, told his investigative team about former President Donald Trump’s increasingly fierce hostile speeches and language, “Our prosecution will not dream of any rhetoric or threats.” said.
He said that he is now close to the final decision stage to prosecute former President Trump, and said so through an internal contact network memo on the night of the 19th.
Prosecutor Bragg sent a memo in which former President Trump sent a three-part, capital letter to his social media account, swearing at New York prosecutors that he might be arrested within days and telling supporters, “Let’s take back our country.” !” was a few hours after the instigation of the protest.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor Bragg directed the Trump investigation team and brought witnesses before a grand jury to testify about Trump’s payments of silence money during the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors at the New York Prosecutors’ Office, to which he sent the memo, are preparing security and security issues for the Manhattan courthouse, where Trump will be tried if he is prosecuted.
“We will not tolerate any attempt to intimidate or disrupt the activities of our prosecution service or New York’s law enforcement,” the Bragg memo said. At the same time, regarding the current prosecution investigation, it was recommended to “avoid attention and comments from the media or the public as much as possible.”
While Prosecutor Bragg expressed concerns about obstruction and intimidation of the investigation, articles were posted online saying that they decided to criticize and attack Bragg at the 20th rally and protest organized by the Republican Youth Club of New York.
New York police and the judiciary are preparing countermeasures while closely examining conversations online warning of protests and violence if Trump is arrested, four prosecution sources told The Associated Press.
The threatening messages the investigators are tracking vary in accuracy and reliability, they said.
Messages, mainly through online postings and chats, even suggest a plan to enter the district attorney’s office with a firearm to prevent Trump’s arrest and prosecution.
For this reason, prosecutors said they are considering building a multi-layered security net around Manhattan and blocking several roads leading to the Manhattan Criminal Court in order to prevent any mishaps if Trump is prosecuted.
A method of blocking the streets around the courthouse with large trucks is also being reviewed, which is a security measure for large-scale events or marches in New York City. Prosecutors told the media that detailed information could not be disclosed ahead of time due to the nature of the case.
Prosecutor Bragg, a Democrat, faced criticism shortly after taking over the Trump investigation in January 2022. He was criticized not from Trump, but from the prosecutors who took over the job, for not moving forward quickly with plans to investigate Trump’s business-related fraud cases.
This is because he decided to put aside the corruption and tax evasion negotiations of the Trump corporation and the Trump group and first investigate the suspicion of money bribery, which has been an unsolved case for the past six years.
This time, he sent a warning to 1,600 prosecutors’ staff about the increasingly fierce hostility and intimidation of Trump and his supporters.
In a memo on the 19th, he declared that going forward, the prosecution will work closely with the New York City Police Department to ensure the personal safety of all prosecutors involved in the investigation, and “will not yield to any threat or specific intimidation attempt against the prosecution.”
The memo and earlier posts by Trump show how starkly the antagonism between Bragg’s fellow New Yorker and Trump’s thoughts and attitudes is on every front, prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Bragg refused to comment on the prosecution’s bribery investigation or the details of Trump’s offensive remarks, saying the investigation speaks for itself.
Trump recently launched a “reverse racist” attack on Manhattan’s first black district attorney, Bragg, and without any evidence, said that Bragg was ordered by the Department of Justice and was a major Democratic donor, George Soros, who also contributed to Bragg’s electoral campaign. He was accused of being influenced by money.
Prosecutor Bragg, who graduated from Harvard University Law School and worked as a civil rights lawyer after serving as a federal prosecutor and chief attorney general of New York State, is known as a person who has devoted himself exclusively to the Trump investigation, regardless of New York City politics.
Prosecutor Bragg has been a target of hatred by Republicans for his Trump investigation since his days as state attorney general, to the extent that former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldine, who ran for governor of New York last year, pledged to kick Bragg out if elected.
[뉴욕= AP/뉴시스]
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.