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‘We stand strong’: Officials denounce incendiary comments toward Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Mar 27, 2023
Modified Mar 28, 2023
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Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Mar 27, 2023
Modified Mar 28, 2023
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Elected officials are condemning racist comments targeted at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as he continues an investigation that could result in the arrest of former President Donald Trump. On Thursday, Trump referred to Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, as an “animal” in a since-deleted post on his social media app, Truth Social.
Bragg "came into office and said ‘I am going to engage in the law in an impartial and fair way,’” said Nick E. Smith, the city’s first deputy public advocate, at a press conference on Monday. “And no president, no king, no prime minister can stop our district attorney from doing his job.”
On the same social media app, the former president also referred to Bragg as a “degenerate psychopath” and warned of his “death and destruction” should he be arrested. Trump also reportedly shared an image of himself holding a baseball bat next to a photo of Bragg. The following day, an envelope containing white powder, which authorities later deemed not to be hazardous, also arrived at the district attorney’s office.
These recent actions aimed at the district attorney are another indication of increased tension as the nation awaits Trump’s potential arrest for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. The NYPD is also tightening security should there be protests following the unprecedented arrest of a U.S. president.
Other officials, including Rep. Adriano Espaillat and district leaders Hilda Solomon and Maria Luna, gathered outside the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem to condemn Trump’s comments. During the conference, Iesha Sekou, from Street Corner Resources, Inc. led the crowd into repeated chants of “We stand strong!”
“Trump knows this is racism. Making Black people wrong for doing the right thing, calling it adversarial and everything else,” Sekou said. “We will not have it. We stand strong with Alvin Bragg.”
In addition to Monday’s press conference, several civil rights leaders, including NAACP NYS President Hazel Dukes and Rev. Al Sharpton, told Politico’s Playbook newsletter in a joint statement on Friday that Trump’s comments were “a bullhorn of incendiary racist and antisemitic bile, spewed out for the sole purpose of intimidating and sabotaging a lawful, legitimate, fact-based investigation.”
“These ugly, hateful and anti-American attacks on our judicial system must be universally condemned without equivocation or hesitation,” the statement continued.
The joint statement came a day before Sharpton held a rally in support of Bragg at the National Action Network's headquarters.
In addition to Bragg, Trump criticized other Black elected officials on Truth Social, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County in Georgia. Like Bragg, they are both the first Black people elected to their respective positions. Trump also made comments aimed at philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish.
Tagged
new york city
Alvin Bragg
donald trump
Politics
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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