New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg who is out to bring down Donald Trump

He’s copped death threats from Trump supporters who’ve warned they “have guns”. We take a look at the man taking on the former president.

Alvin Bragg speaking at a press conference to discuss the charges against Steve Bannon, September 2022. Picture: Alex Kent/AFP

The man who might just bring down Donald Trump is a 49-year-old Harlem-born, Harvard-educated lawyer, Democrat, father of two and Sunday school teacher.

Sworn in as the first African-American elected as New York County District Attorney (DA) on January 1, 2022, Alvin Bragg is the latest occupant of an office known for its long tenure. Since the 1930s, just four other men have held the office.

But concerns about Mr Bragg’s safety – and hence longevity in the role – are real.

Since Mr Trump posted an image of himself on March 24 standing with a baseball bat next to a shot of Mr Bragg, death threats from unhinged Trump supporters have deluged the DA’s office.

“Remember we are everywhere and we have guns,” one message reportedly read.

Mr Trump, who confirmed last November he would seek the 2024 Republican nomination for president, has called Mr Bragg a “racist in reverse” and a “Soros-backed animal,” a reference to the Jewish billionaire George Soros, who frequently supports progressive political candidates. (Mr Soros has said he has never donated to Mr Bragg, nor met him.)

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg leaves his office in New York on March 30. Picture: Ed Jones/AFP

Mr Trump and his supporters have slammed his recent indictment as political persecution, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy saying Mr Bragg “irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our presidential election”.

While the full charges will not be known until Wednesday morning, Australian time, when Mr Trump appears before a Manhattan Criminal Court, it is thought they relate to hush money payments made by Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen in 2016 to the porn star Stormy Daniels.

The fact that Trump allegedly slept with the porn star is not the issue (although the former president denies that they did); the allegation is that the reimbursement payments made to Mr Cohen were illegally concealed as a campaign expenses.

Former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen (r) arrives to meet with the Manhattan District Attorney on February 8. Picture: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Mr McCarthy denounced Mr Bragg’s “unprecedented abuse of power” and slammed him as a district attorney who “routinely frees violent criminals to terrorise the public”.

Mr McCarthy promised Congress would pursue Mr Bragg and hold him to account, but the volunteer Sunday school teacher did not turn the other cheek. A request from Congressional Republicans for documents and testimony pertaining to the case was refused by Mr Bragg, who instead slammed the ask as “an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty”.

Mr Bragg has fought accusations he was soft on crime since before the indictment, telling CBS News in a profile interview he was “thoughtful on crime”, and that he preferred to look at the “drivers of violence”.

His office had also increased gun prosecutions since he commenced in the role, he pointed out.

Supporters of former US president Donald Trump protest outside the Manhattan District Attorney's office in New York City on April 3. Picture: Leonardo Munoz/AFP

A short personal statement on the DA’s website emphasises Mr Bragg’s belief in “holding powerful people accountable for harming everyday New Yorkers”. The post cites his successful prosecution of former Trump Adviser Steve Bannon on fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges, and the conviction of Trump Organisation Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg on 15 counts of tax evasion.

Critics point to the fact Mr Bragg initially declined to purse the Stormy Daniels hush money investigation, before changing his mind, as evidence of a weak case, but according to Stephen Loosley, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre, this is not necessarily so.

Donald Trump is the first former president to ever face criminal charges. Picture: AFP/Jewel Samad

“It suggests there were countervailing arguments against pursuing these matters inside the District Attorney’s office when Alvin Bragg first looked at them,” Mr Loosley said. “Bear in mind that the US federal authorities in New York have been reluctant to pursue these matters. But there was such an outcry … it caused Bragg to look at them anew.”

If Bragg’s case against the former president succeeds, he will be “a hero” to the anti-Trumpers, but “the devil incarnate” to the MAGA base, Mr Loosley said.

But whether this case is won, lost, or mired in endless delays and appeals may not prove to be Mr Bragg’s most important legacy, Mr Loosley suggested.

“What Alvin Bragg has done in actually bringing charges against a former President of the United States, for the first time in the history of the republic, may well not be lost on other prosecutors who are looking at potential charges against Donald Trump,” Mr Loosley said. “The ice has been broken.”

Originally published as New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg who is out to bring down Donald Trump