Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Speaks After Trump Found Guilty

Good evening. First and foremost, I want to thank the jury for its service. Jurors perform a fundamental civic duty. Their service is literally the cornerstone of our judicial system. We should all be thankful for the careful attention that this jury paid to the evidence and the law, and their time and commitment over these past several weeks. (05:56) 12 everyday New Yorkers, and of course our alternates heard testimony from 22 witnesses, including former and current employees of the defendant, media executives, book publishers, custodians of records, and others. They reviewed call logs, text messages and emails. They heard recordings. They saw checks and invoices, bank statements and calendar appointments. (06:31) This type of white-collar prosecution is core to what we do at the Manhattan District Attorney's office. In the 1930s, District Attorney Thomas Dewey ushered in the era of the modern, independent, professional prosecutor. For now nearly 90 years, dedicated professionals in this office have built upon that fine tradition. (06:58) A major part of our practice during that nearly 90 years has been public integrity work, including cases involving jurists, local and state electeds, public servants, and others. I want to thank this phenomenal prosecution team, embodying the finest traditions of this office: professionalism, integrity, dedication and service. They are model public servants, and I am proud and humbled to serve side-by-side with them. (07:42) The 12 everyday jurors vowed to make a decision based on the evidence and the law, and the evidence and the law alone. Their deliberations led them to a unanimous conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Donald J. Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to conceal a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. And while this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial, and ultimately today at this verdict, in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors: by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor. (08:41) I want to conclude by expressing deep gratitude to the NYPD and the officers of the Office of Court Administration for securing the courthouse, all of our safety, making sure the courthouse and all of the other matters that are important in their own right continued seamlessly. They will continue to be and have always been incredible partners. Thank you.

Okay, I'm going to ask you [inaudible 00:09:12]. Molly?

Do you plan to request a prison sentence [inaudible 00:09:19] that Donald Trump's multiple violations of the gag order that was in place should factor in that request at all?

The judge scheduled sentencing for July 11th. We will speak in court in that time. He also set a motion schedule. We will speak in our court filings as we've done throughout this proceeding.

Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted you personally and members of your prosecution team. Do you have a response to the former president after this trial concluded?

I do not.

Go ahead.

Alvin, In February you decided not to bring a case against Donald Trump. You were criticized then. You were criticized when you [inaudible 00:10:03] him March, 2023. You were criticized when [inaudible 00:10:03] understand that case. How do you think of all that now seeing the result [inaudible 00:10:09] in your personal experience?

I did my job. Our job is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor. And that's exactly what we did here. And what I feel is gratitude to work alongside phenomenal public servants who do that each and every day. It matters that you all write about and make the press and then lots of matters that you don't. I did my job. We did our job. Many voices out there, the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury. And the jury has spoken.

Adam.

[inaudible 00:10:47] Mr. Steinglass, many people said the prosecution was masterful and flawless. Just want to know how you feel at this moment.

I'll let you go ahead.

How do you feel?

Mr. Steinglass, I think some of you probably saw him speak for a little bit the other day, so he's done his job, as has this team. And he just told me, "Tell them how I feel." I think you said that. I will just say just enormous gratitude. Our system, I talk about the jurors at the beginning of my remarks. We have a phenomenal system. 12 everyday New Yorkers, they listen to the judge's directions, they follow the evidence. You saw them in court every day. They were careful and attentive. And so I feel deep gratitude to work alongside them, to be a part of this system. (11:45) And I just want to echo that this is what we're doing every single day. During this trial, just this week, a ghost gun indictment, Grimaldi's wage theft plea resolution, sex crimes convictions, all sorts of work that's being done by phenomenal public servants. So we're before you today on this, obviously consequential matter, but this is what we do every day. We follow the facts and the law without fear or favor.

Gina.

If a jail sentence is in the cards, it is likely that Trump and his attorneys would seek a stay on enforcement of that sentence pending appeal. If that were the scenario, would your office object to staying the sentence?

I'm going to let our words in court speak for themselves when we get to the sentencing matter. I'm not going to address hypotheticals. They raise arguments, we'll respond. And I think your question really underscores an important point. This is an active, ongoing matter. We have other phases of this going ahead. We will continue to do our speaking about this matter about issues like that in court.

All right, last one. Graham.

From day one, the viability of this case has been questioned in all sorts of media outlets all over the place, including from the defendant himself. Can you respond to any of that, how you feel now that you've gotten a conviction?

So my response, again, is I did my job. And I think particularly, I talked about the history of the office, my personal history. I started as a prosecutor in 2003 in the Public Integrity Unit in the New York State Attorney General's office. I served also in the Public Integrity Unit in the Southern District of New York. These are kind of cases I've done personally, and it's a hallmark of the tradition of this office that I'm proud to lead. And I don't want to go into the whole body of litigation, but we now have a federal court decision ruling on the legal theories. We had a state court decision on the omnibus motions. But most importantly, today, we have the most important voice of all, and that's the voice of the jurors. They have spoken. Donald J. Trump has been convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Thank you.

District Attorney, your office has been investigating this case since 2018-

Are you concerned about retribution if Trump is elected president?

He went to the Supreme Court twice. Any comment on that?

And we're rolling.