After former President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in a historic trial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg emphasized that “the only voice that matters is the voice of the jury.”

“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we approached this trial, and ultimately reached today’s verdict, in the same manner as every other case that comes through our courtroom doors—by following the facts and the law, and doing so without fear or favor,” Bragg, whose office prosecuted the case, told reporters on Thursday.

“I did my job,” he added. “Our responsibility is to follow the facts and the law without fear or favor. And that’s exactly what we did.”

Who is Alvin Bragg?

Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who serves as the New York County District Attorney, covering Manhattan. He was born on October 21, 1973. He hails from Harlem and grew up on Striver’s Row. In an interview with The American Prospect, Bragg shared that he had been “deeply affected by the criminal justice system – most directly through three gunpoint stops by the NYPD.” He graduated from the Trinity School before attending Harvard College.

In June 2019, Bragg announced his candidacy for the 2021 Democratic Party nomination for New York County District Attorney, a position then held by Cyrus Vance Jr., who chose not to seek reelection. Bragg campaigned as a proponent of criminal justice reform measures, and his campaign was characterized as part of a broader movement of progressive prosecutors across the country.

In 2021, he became the first African American elected to this office. Prior to this role, Bragg served as Chief Deputy Attorney General of New York and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York.

On February 23, 2022, Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz, the lead prosecutors in the New York County District Attorney’s investigation into Donald Trump and his businesses, resigned abruptly after Bragg expressed doubts about proceeding with a case against Trump. In his resignation letter, Pomerantz stated that the investigation team had “no doubt about whether [Trump] committed crimes,” including falsifying business records, and called the decision not to pursue criminal charges “a grave failure of justice.”

Bragg married Jamila Marie Ponton in 2003. They have two children. Bragg has also taught Sunday School at the Abyssinian Baptist Church.