# Alvin Bragg **Alvin Bragg** has been Manhattan District Attorney since January 2022. He is the first Black person to hold the office, and a former federal prosecutor and chief deputy in the New York Attorney General's office. His office obtained the only criminal conviction of [[Donald Trump]]: **34 felony counts** of falsifying business records to hide the 2016 hush-money payment to [[Stormy Daniels]]. That makes him the right's standing example of "lawfare" from the left. ## The case - **Indictment (April 4, 2023).** Thirty-four counts of first-degree falsification of business records. The records were the invoices, checks and ledger entries that recorded [[Michael Cohen]]'s $130,000 reimbursement as legal fees. The felony upgrade rested on concealing another crime, a New York election-law violation. See [[Catch and Kill]]. - **The threats.** On March 24, 2023, before the indictment, Trump warned on Truth Social of "potential death & destruction" if he was charged. Bragg's office then received a death threat and a letter containing white powder ([[Donald Trump - 2023-03-24 - death and destruction]]). House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed a former Bragg prosecutor, and Bragg sued to stop it before the two sides settled. - **Verdict (May 30, 2024).** Guilty on all 34 counts after a six-week trial before Justice [[Juan Merchan]]. - **Sentence (Jan. 10, 2025).** An **unconditional discharge**, meaning no penalty, imposed ten days before the inauguration. It makes Trump the first president to take office as a convicted felon. ## Trump's efforts to erase it Trump has attacked the conviction on two tracks: - **The state appeal** to the Appellate Division argues that trial evidence should have been excluded under [[Trump v. United States]] (2024). It is still pending. - **Moving the case to federal court.** On Nov. 6, 2025, the Second Circuit sent a removal bid back to Judge Alvin Hellerstein. On **Aug. 28, 2026**, Hellerstein rejected it for the third time. He wrote that "paying hush money to an adult film star or engaging in a cover-up of an embarrassment are not subsumed in presidential immunity." Trump's lawyers said they would appeal. ## Re-election and the other cases Voters answered the "lawfare" charge on **Nov. 4, 2025**. Bragg won a second term with about **74%**, beating Republican Maud Maron (about 21%) and independent Diana Florence (about 6%). He had won the June primary with about 74% as well. His office also won the December 2022 tax-fraud conviction of the [[Trump Organization]] ([[Trump Org Tax Fraud Conviction]]). It prosecuted Daniel Penny over the subway death of Jordan Neely, which ended in acquittal in December 2024 and became a conservative cause. That gave Bragg the rare distinction of being attacked from the right for prosecuting both Trump and Penny. ## See also - [[Stormy Daniels]] · [[Michael Cohen]] · [[David Pecker]] · [[The National Enquirer]] · [[Catch and Kill]] - [[Juan Merchan]] · [[Trump Indictments Timeline]] · [[Lawfare]] · [[Lawfare Timeline]] · [[Political Repression]] - [[Donald Trump - death and destruction]] · [[Trump v. United States]]