Alvin Bragg, the district attorney of Manhattan, is alarmed by the escalating crime rate in the Big Apple. This year, Bragg filed allegations against former President Donald Trump in relation to a payment of hush money to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels.
This is particularly true of the city’s metro system, where violence has increased despite years of modest enforcement efforts.
“I know the statistics that transit crime is down,” he told Fox5. “But when one of my family members gets on the train, I get a knot in my stomach.”
Although NYPD statistics indicate a decline in some criminal activity, the public’s perception of increased crime in the city is fueled by the district attorney’s acknowledgment that he has been severely criticized for being soft on crime.
“I live here, I’m raising my family here, so we have a lot more work to do,” Bragg told the outlet. “We do a number of long-term investigations involving wiretaps. We do targeted enforcement, so we are seeing the returns on that investigative work, and we’re going to do that kind of work.”
Fox5 reports that despite this, many New York City residents are oblivious to the decrease in crime rates. In a brief interview with the publication, a building superintendent stated that crime has gotten out of hand while he was repainting graffiti near the building’s main entrance.
“Yesterday, you see the car, he’s crushing it, he took the baseball bat, it’s terrible.”
I asked him, “He smashed the car with a baseball bat?” He replied, “Yes.”
“I think it’s still iffy,” remarked another local. It depends on the neighborhood that you’re in and the time of day; you might run into something.”
Long-time city dweller: “Personally, I’ve had no incidents on the streets.” “I see it all the time; I didn’t see nothing change,” said another resident.
Last month, a federal magistrate considered the requests of Trump’s legal team to transfer his “hush money” lawsuit from a Manhattan courtroom to federal court.
A 34-count indictment by Bragg regarding a payment the former president made to Daniels during the 2016 campaign was the subject of approximately three hours of testimony and oral arguments from Trump’s legal team before U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York, according to ABC News.
However, the judge hinted that he was hesitant to approve the federalization of the case.
“The act for which the president has been indicted does not relate to anything under the color of his office,” Halverstein said during the hearing, adding: “I intend to write and issue a decision within two weeks.”
ABC News reported:
Trump in 2017 wrote monthly reimbursement checks to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, from his personal funds having nothing to do with his official duties as president, a prosecutor said during the hearing in arguing to keep Trump’s criminal prosecution in State Supreme Court in Manhattan instead of federal court, where Trump’s defense attorneys say it belongs.
“Writing personal checks, even if he did it in the Oval Office, is not an official act,” the prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, said.
“The president’s duties are not all-encompassing,” Colangelo, added, according to ABC News. “We know the president can, even when he’s president, have personal papers.”
Although it is conceivable that Trump will be unable to transfer the case to a federal court, one legal expert believes his team has already made a “good move.”
Alan Dershowitz, a renowned Harvard legal expert, stated that Team Trump’s decision to suit Cohen, his former personal attorney, for $500 million was the best course of action because it will enhance Trump’s case and hurt Bragg.
Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury that indicted Trump for allegedly forging Daniels-related business records.