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Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's district attorney, draws friends close and critics closer
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference following the arraignment of former U.S. President Donald Trump in New York City on April 4, 2023.
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference following the arraignment of former U.S. President Donald Trump in New York City on April 4, 2023.
Jennah Moon/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Observers, friends and former colleagues view Alvin Bragg Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, as a smart, deliberate lawyer and a selfless public servant. And people who claim him as their friend say he’s a thoughtful one.
Those who spoke to NPR, who know Bragg well or watch him closely, say he is neither moved nor driven by politics. Bragg declined to speak for this story.
Attorney Anurima Bhargava has been friends with Bragg since they were undergrads at Harvard University, where Bragg also earned his law degree.
“One of the things that is so intensely remarkable,” she says, “is that he’s had friends, and colleagues, and people he grew up with, and he’s stayed close to all of us.”
Bhargava leads Anthem of Us, a consulting firm. She says Bragg finds ways to stay connected.
“This year, I had a movie premiere,” she says. “He was working, but he showed up in the back, and made sure I knew that he was in the room. And that’s the kind of stuff that, like, even if it’s for 10 minutes, it means something.”
Attorney Anurima Bhargava has been a friend of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg since they attended Harvard University in the 1990’s. She says his presence had always made her feel and supported.
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Attorney Anurima Bhargava has been a friend of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg since they attended Harvard University in the 1990’s. She says his presence had always made her feel and supported.
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Bragg was featured in Harvard’s student newspaper, The Crimson, in a 1995 article. He was described as “empathetic” and gregarious.”
“Alvin is always the person to go and start a conversation,” Bhargava says, and adds, he was at the center of difficult campus conversations, and someone who defied stereotypes as an actively listener, even with people he just met. Bhargava says whether at a committee meeting or a party, Bragg was a warm, welcoming presence.
“If Alvin was in the room, like, I always felt really safe and supported,” Bhargava says. “I felt like there was someone in the room who would always have my back.”
Alvin Bragg is now at the center of the first-ever criminal trial of a former American president.
The Manhattan district attorney now oversees a team of six prosecutors trying the case against Donald Trump. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Last year, the former president was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to all charges. Bragg then held a news conference.
“Under New York State law, it is a felony to falsify business records with the intent to conceal another crime,” Bragg said. “That is exactly what this case is about.”
Jury selection is expected to be complete by the end of the week. Opening arguments could happen as early as Monday. Donald Trump faces a penalty of up to four years in prison.
The former president has claimed Bragg’s prosecution to be politically motivated. Trump’s defense attorneys have filed and failed to have the case delayed or dismissed. The presiding judge, Juan Merchan, has denied all those motions.
Some view the case as a distraction, compared to three other criminal cases pending against Trump, where prosecutors allege his actions present far more serious threats to democracy.
Terri Gerstein worked with Alvin Bragg in the New York Attorney General’s office. He is smart and a careful lawyer, she says. Gerstein is now a director at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.
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Terri Gerstein recalls Alvin Bragg as thoughtful and detail-oriented. “He’s one of the smartest people that I’ve known,” she says. “I know how careful he is as a lawyer.”
Bragg supervised Gerstein in the New York Attorney General’s office, where she was labor bureau chief.
“He would carefully read all of the pleadings or briefs or memos that we were writing. And look up the cases himself and, like, really, really delve into them,” she says.
Gerstein now is a director at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU. She remembers working on a couple of wage theft cases where home care aides went unpaid, caring for older patients and people with disabilities.
“That case really touched a nerve with him,” she says. “That people would be doing this kind of work, and that someone would take advantage of them in that way.”
The employers pleaded guilty in both cases.
Before he was elected Manhattan district attorney, Bragg was steeped in prosecuting white collar crime and public corruption cases working for both the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the New York Attorney General.
He grew up as a son of Harlem
Alvin Bragg Jr. attended Trinity, a private K-12 college prep school. He was nurtured in a storied section of Harlem called Strivers’ Row. His mother, Sadie, taught high school math and later was vice president at Borough of Manhattan Community College. His father, Alvin Sr., headed the local Urban League for several years. He retired as the city’s director of homeless shelters. Bragg’s parents wanted their only child to be open and experience all kinds of people.
Bragg worshiped at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem as a child, and still does now with his wife and children. He teaches Sunday school there. In 2021, the late pastor Calvin Butts III introduced candidate Bragg during a Sunday service as “a son of Harlem.” Rev. Butts gave Bragg a few moments to make his pitch to potential voters.
“I had a gun pointed at me six times, three by the NYPD during lawless stops, and three by people who were not police officers,” Bragg told the congregation.
“After the first gunpoint stop by the NYPD, I saw our pastor, Reverend Butts, and he guided me through how to file a civilian complaint. That was the beginning of my advocacy.” He was a high school student at the time.
Bragg campaigned and won on his lived experience, and became the first black person elected Manhattan district attorney.
Jelani Cobb has covered Bragg as a staff writer for The New Yorker.
Jelani Cobb, a staff writer for The New Yorker, observes progressive district attorneys like Bragg must balance their ability to make reform in the system with the public’s perception of its safety.
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Jelani Cobb, a staff writer for The New Yorker, observes progressive district attorneys like Bragg must balance their ability to make reform in the system with the public’s perception of its safety.
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“Alvin Bragg is somebody who grew up in Harlem at the time that ‘stop and frisk’ was just a part of life,” Cobb says. “The Central Park Five are now kind of a stand-in for that whole era of policing.”
“And so, it means a lot,” says Cobb, who is also dean at Columbia University’s Journalism School. “That there’s somebody who has experienced both sides of the ledger, serving as a prosecutor, but also witnessing some of the areas in which the system has gone wrong.”
Bragg seeks to strike a balance between public safety and reform
D.A. Bragg declared prosecuting violent crime his top priority. He has also advocated for alternatives to jail when appropriate, and dropped prosecutions for low-level offenses.
Tina Luongo says Bragg has put people in high places of his administration who “think outside the box” in terms of reform. Tina Luongo heads criminal defense practice for the Legal Aid Society, the city’s primary source for public defenders. They were familiar with Bragg for many years and aware of his reform efforts when he worked in the New York Attorney General’s office.
Bragg is different from his predecessors, Luongo says.
Legal Aid Chief Attorney Tina Luongo says Alvin Bragg is an attentive listener. “He may or may not agree with my position, but he hears me out,” she says. She is shown speaking at a rally to protest the 17th death on Rikers Island at City Hall in New York City in 2022.
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Legal Aid Chief Attorney Tina Luongo says Alvin Bragg is an attentive listener. “He may or may not agree with my position, but he hears me out,” she says. She is shown speaking at a rally to protest the 17th death on Rikers Island at City Hall in New York City in 2022.
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“I do believe that if I pick up a phone and I call Alvin and I complain about something, he’s listening,” Loungo says. “And he may or may not agree with my position, but he hears me out.”
Some of Bragg’s reforms, intended to reduce recidivism, draw criticism from conservative media who accuse Bragg of being “soft on crime.”
Jelani Cobb says Bragg works in a dynamic space where challenging the status quo on law and order issues can be tricky.
“For progressive prosecutors in general, I would say him included, their ability to make reform in the system is always counterbalanced by the public’s perception of its safety,” says Cobb.
A call for new ideas invites critics
Former prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo was second in command to Cy Vance, the last Manhattan district attorney. “It really is a time in our history for a person of color to be the district attorney,” she says. Friedman says she decided not to run for the office after Vance declined a fourth bid.
She says “fresh, new ideas” are needed to solve recidivism, because “the old ways” or patterns of prosecution and incarceration are not working.
“I’ve never worked with him, but he’s doing a really good job,” she says.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo was former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. Every new district attorney has missteps in the beginning, she says.
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Karen Friedman Agnifilo was former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. Every new district attorney has missteps in the beginning, she says.
José A. Alvarado Jr. for NPR
Bragg stumbled early on with the release of the Day One Memo, a document that outlined policy shifts for bail and sentencing, among other changes. It was sent office-wide via email, without any discussion.
“It didn’t go well at all,” says Catherine Christian, a veteran Assistant District Attorney who worked for three decades in the office before becoming a law partner in private practice.
Catherine Christian, a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and currently in private practice, believes Alvin Bragg is someone who learns from his mistakes.
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Catherine Christian, a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and currently in private practice, believes Alvin Bragg is someone who learns from his mistakes.
José A. Alvarado Jr. for NPR
Christian, who left seven months into Bragg’s term, says he recovered after a long period of chaos and found his footing after about a year. “I think he’s someone who’s willing to learn, and learns from mistakes. And listens,” she says.
Only a few weeks in office, Bragg had another set of challenges.
Bragg reportedly questioned the lead prosecutors, Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, in several meetings. He’d stopped their team from presenting evidence against Donald Trump to a grand jury in a criminal probe into Trump’s involvement in fraud for overvaluing his assets. (New York Attorney General Letitia James later successfully pursued a civil lawsuit against the Trump Organization, largely along the same lines of evidence pursued by Mark Pomerantz, and it resulted in a $454 million penalty against Trump.)
Bragg had doubts about moving forward, and both Pomerantz and Dunne resigned in protest a month later. In March 2023, Bragg empaneled a new grand jury that voted to indict Trump.
“I know that there were a few missteps in the beginning, and growing pains,” Karen Friedman Agnifilo says. “But I think he’s maturing really nicely.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is staffed by more than 1,500 people. The work ranges from prosecuting white collar crime to human trafficking to street crime to addressing needs of survivors, exonerating wrongful convictions police misconduct, and returning of stolen antiquities.
In January 2023, a New York state court ordered the Trump Organization to pay fines totaling 1.6 million in a tax fraud case. D.A. Bragg’s office successfully won that prosecution.
Bragg may be seen as maturing in his job, but he continues to be tested by cases and critics. Earlier this year, several migrants allegedly attacked police officers in Times Square. At the hearing, prosecutors did not request bail, due to a lack of evidence at the time. The suspected attackers were set free, and Bragg took heat for his handling of the case from politicians and others.
“Why are these four individuals released on their own recognizance?” Patrick Hendry asked during a news conference. Hendry is president of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), the city’s largest police union. “Why aren’t they in jail right now?”
Prosecutors did a thorough investigation. Bragg defended his office.
“We do not tolerate people assaulting police officers,” Bragg told the press. “But in a court of law, our profound obligation is to make sure we have the right people charged with the right crimes.”
Prosecutors filed charges after many days and several suspects were held for trial.
“You’re not allowed to talk about details and facts,” says Karen Friedman Agnifilo. Bragg, like all district attorneys, is confronted by cases where he can’t share information with the public, or respond to critics the way politicians do.
“You’re an officer of the court and the highest law enforcement official, first and foremost,” Agnifilo Friedman says, “and you’re a politician second.”
The unprecedented trial of Donald Trump is a case that Alvin Bragg Jr. doubted, delayed and later revived. Now underway, it will put the Manhattan district attorney to the test.
The Aspen Acres Fire burns on Friday in Rye, Colo.
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Thunderstorms with high winds on Sunday could hamper efforts to contain a massive wildfire that has scorched parts of southern Colorado.
The Aspen Acres Fire, which is burning south of Colorado Springs across Pueblo and Custer counties, has grown to more than 86,000 acres. It began nearly a week ago and is 13% contained, officials said on Sunday morning.
Authorities have ordered people to evacuate or to prepare to evacuate across counties including Custer, Pueblo, Huerfano and Fremont.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms could hit south central and southwest Colorado on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Officials and forecasters say the rain could be beneficial for firefighting but are concerned it could lead to road damage in burned areas and cause flash flooding.
“The main threats from storms will be gusty outflow winds up to 50 mph and lightning,” the NWS office in Pueblo said.
Red flag warnings and air quality alerts have also been issued across the state, with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Sunday warning residents to limit time outdoors because of heavy smoke.
Other wildfires are burning in the state, including the Ferris Fire in southwest Colorado that has grown to more than 42,000 acres and is 7% contained as of Sunday afternoon. The Gold Mountain Fire, which is also in the southwest portion of the state, has grown to more than 25,000 acres and is 0% contained as of Sunday.
A memorial service was held on Sunday for three firefighters who were killed battling wildfires on the Colorado-Utah border on June 27: Emily Barker, Sydney Watson and Nick Hutcherson.
The firefighters, along with two others, were involved in a “burnover incident,” which happens when firefighters are overtaken and have to shelter as best they can while a fire passes directly over them, according to the Department of Interior. Two firefighters survived and were treated for burns.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis ordered flags to fly half-staff in honor of the deceased firefighters.
“These three brave heroes ran towards the flames, put themselves in harm’s way, and gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect Coloradans, our communities and our families,” Polis said in a social media post on Sunday.
Another fire across the border in southern Utah, the Babylon Fire, has grown to more than 90,000 acres and is O% contained as of Sunday afternoon. It is expected to be hot and dry through Monday, with very little humidity, officials said, making conditions challenging for containment.
At least about two dozen people have died amid the perilous climate crisis-driven heatwave that has scorched swaths of the US with record temperatures.
As a huge heat dome sits over the county’s eastern half, extreme heat gripped millions of people in the days leading up to the US’s semiquincentennial on Saturday – and beyond it. More than 20 states experienced have reported stifling temperatures more than 100F (38C), marring celebrations. And more than 140 million people remained under active heat alerts across the US on Sunday.
Officials in New Jersey believe the extreme heat was a factor in the deaths of 22 people across 10 counties there, mostly in central and northern parts of the state. Many of the individuals were found in homes with no air conditioning, outside their residences, on the street and in parked cars, according to officials.
The first of those deaths occurred on Thursday, and the ages of the deceased in question mostly range from their mid-30s to their 80s. Preliminary findings cause investigators to believe the deaths are heat-related, though the chief state medical examiner for New Jersey would later determine the exact cause of death for each.
“This is not a typical summer heatwave,” the New Jersey department of public health said in a statement. “This type of heat can quickly become life-threatening to humans and to animals of all ages.”
The National Weather Service (NWS) has said cool air from the north in the coming days is going to lower some of the most extreme temperatures in the region, including New Jersey. The Fifa World Cup final is scheduled to be held in the New Jersey city of East Rutherford on 19 July.
Elsewhere, a heat-related death was reported in Cook county, Illinois, Natalia Derevyanny, a government spokesperson, told NBC News. The cause of that death was recorded as organic cardiovascular disease – with heat stress as a contributing factor.
Hinds county in Mississippi reported the death of 74-year-old Mitchell Ray Cooley due to heat exposure on Thursday, state officials said. Cooley had been reported missing, and his body was found the next day behind a gas station, the county coroner said in a statement.
“Mr Cooley suffered from a medical condition that impaired his judgment,” the coroner’s office said. “Based on the investigative findings, scene examination, and subsequent evaluation, the cause of death has been determined to be weather-related heat exposure. At this time, there is no indication of foul play.”
Meanwhile, on 27 June, Martha Irene Van Egmond, 83, died in Bolton, Mississippi, after falling in her garden. When her husband, Rick, tried to help her up, he fell too. The couple were unable to get up and spent hours in the heat.
Rick Van Egmond said he and his wife called out for help, and eventually two men from a nearby apartment complex came – but it was too late for Martha. She died surrounded by flowers, doing what she loved, he said to local news outlet WAPT.
Jeramiah Howard, Hinds county’s chief death investigator, attributed her death to the heat combined with her age, WAPT reported.
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As Donald Trump spoke during rain-dampened celebrations in Washington DC on Saturday, emergency services there had treated 51 people with heat-related issues as of 8pm ET, with 12 taken to nearby hospitals, according to local emergency response officials.
Other events scheduled for Saturday – including the Independence Day parade in DC – were cancelled amid the blistering heat. Among other weather-related disruptions, Trump’s so-called Great American State Fair on the National Mall also temporarily closed down on Friday after reports that 44 visitors had been treated for heat-related illnesses.
The worst of the heat started moving out of the US’s north-east and midwest regions by Sunday, shifting farther south into the mid-Atlantic and south-eastern parts of the country.
But scientists warn that heatwaves with extreme temperatures are indications that the world must lower the greenhouse gas pollution driving the global climate crisis.
The NWS is urging the public to avoid heat sickness by drinking plenty of fluids as well as staying out of the sun and in air-conditioned environments. Officials have also asked people to check on relatives and neighbors.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her husband Paul arrive at the funeral services for Clive Davis at Central Synagogue in New York, Monday, June 29, 2026.
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LOS ANGELES — The husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was involved in a hit-and-run in California that left a parked car with “major” damage authorities said Saturday, and he could face misdemeanor charges.
Paul Pelosi was driving his brown convertible Friday in Yountville, a town in the heart of wine country, when he struck a legally parked car on the side of the road, briefly stopped and then drove away, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. No injuries were reported.
A witness saw the collision and called 911. Shortly afterward sheriff’s deputies found Pelosi with damage to the front of his car on a road roughly a quarter of a mile away. He reportedly told officers he knew he hit something but was not sure when or what caused the damage.
Pelosi, 86, did not have any alcohol in his system, according to the statement. The sheriff’s office referred him to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a process to determine whether he may continue to drive — something that officials say is common for older drivers.
Pelosi was not arrested, and because no one was injured, the sheriff’s office recommended a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident.
A staffer for Nancy Pelosi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty in 2022 to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence in Napa County and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation. However, he served only two days in jail and received good conduct credit for two other days, leaving just one day to serve in a work program at the courthouse.
As part of his probation, Pelosi was required to attend a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device, which forces drivers to provide a breath sample to prove sobriety before the engine will start. He also was ordered to pay about $5,000 in victim restitution for medical bills and lost wages, along with nearly $2,000 in fines.
That same year he was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer at the couple’s San Francisco home.
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