4 highlights from Trump's post-indictment speech
Trump derides Alvin Bragg: 'He should be prosecuted'
Trump used his platform to go after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has spearheaded the investigation into him. He described Bragg as a "local failed district attorney" for "charging a former President of the United States for the first time in history on a basis that every single pundit and legal analyst said, 'There is no case, there's no case.'"
After reiterating his belief that "there's nothing here," the former president suggested that "the criminal is the district attorney because he illegally leaked massive amounts of grand jury information, for which he should be prosecuted or, at a minimum, he should resign."
Trump's claim about Bragg builds on a post the former president made on his social media platform Truth Social on March 18, asserting that "illegal leaks from a corrupt & highly political Manhattan district attorney's office" indicated that he would "be arrested on Tuesday of next week." While the March 21 arrest failed to materialize, his indictment came down a week later.
Trump shared statistics about crime in New York City, where he resided for most of his life, contending that policies implemented by Bragg that decline to prosecute certain felonies and abolish pre-trial incarceration for most people arrested for crimes have led to the city becoming "not the same place that I know" and "not the same place that you know."
"Overall crime in New York was up 30% last year, much more than that the year before with felony assaults, robberies and burglaries all up by massive, massive numbers."
The New York Times reported in January that major crimes rose 22% in 2022, even as homicides fell.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]