Few men in recent political history are as contemptible Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The first black man elected to his prestigious position, Bragg is also known for a number of other things.
Namely, he’s perhaps best known for being the New York paper pusher who became vaingloriously obsessed — to his own detriment — with prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump on a number of spurious, politically motivated charges.
That being said, Bragg’s Trump Derangement Syndrome is hardly the only hate-obsession he has these days.
No, no, no, in having utterly failed at prosecuting Trump, Bragg appears to have placed all of his legal eggs into the basket of Jordan Neely, the mentally disturbed Michael Jackson impersonator who died after a physical encounter with Marine veteran Daniel Penny in May 2023.
While most sane Americans saw Penny’s actions as heroic, there are vile race-baiters who felt that Neely, a black man, was racially targeted by Penny.
(Neely was threatening passengers on a New York City subway at the time of this incident.)
The truth of the matter is that Penny is innocent — as decided on by a jury of his peers — and that should really be the end of it.
But, of course, Bragg can’t let it go.
While the beleaguered DA has exhausted his legal options (though Penny is not out of the woods by any stretch) to sway the jury, Bragg still has plenty of time to try and sway the public narrative surrounding Penny’s case.
And that shameful yarn-spinning was on full display when Bragg released a statement acknowledging judicial defeat.
You can see the entire statement below, shared by reporter Dan Rivoli:
New statement from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Daniel Penny acquittal
Jurors’ lengthy deliberation underscored why this case was put in front of a jury of Mr. Penny’s peers, Bragg says
“The jury has now spoken.” https://t.co/SAeSkAZjpm pic.twitter.com/NjxVdB0D1Y
— Dan Rivoli (@danrivoli) December 9, 2024
“As with every case, we followed the facts and the evidence from beginning to end,” Bragg’s statement read. “A Grand Jury voted to indict, and the Office carefully presented this case to a trial jury.”
Agree to disagree, Mr. Bragg, but so far, there’s nothing particularly odoriferous with his statement.
After arguing that the lengthy jury deliberations were actually proof positive for why this case was so important (again, agree to disagree), Bragg admitted: “The jury has now spoken. At the Manhattan D.A.’s Office we deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict.”
Now, had Bragg simply ended this statement here, it’d be much ado about nothing. The first half of this statement is a rather rote example of legalese.
But Bragg couldn’t help himself.
“Unfortunately, over the duration of this trial, talented career prosecutors and their family members were besieged with hate and threats — on social media, by phone and over email,” Bragg continued.
To be clear: Threatening death upon public servants, or just other Americans for that matter, is a bad idea and should be condemned.
To be clearer: Bragg is the last man on this planet who should be making this point.
“Simply put, this is unacceptable, and everyone, no matter your opinion on this case, should condemn it,” he said.
