After
Donald Trump
became the first US President to be convicted of a felony, an incandescent
Vivek Ramaswamy
posted on X: “The
prosecutor
is a politician who promised to nail Trump. The judge’s daughter is a Democrat operative who literally *raised $$ from the trial* while her father presided over it. The jury instructions said they didn’t have to agree on the crime to convict.
This will backfire.”
The individuals he is referring to are New York District Attorney Alving Bragg and
Judge Juan Merchan
(and his daughter). One is the son of Colombian immigrants, the first of his family to make it to college with 18 years as a jurist. The other is Manhattan's first black District Attorney, a man whose life’s choices were shaped by a white police officer holding a gun to his head when he was 15. Here’s what you ought to know about the two men who successfully prosecuted Donald Trump.
1) Who is Judge Juan Merchan?
During the
trial
, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social: “Judge Juan Merchan, who is suffering from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (whose daughter represents Crooked Joe Biden,
Kamala Harris
, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, and other Radical Liberals, has just posted a picture of me behind bars, her obvious goal, and makes it completely impossible for me to get a fair trial) has now issued another illegal, un-American, unConstitutional ‘order,’ as he continues to try and take away my Rights.”
He also wrote: “So, let me get this straight, the Judge’s daughter is allowed to post pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in jail, the Manhattan D.A. is able to say whatever lies about me he wants, the Judge can violate our Laws and Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to talk about the attacks against me, and the Lunatics trying to destroy my life, and prevent me from winning the 2024 Presidential Election, which I am dominating? Maybe the Judge is such a hater because his daughter makes money by working to ‘Get Trump,’ and when he rules against me over and over again, he is making her company, and her, richer and richer. How can this be allowed?”
It's a claim that has been repeated – without any proof – by several Republicans including Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Eric Trump told Fox News: “His daughter is reportedly making millions and millions of dollars and reportedly has a screenshot on her, you know, social profiles of my father behind bars. “And he won’t recuse himself after voting to stop Republicans?” Eric Trump also claimed Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter had shared a picture of Trump behind bars.
It’s a claim denied by the New York Attorney’s office who told The Daily Beast: “The X, formerly Twitter, account being attributed to Judge Merchan’s daughter no longer belongs to her since she deleted it approximately a year ago. It is not linked to her email address, nor has she posted under that screen name since she deleted the account. Rather, it represents the reconstitution, last April, and manipulation of an account she long ago abandoned.”
What’s an undeniable fact is that the Merchan’s daughter is the president and partner of Authentic Campaigns, a progressive political consulting firm that has worked for Democratic candidates. Merchan and his family members have received numerous death threats since Trump was charged. Authentic Campaigns has run several Democratic-related campaigns including Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 Presidential Campaign, the Biden-Harris campaign and Adam Schiff’s super PAC.
Merchan has also worked in other roles in various marketing and communication firms and has a master’s degree in advertising from Syracuse University’s SI Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2012 and has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, business and sociology from SUNY Geneseo, a state university in New York in 2011.
Meanwhile, Judge Juan Merchan is a judge with vast experience and is overseeing several proceedings related to Trump including a tax-fraud trial against the Trump Organization, a case against Steve Bannon over allegations that he cheated thousands who paid to build a US-Mexico Border Wall.
Born in Bogota, Colombia, he immigrated to the US when he was six and is the first member of his family to attend college. Incidentally, he was well-equipped to deal with the endless rows of spreadsheets since he had worked several years as an internal auditor at a small real estate development company. He has been a jurist for 18 years and also presides over the Manhattan mental health court where participants undergo treatment with the goal of having their cases dismissed.
His handling has been praised by several experts, more so because he not only had to deal with a former President and his ever-increasing entourage of Senators and other politicians, but also the insouciant POTUS who kept on railing against those involved in the trial. Merchan actually had to impose a gag order barring Trump from speaking about the judge, families of court staffers and jurors. Incidentally, the order doesn’t prevent him from talking about Merchan or the DA Alvin Bragg.
He also had to hold Trump in contempt 10 times and fine him $10,000 and even threaten him with jail for running afoul of his ruling. While his behaviour has been unequivocally praised, defence attorney Jeffrey Lichtman felt his admonition of Trump’s lawyer Roberto Costello was a “bit-thin skinned” and an “embarrassment to the court”
Merchan has also been criticised by the media for barring them, particularly photographers. He was also criticised for asking court officers to clear the courtroom and kicking out the press which some felt was a violation both of the New York state, common law, and even the US constitution.
Incidentally, Merchan also donated $35 to Democratic causes. A report in CNN notes that Merchan contributed $15 to Biden’s 2020 Presidential bid and made two $10 contributions to Progressive Turnout Project and Stop Republicans, a subsidiary of the former.
2) Who is Alvin Bragg Jr?
The other main player was Alvin L Bragg Jr, the 37th District Attorney elected to Manhattan and its first Black DA in the history of the office. He has served as both state and federal prosecutor.
The Manhattan DA office’s profile on its website reads: “As a long-time white-collar prosecutor, Alvin believes in holding powerful people accountable for harming everyday New Yorkers. He secured a 6-count indictment against Stephen K. Bannon and WeBuildTheWall, Inc., a Florida-based not-for-profit corporation, on charges including money laundering, conspiracy, and scheme to defraud in connection with a year-long fundraising scheme that netted more than $15 million from thousands of donors across the country based on false promises.”
While the case against Trump was started by former District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr, Bragg won the Democratic primary to be the Manhattan DA in a campaign that took place amid a debate about the criminal justice system and increase in violent crime in New York City.
Bragg Jr knew well how the criminal justice system can endanger those who looked like him and even talked about the police officer in
Harlem
who held a gun to his head when he was 15 and asked him if he was dealing drugs.
Bragg was born in 1973 and grew up on 139th Street in the heart of Harlem. His mother was a maths teacher while his father worked for the New York Urban League. When he was 10, he had a bunch of teenagers hold a knife to his throat.
Bragg studied at Harvard Law School, clerked with federal judge Robert Patterson Jr and later Preet Bharara, then US attorney for the Southern District.
Bragg’s DA campaign ran on fewer prosecutions of low-level offences and an increase in prosecutions of white-collar crimes.
In 2017, he argued against a police officer who shot a youngster off-duty but ultimately the officer was acquitted. However, the Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit investigated 24 such cases under him and brought back zero convictions. Supporters however backed him saying he was fighting against a system against an adversary with “both hands tied behind his back”.
Given the historic decision, and the sentencing that’s set to come on July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention, one can expect Judge Merchan and Alvin Bragg Jr to remain in the news in the foreseeable future.
