The Trump Case May Come to Define Alvin Bragg. He Has Other Work to Do.
A few hours after winning a case that will forever define him, Alvin L. Bragg sent an email to his staff at the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
He did not celebrate, or describe the case in detail. He did not mention former President Donald J. Trump at all. Instead, Mr. Bragg thanked the more than 500 prosecutors in his office who were not on the trial team for their patience and hard work.
“I want to assure you that we will do everything in our power to restore normal operations as quickly as possible,” he said.
On Friday, less than 24 hours after he watched jurors announce the first criminal conviction of an American president, Mr. Bragg himself seemed to be seeking a return to normal. He returned to one of his routine trial check-ins, sitting, as he often does, in a mostly empty courtroom and listening to a police officer testify against a man accused of rape and robbery.
It was quintessential Alvin Bragg. He is allergic to milking any moment, no matter how remarkable. Since taking office two years ago, Mr. Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, has had an uneasy relationship with the spotlight, particularly when it comes to his case against Mr. Trump.
But while Mr. Bragg may strive for a return to business as usual, it will be difficult to achieve that given the outsize reaction to his momentous case. The adulation he is garnering from Mr. Trump’s political adversaries is mirrored by the invective he is receiving from the former president’s allies. Congressional Republicans have demanded he appear before them, and Mr. Trump’s allies have condemned the conviction as a politically motivated “sham.”