Democrat voters torch Bragg over Trump indictment: 'Concentrating on the wrong thing'
A bipartisan panel of voters joined 'Fox & Friends' to discuss their reaction to the charges against former President Donald Trump.
Democrat voters are pushing back against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over the indictment of Donald Trump, as he continues to face bipartisan scrutiny surrounding the strength of his case against the former president.
Trump was arraigned at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. He was formally indicted by a grand jury last week.
Amid the fallout over the unparalleled indictment, Bragg has faced extensive condemnation from both sides of the political aisle, with critics accusing him of weaponizing the law for political purposes.
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Democrat voter Sammy Ravelo, who is also a former police officer, ripped Bragg for dedicating DA resources to the case against Trump during "Fox & Friends," all while crime continues to cripple Big Apple streets.
"My whole thing is they found the worst prosecutor in America to prosecute Trump because Alvin Bragg would not prosecute a Black on Black crime or Latino-Latino crime… He'll set those guys free," Ravelo told Ainsley Earhardt on Wednesday. "In the meantime, he goes after a former president."
"This is a tragedy for America right now. We should not be celebrating," he continued.
The indictment, which hinged on Bragg's years-long investigation of the former president, roots itself in alleged hush-money payments made before the 2016 presidential election.
These include the $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both women were paid for their silence on alleged affairs with Trump — affairs Trump has repeatedly denied.
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Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The FEC also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
"I think we're concentrating on the wrong thing and that this may backfire," Ravelo said later in the show.
Marissa Caro-Cortese, another Democrat voter, echoed Ravelo's sentiment. She argued that although she is "not a fan" of the former president, she was "expecting more" with the charges.
"Enough is enough already," she said. If we're going to start pinpointing politicians for all of their business affairs, looking deeper into things that they've done in the past, we need to investigate all of them. He's not the first person who's done this."
"Again, I'm not defending him. I would never defend President Trump, but I feel like there's a lot of distraction going on, and we need to just get away with this and focus on the real issue," she continued.
Despite the previous decisions opting against pursuing the case, Bragg said his office obtained "additional evidence" that altered the investigation's trajectory.
"We have a distinct and strong, I would say, profound independent interest in New York state," Bragg said during a post-arraignment press conference Tuesday. "This is the business capital of the world. We regularly do cases involving false business statements. The bedrock, the basis, for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is true and accurate recordkeeping. That's the charge that brought here: falsifying New York state business records."
Nonetheless, his critics have been quick to note what many call a double standard on Bragg's handling of violent criminals vs. the former president.
Last year, more than half of felony arrests were downgraded to misdemeanors under Bragg's watch, according to the FOX BrainRoom. This was a 13% spike from the year before.
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Additionally, only half of felony cases resulted in a conviction last year, which is an 18% reduction from the year before.
Dominick Ciccarelli, an independent voter, accused the district attorney of being motivated by politics, arguing everyday Americans care more about other issues facing their families.
"Alvin Bragg has spent his entire career keeping criminals out of jail, so it's impossible for me to believe that this is not politically driven," Ciccarelli said. "The American people care about hush money with Stormy Daniels just as much as they care about Bill Clinton and Paula Jones' sexual harassment settlement cases."
"What the American people care about is presidents becoming richer during their presidencies and becoming presidents, and maybe political figures, to line their own pockets," he continued. "And America really, I think, is grateful for Trump for putting America first and pushing hard for America and coming out almost less wealthy than he did when he came in because he sacrificed… his personal life supporting the country."
Trump is not due in court again until December.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.