NEW YORK — An outraged Rev. Al Sharpton blasted former President Donald Trump for his baseball-bat wielding social media post aimed at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Sharpton, speaking Saturday at his Harlem headquarters, defended Bragg as an impartial prosecutor who previously opted not to impanel a grand jury to investigate the one-time resident of Trump Tower.
“For Trump not to denounce violence but in fact poses with a bat toward the guy investigating him, and then puts in writing that there would be death and destruction, those of us in this community cannot stand by and let that go any further,” said Sharpton.
“We’re going past interference now to direct threats. We should not be surprised that somebody sent an envelope with white powder ... threatening the life of the DA,” said Sharpton, referring to an envelope that had been mailed to the DA’s office at 80 Centre St. on Friday.
The envelope had a return address for “Donald Trump,” law enforcement sources told the Daily News. The letter included a note that said ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU,” followed by 13 exclamation points, sources said. The unknown substance was determined to be a bogus threat.
Bragg assembled the grand jury investigating Trump’s alleged payments of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 run for the White House. The jurors, after a week without any decision, will return this coming week to continue the investigation.
Trump hyped up his cyber-rants with warnings of “death and destruction ... catastrophic to our country” if an indictment was actually returned — and blasted Bragg as an “animal.”
“Those of us that are in this community cannot stand by and allow this to go any further,” said Sharpton. “If there is one prosecutor that I do not believe has a political agenda, it is Alvin Bragg. Have we no rules anymore?”
Sharpton led the group in a prayer for the safety of Bragg and his family in the wake of the threatening Trump postings.
“Now we see all this vitriol that is directly inciting violence,” said Sharpton. “You would think Trump would have learned from Jan. 6 not to be so incendiary. And somebody needs to remind him they are still investigating his role in Jan. 6.”
Sharpton said there was no baseball bat pictures when Bragg dropped a previous investigation into Trump, adding the envelope sent to the prosecutor was particularly ominous.
“I think it shows that somebody crazy could think they are doing right to try and harm him [or] a member of his family,” he said.
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