Alvin Bragg’s Legal Move Raises Republican Eyebrows

Outrage is erupting over Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s decision to drop charges against dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters who barricaded themselves inside a building at Columbia University in April.

Bragg, best known for his recent successful criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump, initially charged 46 of the protesters with misdemeanor trespass in the third degree following their arrest during an April 30 police raid on Columbia’s then-occupied Hamilton Hall.

Stephen Millan, a prosecutor working in Bragg’s office, told a New York court on Thursday that charges against 32 of the protesters—including 30 students and two Columbia staffers—would be dropped due to lack of evidence in identifying the suspects, according to Reuters.

Charges against another 13 defendants remained active after they refused to accept a deal that would have seen the charges dropped if they were not arrested for any other reason during a period of six months. Criminal mischief and arson charges also remain against one suspect who is not affiliated with Columbia.

Doug Cohen, spokesperson for Bragg’s office, said in an email to Newsweek on Thursday night that Bragg was “continuing to pursue cases” stemming from Columbia and City College of New York protests, “including all assaults against police officers.”

Cohen also noted that “there are ongoing school disciplinary proceedings for the students who had their case dismissed.”

Regardless, Trump supporters raged at the dropped charges on social media, claiming that Bragg is unwilling to prosecute “actual” criminals and characterizing the prosecution of the former president as an injustice. Some also suggested that Bragg was antisemitic.

“Lunatic D.A. Alvin Bragg drops all charges against the vile, anti-Semitic protesters who illegally seized the building at Columbia University,” talk radio host Mark Simone wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “The Anti-Semocrats who run New York will always continue to encourage this kind of bigotry and hatred.”

“Trump – filed the wrong sex paperwork / 34 felonies!” conservative writer Scott Jennings posted. “Vandals and terrorist sympathizers – meh, go about your business.”

“It was Alvin Bragg’s office that dropped the charges against the criminals who took over Hamilton Hall btw,” wrote @AGHamilton29. “Impossible to ignore the fact that his office pursues political vendettas while giving actual criminals a pass.”

“Fat Alvin Bragg has dropped trespassing charges against nearly all Columbia University protesters,” @PamelaHensley22 wrote. “Bragg doesn’t prosecute criminals. He only prosecutes his political opponents.”

“Alvin Bragg,@ManhattanDA, drops charges against 31 of 46 anarchists arrested for barricading themselves in Hamilton Hall @Columbia,” lawyer Gerard Filitti wrote. “For lack of evidence. That they were trespassing. In a building they barricaded themselves in.”

“Well, he IS a @Harvard_Law grad,” he added. “Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. Birds of a feather and all that. It’s time for @TheJusticeDept to step in and protect our civil rights.”

“Terrible result. I wrote about what these people believe and what they’re trying to do,” conservative academic Steven McGuire posted while arguing that “the student intifada” is “full of radical revolutionaries who want to destroy Israel” and sharing an opinion article that he wrote.

While most reactions on social media were from Trump supporters or other conservatives touching on the political implications of the non-prosecutions, some Jewish activists suggested that it would encourage more demonstrations mimicking the Columbia protest.

Michael Nussbaum of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York denounced the decision as “turnstile justice,” telling The New York Post that it amounted to “a green light for chaos” and “a green light for destroying property.”