The U.S. Army has not arrested New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg

What is the claim?

A Facebook user named Michael Moxon, notorious for spreading misinformation, shared a screenshot of an article (post archived here) headlined: "Alvin Bragg Arrested."

The article was originally published on the Real Raw News website on June 29, 2024 (archived here). The article claims that the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) of the U.S. Army arrested the District Attorney of New York County, Alvin Bragg, on the charges of treason and election interference. The article also claims that Bragg had been missing and the person pretending to be him from then till his arrest was his "body double." The article attributed all these details to alleged sources. This was later picked by posters on other platforms, such as Rumble (archived here) and X (formerly Twitter) (archives here and here). 

Alvin Leonard Bragg Jr. is the District Attorney (DA) of New York County. He was appointed attorney in 2021. Bragg is leading the indictment charges against former U.S. President Donald Trump for allegedly falsifying New York business records to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election.

Screenshots of the social media claim (Source: Facebook/X/Modified by Logically Facts).

What did we find?

There are no credible news reports about Bragg's arrest. Similarly, neither the U.S. Army CID nor the Manhattan court released any statement about the arrest. 

Bragg has been arguing cases in the Manhattan court since he was supposedly arrested. The latest statement from his office on July 9, 2024, was about Bragg indicting a person for the severe abuse of a 14-year-old puppy. Similarly, his office issued regular statements about indictment charges he led in the court (here and here). His official X account, too, has been active with updates about his recent work.

According to the CID, "Army CID civilian accredited Special Agents and supervisors are authorized to arrest civilians with and without a warrant, on or off a military installation, for violations of federal law." However, the CID clearly states, "In the U.S. Military, Special Agents do not have arrest authority over civilians." 

Similarly, according to the Posse Comitatus Act, the U.S. Military cannot participate in civil law enforcement unless authorized to do so by an Act or the Constitution, according to a report by the Brennan Centre for Justice, a non-profit organization based at the School of Law at the New York University (NYU).

The claim originated from the Real Raw News website, which claims "to bring to light topics often ignored by others." The site's "About Us" disclaimer states that its content includes "humor, parody, and satire." However, no distinct disclaimer differentiates its satirical pieces from "educational" ones. An analysis by Logically Facts previously found that the website regularly publishes misinformation and conspiracy theories, often citing "anonymous sources." 

The verdict

An article from the Real Raw News was used to falsely claim that the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Army arrested the District Attorney of New York County, Alvin Bragg. Therefore, we mark this claim as false.