WATCH: NBC News Reporter Confronts Bragg About Previous DA and Feds Not Pursuing Charges Against Trump

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was confronted by NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake about the indictment brought against former President Donald Trump, asking why both Bragg’s predecessor and federal prosecutors had declined to pursue these charges.

The ex-president was arraigned Tuesday for a 34-count indictment that accuses him of directing hush money payments to cover up three scandalous stories, two relating to alleged extramarital affairs and one about an alleged out-of-wedlock child. The indictment and statement of facts describe how former Trump attorney Michael Cohen allegedly orchestrated the payments in a “catch and kill” scheme to prevent the stories from being published before the 2016 presidential election. Cohen pled guilty for his role in the scheme, served time in prison, and has since turned on Trump, publicly criticizing him and testifying against him, both in Congressional hearings and at the grand jury.

After being processed and informed of the charges against him Trump pled not guilty to all 34 counts. He is expected to make a public statement Tuesday evening after he returns to Mar-a-Lago.

Bragg’s predecessor, former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, had reportedly investigated Trump for similar potential crimes, but did not pursue charges before leaving office. In an interview Sunday with Meet The Press anchor Chuck Todd, Vance said that he had been asked by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York to “stand down” on their investigation into the Trump Organization, and urged Todd’s viewers to “be patient and to wait” until the indictment was made public.

Tuesday afternoon, after Trump was arraigned and the indictment was released, Bragg spoke briefly and then answered questions from reporters.

One reporter asked about previous comments Bragg had made early in his tenure as DA where he expressed reservations about the case.

He replied that when he made those comments, the investigation “was not concluded,” and “since that time, we’ve had more evidence made available to the office and an opportunity to meet with additional witnesses.”

“As I said earlier, I’ve been doing this for 24 years,” Bragg emphasized. “I don’t bring cases prior to a thorough and rigorous investigation. Now having done so, the case has been brought.”

Haake then introduced himself and asked Bragg about Vance and the federal prosecutors not bringing a case.

“Your predecessor took a hard look at this case and decided not to charge it, federal prosecutors took a hard look at this case and  decided not to charge it — do you believe you have new evidence that led to you to decide to charge this, or why now?” asked Haake.

“As I just mentioned, we’ve had available to the office additional evidence that was not in the office’s possession prior to my time here,” replied Bragg.

Regarding the federal issues, Bragg argued that there was a “distinct and strong, I would say profound, independent interest in New York State” because it was “the business capital of the world.”

“We regularly do cases involving false business statements,” he added. “The bedrock, in fact, the basis for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is true and accurate record-keeping — that’s the charge that’s brought here, falsifying New York State business records.”

Watch above via MSNBC.