The New York Times reports that Mark Pomerantz, the Manhattan prosecutor who resigned in abject frustration when he was informed that the new D.A., Alvin Bragg, would not be pursuing charges against Donald Trump, even though Pomerantz felt that charges were warranted.
In the letter, Pomerantz says:
"As you know from our recent conversations and presentations, I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations of the Penal Law in connection with the preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition. His financial statements were false, and he has a long history of fabricating information relating to his personal finances and lying about his assets to banks, the national media, counterparties, and many others, including the American people. The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did.
In late 2021, then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance directed a thorough review of the facts and law relating to Mr. Trump’s financial statements. Mr. Vance had been intimately involved in our investigation, attending grand jury presentations, sitting in on certain witness interviews, and receiving regular reports about the progress of the investigation. He concluded that the facts warranted prosecution, and he directed the team to present evidence to a grand jury and to seek an indictment of Mr. Trump and other defendants as soon as reasonably possible."
So the former D.A, Cy Vance, ALSO THOUGHT PROSECUTION WAS WARRANTED. What changed? Well, a new D.A. came to town and he decided that nope, nothing to see here. Shut it all down.
Pomerantz did not mince words, saying: "I believe that your decision not to prosecute Donald Trump now, and on the existing record, is misguided and completely contrary to the public interest. In my view, the public interest warrants the criminal prosecution of Mr. Trump, and such a prosecution should be brought without any further delay."
Pretty blunt. But Bragg clearly was unmoved. Pomerantz even made the point that the crimes allegedly committed occurred before Trump was President, saying: "The great bulk of the evidence relates to his management of the Trump Organization before he became President of the United States."
He ended with: "I fear that your decision means that Mr. Trump will not be held fully accountable for his crimes. I have worked too hard as a lawyer, and for too long, now to become a passive participant in what I believe to be a grave failure of justice. I therefore resign from my position as a Special Assistant District Attorney, effective immediately."
As a reminder, Mark Pomerantz is a well respected former federal prosecutor who actually came out of retirement to work on this specific investigation in the Manhattan D.A.'s office. At the time that the investigation was effectively ended, it came to light that there was disagreement between the prosecutors and the new D.A as to whether "prosecutors could prove that Mr. Trump knowingly falsified the value of his assets on annual financial statements." Pomerantz and Dunne, the other prosecutor who resigned, felt "confident that the office could demonstrate that the former president had intended to inflate the value of his golf clubs, hotels and office buildings."
Twitter had a strong response to the letter:
Now that the letter is public, let's see if anything happens.
