A former Manhattan prosecutor who investigated Donald Trump and his business wrote in a fiery resignation letter last month that he believes the former president committed “numerous” felonies.
In his letter, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times, Mark Pomerantz wrote that he opposes Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision not to seek criminal charges against Trump — at least not at this time. Pomerantz said the decision would “doom” future efforts to hold Trump accountable for potential fraud and related crimes.
Pomerantz and another senior prosecutor who resigned from the case last month, Carey Dunne, planned to charge Trump with falsifying business records, according to the Times. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“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,” Pomerantz wrote in his resignation letter. Referencing Trump, Pomerantz said the investigative team assigned to the case “harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did.”
In explaining his own decision to resign, Dunne reportedly told staff members on the case that he needed “to disassociate myself with [Bragg’s] decision because I think it was on the wrong side of history.”
Bragg has said the investigation is ongoing.
During last year’s DA election, Bragg pitched himself as a progressive prosecutor who would help resolve racial disparities in sentencing. He also vowed to continue the Trump case to the best of his ability. But it’s hard to see how his reputation can survive if he refuses to hold one of America’s most well-known, racist grifters accountable.
Bragg’s predecessor, former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, convened a grand jury last year and prepared prosecutors to indict Trump. But that was before Bragg took over. Mere months into his term as DA, Bragg reportedly blocked prosecutors from continuing to present evidence to the grand jury and voiced doubts about the case. He has voiced doubts about prosecutors’ ability to prove Trump knowingly falsified the records, the Times reported.
Despite Bragg’s doubts, there are plenty of dots to connect.
Trump’s former personal attorney and longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, served jail time for lying to Congress and breaking campaign finance law.
Yet Trump has gone unpunished.
Cohen also testified that Trump routinely inflated his assets. Those claims, central to the Bragg investigation, are supported by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office in a parallel, civil case against the Trump Organization.
It’s ironic, really: Trump has repeatedly labeled Bragg, along with other Black prosecutors in New York and Georgia, “racist” for continuing to purse charges against him.
Bragg is unique, however. He does seem to be enabling a racially disparate justice system — but contrary to Trump’s allegation, it’s not one that harms the former president. It’s a system that historically has enabled white, wealthy wrongdoers just like him.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.