This is not a good sign. Cyrus Vance left office and his successor, Alvin Bragg, has indicated that he has doubts about whether he can make the fraud case against Donald Trump stick. Isn’t that remarkable? Apparently it’s remarkable enough for two of the bulldog prosecutors who have been assigned to the case to abruptly turn in their resignations. New York Times:
The stunning development comes not long after the high-stakes inquiry appeared to be gaining momentum, and throws its future into serious doubt.
The prosecutors, Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz, submitted their resignations after the new Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, indicated to them that he had doubts about moving forward with a case against Mr. Trump, the people said.
Mr. Pomerantz confirmed in a brief interview that he had resigned, but declined to elaborate. Mr. Dunne declined to comment.
Without Mr. Bragg’s commitment to move forward, the prosecutors late last month postponed a plan to question at least one witness before the grand jury, one of the people said. They have not questioned any witnesses in front of the grand jury for more than a month, essentially pausing their investigation into whether Mr. Trump inflated the value of his assets to obtain favorable loan terms from banks.
You can see where the investigation has just stalled in the water. Maybe next it will sink, because the grand jury isn’t going to be around forever. It expires in April. It’s almost March.
Prosecutors can ask jurors to vote to extend their term, but generally avoid doing so. They also are often reluctant to impanel a new grand jury after an earlier one has heard testimony, because witnesses could make conflicting statements if asked to testify again.
And without Mr. Dunne, a high-ranking veteran of the office who has been closely involved with the inquiry for years, and Mr. Pomerantz, a leading figure in New York legal circles who was enlisted to work on it, the yearslong investigation could peter out.
Isn’t that simply grand. The only thing here to be devoutly wished is that this in no way impacts on the attorney general’s investigation.
Whether this situation in the D.A.’s office can reverse course, nobody knows, but plenty of people are disgusted.
It’s been acknowledged that the case is a difficult one to make criminally. Trump didn’t put a lot of things in writing. However, look at the fact that two of the prosecutors believe so strongly that it CAN be made, that they’re willing to resign over it.
Something stinks.
I would be most interested to hear NY AG Letitia James’ opinion on this.
The state AG can’t do much about the local DA.
I seem to recall that Vance got a nice campaign donation from the Trmp company right about the time he dropped that case.
True, but I’d certainly give a penny for her thoughts on this guy basically saying, “Nothing to see here.”.
You’re…being…played. Specifically, by NYT and WaPo, who, if you look close enough at the articles, used the same kind of “sourcing” as a now-long-forgotten-and-disproven article about how Trump was “off the hook” right before Weiselberg got indicted. While something prompted them to resign, there are other reasons than the knee-jerk ones everyone is assuming.
Always subject such sketchy articles to the John LeCarre Test: what is the most mundane but plausible thing that just happened? Your nervous system and stomach will thank you.
I’m beginning to think that when the mango maniac actually dies, he’ll come back to life and we’ll be stuck with his zombie carcass forever. Dear gawd, make it stop!