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There’s no shortage of ongoing investigations surrounding Donald Trump, but among the most notable was launched by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. In fact, New York City prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into the former president’s controversial financial practices, including the alleged inflating and deflating of his assets as part of a possible fraud scheme.
Earlier this year, however, the district attorney’s office changed leadership: Cy Vance, who initiated the investigation, stepped down, and was succeeded by Alvin Bragg, who took the reins in January. A month later, the Trump-related investigation appeared to be in trouble: Two prosecutors resigned.
Speculation in legal and political circles soon followed. Did Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz walk away because the case wasn’t as strong as Trump’s critics believed?
Evidently, no, that wasn’t it. CNBC reported this week:
One of two top prosecutors who resigned over the Manhattan district attorney’s alleged decision to stop heading toward indicting former President Donald Trump for crimes said in a bombshell resignation letter that Trump was “guilty of numerous felony violations.” ... Pomerantz confirmed the details of the letter in a call with CNBC on Thursday morning but declined further comment, saying “I think the letter speaks for itself.”
It certainly says a lot. The New York Times reported this week that Pomerantz not only concluded that the former president committed multiple felonies, he also wrote that he considered it “a grave failure of justice” not to hold the Republican accountable.
In case anyone needs a refresher, let’s not forget that Pomerantz has a unique background. He was, after all, in private practice before the district attorney’s office recruited him to help oversee the Trump investigation, in part because of his relevant experience: Pomerantz was an accomplished organized crime prosecutor.
And after spending a year examining the former president’s financial practices, Pomerantz came to believe that Trump could be charged, prosecuted, and convicted.
“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,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
Pomerantz added, “The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did.”
As my MSNBC colleague Ja’han Jones noted yesterday, the former prosecutor went on to argue that Bragg’s apparent decision not to seek criminal charges against Trump would “doom” future efforts to hold the Republican accountable for potential fraud and related crimes.
What I’m especially curious about now is why, exactly, this resignation letter has reached the public. Obviously, someone leaked it, but the person’s motivations are not immediately obvious.
If the goal was to pressure the new Manhattan district attorney into pursuing charges he’s reluctant to file, the coming weeks and months will be worth watching closely.