Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at Florence Regional Airport in Florence, South Carolina, U.S., March 12, 2022.
Randall Hill | Reuters
The Manhattan district attorney, in an unusual statement Thursday, sought to assure the public that his criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization is continuing despite the resignations of two prosecutors who were leading that probe.
“The team working on this investigation is comprised of dedicated, experienced career prosecutors,” said DA Alvin Bragg.
“They are going through documents, interviewing witnesses, and exploring evidence not previously explored,” Bragg said.”
“In the long and proud tradition of white-collar prosecutions at the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, we are investigating thoroughly and following the facts without fear or favor.”
Bragg’s statement came two weeks after the disclosure of a letter to him by Mark Pomerantz, who with Carey Dunne, resigned in February from leading the Trump probe after Bragg reportedly told them he had doubts about indicting Trump.
“The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did,” Pomerantz wrote in that letter.
Pomerantz said those were felonies related to the “preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition,” which “were false.”
Pomerantz wrote Bragg that the DA’s decision not to seek charges against Trump, and to “indefinitely” suspend the 3-year-old probe was “contrary to the public interest.”
In his statement Thursday, Bragg said, “In recent weeks, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been repeatedly asked whether our investigation concerning former President Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization, and its leadership is continuing.”
“It is,” Bragg wrote.
He also brushed aside reports that he was allowing a grand jury that was hearing evidence in the case to lapse without bringing an indictment.
“As anyone who has worked on criminal cases in New York knows, New York County has grand juries sitting all the time,” the DA said.
Bragg also said that while he understands “the public desire to know more about our investigative steps … the law requires secrecy during an investigation.”
Bragg also said, “While the law constrains me from commenting further at this time, I pledge that the Office will publicly state the conclusion of our investigation — whether we conclude our work without bringing charges, or move forward with an indictment.”
The DA also said, that, “As a state prosecutor and a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, I successfully brought cases involving money laundering, witness tampering, mortgage fraud, official misconduct, and bribery.”
“And, I went wherever the facts took me, prosecuting two mayors, a city council member, an FBI agent, a former Senate Majority Leader, a District Attorney, and business executives.
“Indeed, litigation involving the former president himself is not foreign to me. As the Chief Deputy at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, I oversaw the successful litigation against the former president, his family, and the Trump Foundation.”
