William Shakespeare wrote: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Is something rotten in the city of New York? According to a highly prominent attorney who quit in protest of the Manhatten Attorney General’s probe into Donald Trump, Trump is guilty of numerous felonies. Now the clamor is beginning to find out more about why Trump was seemingly given a free pass.
The New York Times:
One of the senior Manhattan prosecutors who investigated Donald J. Trump believed that the former president was “guilty of numerous felony violations” and that it was “a grave failure of justice” not to hold him accountable, according to a copy of his resignation letter.The prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, submitted his resignation last month after the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, abruptly stopped pursuing an indictment of Mr. Trump.
Mr. Pomerantz, 70, a prominent former federal prosecutor and white-collar defense lawyer who came out of retirement to work on the Trump investigation, resigned on the same day as Carey R. Dunne, another senior prosecutor leading the inquiry.
Mr. Pomerantz’s Feb. 23 letter, obtained by The New York Times, offers a personal account of his decision to resign and for the first time states explicitly his belief that the office could have convicted the former president. Mr. Bragg’s decision was “contrary to the public interest,” he wrote.
“The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did,” Mr. Pomerantz wrote.
Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne planned to charge Mr. Trump with falsifying business records, specifically his annual financial statements — a felony in New York State.
I voted for Alvin Bragg believing he'd be the veteran prosecutor we need in Manhattan. I now regret that vote.
Bragg owes us either an explanation for why he shut down the Trump investigation — or a resignation.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) March 24, 2022
No question anymore. Bragg stopped indictment of Trump. He must explain. And, I want to hear from Pomerantz.https://t.co/RurR6qEFJa
— Jill Wine-Banks (@JillWineBanks) March 24, 2022
Alvin Bragg is corrupt. he needs to be investigated.
— Armando (@ArmandoNDK) March 23, 2022
"No doubt."
Professional prosecutors don't use those words lightly. https://t.co/9MmH2BF3uC
— George Conway? (@gtconway3d) March 23, 2022
I guess one of the deals Trump made with NYC when he reopened Wollman rink was that he gets to skate for life. @ManhattanDA
— NoelCaslerComedy (@caslernoel) March 24, 2022
The only words I want to hear from @ManhattanDA are 1) we put on the brakes because of an ongoing parallel federal criminal probe or 2) I resign.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) March 24, 2022
??? @ManhattanDA has a LOT of explaining to do. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW, MR. BRAGG. pic.twitter.com/UJXc7vgiT1
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) March 23, 2022
New York City is going to demand an explanation for why @ManhattanDA Alvin Bragg, within weeks of assuming office, overrode both his predecessor and line prosecutors, who had all concluded Donald Trump was guilty of multiple felonies and decided to prosecute him.
— Robert J. DeNault (@robertjdenault) March 23, 2022
Either Bragg is a complete incompetent, OR he passed the case to SDNY for a federal case. There were two years of grand juries, witnesses, lives upended, it was a huge case. Pomerantz is a $1500 an hour lawyer who gave it up to prosecute. Bragg owes us an explanation
— Sandi Bachom (@sandibachom) March 24, 2022
The Mark Pomerantz resignation letter to Alvin Bragg is actually a bit of good news (no really). It’s the first official confirmation that the Manhattan DA’s office has Trump nailed on felonies. Now we just have to figure out what the hell’s going on with it.
— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) March 24, 2022
.@AlvinBraggNYC could indict a lifelong top to bottom fraud & conman—something the leading prosecutors said was a winnable case w numerous crimes involved—yet he reversed Cy Vance’s approval of indictments. Bragg must fully explain this or resign immediately. Nefarious & bizarre.
— Spiro Agnew’s Ghost ?????? (@SpiroAgnewGhost) March 23, 2022
PHOTO: Dreamstime
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.