'It's a righteous case': Manhattan prosecutors clashed with new DA over Trump criminal investigation

[UCmeNdc]

In an extensive deep dive into what happened in the Manhattan district attorney's office that led two seasoned lawyers investigating Donald Trump to resign, the New York Times is reporting it came after a series of contentious meetings with the newly-elected DA butting heads with the attorneys.

Weeks after lawyers Mark F. Pomerantz and Carey R. Dunne made a public announcement that they were resigning, the Times is now reporting on a meeting in January where new DA Alvin Bragg and some of his associates questioned whether there was a case at all after months of investigations.

As the Times is reporting, "Mr. Bragg and his senior aides, masked and gathered around a conference table on the eighth floor of the district attorney’s office in Lower Manhattan, had serious doubts. They hammered Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne about whether they could show that Mr. Trump had intended to break the law by inflating the value of his assets in the annual statements, a necessary element to prove the case," before adding that an "exasperated" Dunne finally fired back, "Wow, this was a really hot bench. What I’m hearing is you have great concerns.”

The Times report adds, "The meeting, on Jan. 24, started a series of events that brought the investigation of Mr. Trump to a sudden halt, and late last month prompted Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne to resign. It also represented a drastic shift: Mr. Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., had deliberated for months before deciding to move toward an indictment of Mr. Trump. Mr. Bragg, not two months into his tenure, reversed that decision."

https://www.rawstory.com/manhattan-prosecutors-trump-investigations-news/

[PatSeg]

1. So, Trump just accidentally inflated the value

of his properties over and over again, while accidentally devaluing the same properties for tax purposes?

Something really stinks.

[Celerity]

3. +10000000000000000

[Celerity]

2. Alvin Bragg sounds like he is going to let that berk Rump off the hook yet again

[cilla4progress]

4. Bragg sounds like he may be

wholly owned.

[PatSeg]

6. Sure does sound like it

What would it take to prove Trump INTENTIONALLY broke the law?

Edit to add from Wikipedia: "An insider source said that Bragg's interest in case appeared distracted, and he was said to have been checking his cell phone during meetings with his assistant prosecutors, allegations his spokesperson denied."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Bragg

[SergeStorms]

11. Probably checking.....

to see if the money transfer had hit his offshore account yet.

[PatSeg]

13. Yeah, that thought occurred to me as well

Given his history, I really can't think of any other reasonable explanation. Well that or some kind of blackmail.

[elias7]

5. Have to show intent to break the law to prove the case?

That’s quite a back door for really, anybody. Forget that he screwed your state out of millions of dollars with his PATTERN of unintentionally inflating values when useful and deflating values when useful. It was all a lucky accident for the Donald. How coincidental!

[Silent3]

14. Funny how the laws that affect more ordinary people don't have that escape hatch

Like, oh, just having a certainly quantity of a drug in your possession is automatically considered "intent to sell", without anyone caring one bit about your "state of mind" or your actual intentions.

But fuck around with lots of money, or power and authority you're supposed to be wielding responsibly... well, gosh, didja really, really mean to do something bad?

[BlueIdaho]

7. Time to do a deep dive into Mr. Bragg's

Personal finances…

[C_U_L8R]

12. If paid in Rubles, you may need a microscope

[UTUSN]

8. Oh good grief.

[alwaysinasnit]

9. TFG has already bragged, on national TV, about tax evasion.

https://www.bustle.com/articles/186209-the-history-of-donald-trump-bragging-about-tax-evasion-is-a-testament-to-his-entitlement

During Monday night's presidential debate, when Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton claimed that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had not paid federal taxes, he interrupted her and said, "That makes me smart." Clinton was initially speaking about how Trump had not released his tax records until he tried to open a casino, and claimed that it was then revealed that he had not been paying federal taxes on his fortune. It is extremely telling of his attitude toward alleged tax evasion that rather than deny it, he interrupted her with the flippant remark.

snip...

[Scrivener7]

10. Aaaaaand the can is kicked again.

35 years since I first knew of a crime that man committed. He put a family friend out of business by not paying him, just because he could get away with it using his Roy Cohn tactics.

And he's been committing bigger and more destructive crimes ever since.

And as far as I know, he has paid for none of them.

He has to have some godfather protecting him in NYC political circles. They ran Vance off, they're running this guy off.

[SoonerPride]

15. Trump will never face Justice

Just need to stop hoping for that.

It ain’t happening.

[Meowmee]

16. I knew it, knew something like this would most likely happen