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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy the NY case against Trump unraveled
By Ben Protess, William K. Rashbaum and Jonah E. Bromwich
March 5, 2022
Updated 1:10 p.m. ET
On a late January afternoon, two senior prosecutors stood before the new Manhattan district attorney, hoping to persuade him to criminally charge the former president of the United States.
The prosecutors, Mark F. Pomerantz and Carey R. Dunne, detailed their strategy for proving that Donald J. Trump knew his annual financial statements were works of fiction. Time was running out: The grand jury hearing evidence against Mr. Trump was set to expire in the spring. They needed the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, to decide whether to seek charges.
But Mr. Bragg and his senior aides, masked and gathered around a conference table on the eighth floor of the district attorneys 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.
The questioning was so intense that as the meeting ended, Mr. Dunne, exasperated, used a lawyerly expression that normally refers to a judges fiery questioning:
Wow, this was a really hot bench, Mr. Dunne said, according to people with knowledge of the meeting. What Im hearing is you have great concerns.
Mr. Bragg, whose office is conducting the investigation along with lawyers working for New Yorks attorney general, Letitia James, had not taken issue with Mr. Dunne and Mr. Pomerantz presenting evidence to the grand jury in his first days as district attorney. But as the weeks passed, he developed concerns about the challenge of showing Mr. Trumps intent a requirement for proving that he criminally falsified his business records and about the risks of relying on the former presidents onetime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, as a key witness.
Mr. Cohens testimony, the prosecutors leading the investigation argued, could help to establish that Mr. Trump was intentionally misleading when he exaggerated the value of his properties. The financial statements Mr. Trump submitted to banks to secure loans documents that say Donald J. Trump is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the valuations could also support a case.
Mr. Bragg was not persuaded. Once he told Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne that he was not prepared to authorize charges, they resigned. Explaining the resignation to his team of prosecutors in a meeting a day later, Mr. Dunne said he felt he needed to disassociate myself with this decision because I think it was on the wrong side of history.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/nyregion/trump-investigation-manhattan-da-alvin-bragg.html
C_U_L8R
(44,894 posts)by accident?
KPN
(15,587 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)And how many square feet his own apartment contained. Oh, its not 30,000 sf? Its only 10,996? Who knew.
panader0
(25,816 posts)uponit7771
(90,225 posts)... like they DOJ is doing with Mosby.
This is some bullshit
onethatcares
(16,133 posts)to make us think the wealthy are liable for their words and deeds.
fuckin "fitzmas" "Muellergate" "NewYorkTaxDodge"
there is no equal justice under the law, it's a scam against the people.
Sewa
(1,242 posts)They love to say let the states charge him with crimes. 💀🤙
uponit7771
(90,225 posts)... they've brought a paper case against Marilyn Mosby for less than 100k !!!
gab13by13
(20,864 posts)I believe one of them argued before the SC to get Trump's taxes.
I have no idea what Bragg's credentials are?
I mean if Bragg has dropped the case he should come out and say so because that is an argument that trump is using to not give a deposition to Letitia, and Bragg needs to release the resignation letter so we know why they resigned.
JohnSJ
(91,957 posts)XacerbatedDem
(511 posts)brush
(53,471 posts)they don't stand behind the claims on trump's documents. In other words, trump's claims are a bunch of lies. Seems that should've been the capper on the whole case.
Something is up with the new DA, just in office two months he hasn't had time to get through but a fraction of the five million pages of docs on the case.
Something stinks.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)work against nailing someone like trump.
gab13by13
(20,864 posts)over Dunne's and Pomerantz'? Why?
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)The other two sound like a couple of youngsters who dont see the big picture.
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)Just stop hoping thats going to happen.
It aint.
Budi
(15,325 posts)My fking god.
Meanwhile some poor guy writes a hot check to cover his rent & he's prosecuted.
raging moderate
(4,281 posts)And his family is homeless!
Meanwhile, the Trump family does whatever they please, with impunity!
Budi
(15,325 posts)Guess it'll be in the headline if something finally happens, & till then I'm moving on from NY State vs Trump.
They've showed us nothing but media clicks & celebrity.
Maybe somewhere on down the line someone will actually do what their credentials claim.
Tadpole Raisin
(972 posts)are now in jail.
Jeez the older I get the more I realize lawyers can take any side of a case and make it seem valid. Especially the SC, where those 3 new members are turning into pretzels explaining their ridiculous rulings which take voter rights away.
Budi
(15,325 posts)Tadpole Raisin
(972 posts)Tadpole Raisin
(972 posts)These guys only seem to want slam dunk cases. Personally I think it is the difference between the rich and the poor defendant and their corresponding lawyers.
They got Weinstein so I dont want to hear their BS and those other 2 lawyers were skilled white collar crime guys. Im just disgusted.
Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)You know the concerns you have when you want to take the coward's way out. I am willing to concede it will be a hellacious undertaking but I don't think Bragg has the balls or character to do it.
hamsterjill
(15,214 posts)Something many of us have been screaming at the top of our lungs about on DU and continually being told it takes a while to build a solid case.
Bullshit! Theyre all being bought off by somebody. Wonder who???!!! Trump belongs in leg irons!
Leith
(7,802 posts)How long until the confident ones who just know that all good things will come our way come in here to explain why this is exactly what should happen?
hamsterjill
(15,214 posts)There will be some valid explanation, Im sure and we will be told we dont know what we are talking about because things take time!!! Well as these attorneys explained, time IS running out.
So frustrated because Trump has proven he is above the law and evidently there is no one who can hold him accountable. If this were you or I, or if it were Hillary or Obama, they would already have been tried, convicted and hanged.
Chainfire
(17,305 posts)they would have to prove my intent before prosecuting me for tax fraud?
Trump will never see the inside of a court room. There are very powerful people who just won't allow it to happen. All of this legal circus is to keep us entertained, nothing more. Our country has gotten to the point where the legal system only applies to the small fish. There are two kinds of laws; those that protect the rich and those that harass the poor. I guess that is considered balance on the scales of justice.
RocRizzo55
(980 posts)Bragg has been threatened, paid off, or both.
Thats how I see it.
hamsterjill
(15,214 posts)n/t
Buckeyeblue
(5,491 posts)Trump would claim witch hunt. It would make it hard for any other prosecutor to charge him with anything else.
If you are going to charge an ex-president it better be a slam dunk.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)ForgedCrank
(1,723 posts)but good criminals don't leave enough evidence to be prosecuted. I suppose that ass falls into this category?
I have to admit though, I don't know enough details about the case to even speculate on whether or not this course of action is valid or not. I know it's dumb to file charges when you can't prove them, I just don't know if this falls to that level or not.
Hopefully the two that resigned will say more on this matter in the future so we know the details.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)spanone
(135,635 posts)Will we hear the same from Garland?
radius777
(3,624 posts)is really what it boils down to... ways that don't require us to prove an individual's intent but to simply infer their intent based upon a pattern of behavior.
There was a time when mobsters found ways to skirt the law until RICO came about which took a more comprehensive view of their actions.
Remember, Trump and his family got away with illicit behavior for decades in a deep blue city/state. So this is not just about red vs blue, but up vs down. Those who are rich, connected and white can basically get away with anything. Epstein only faced justice when society (metoo etc) finally decided it had enough.
rockfordfile
(8,682 posts)Dirty Socialist
(3,248 posts)PRIVILEGE has is benefits!