New York may be on the verge of ending its efforts to criminally prosecute Donald Trump and his wider Trump Organisation for the allegations of bank fraud and other misdeeds his business is accused of committing over the years.
ABC News reported on Wednesday that the grand jury empaneled last year by Manhattan’s district attorney will not be extended by the current DA, Alvin Bragg. Mr Bragg is reported to have doubts in the case’s strength.
According to ABC, the grand jury hasn’t even heard any evidence since January, when Mr Bragg took office.
“The team working on this investigation is comprised of dedicated, experienced career prosecutors. They are going through documents, interviewing witnesses, and exploring evidence not previously explored,” Mr Bragg said in a statement through his office earlier in April. “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.”
His office declined to comment on the latest report, which ABC News reported citing multiple sources.
Mr Trump has long derided the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal trial as a “witch hunt”, and treated it with the same ridicule which he has shown for state Attorney General Letitia James’s investigation into potential civil violations.
Ms James’s investigation is nearing its end, a senior counsel with Ms James’s office told a judge this week, while pointing to a few key pieces of evidence her office still wished to obtain.
The judge held Mr Trump in contempt on Monday for ignoring a subpoena for that information at the penalty of a $10,000-per-day fine. The former president has appealed that ruling.
The senior counsel in Ms James’s office, Kevin Wallace, described the finances of Mr Trump’s real estate business as a “Russian nesting doll” in court this week.
"The company relies more on its people than its systems," he added.
In more recent and increasingly unhinged statements the former president has accused Ms James’s office of targeting him because he is white; Ms James herself is Black.
“[T}he racist and highly partisan Attorney General of New York State, failed Gubernatorial candidate Letitia James, should focus her efforts on saving the State of New York and ending its reputation as a Crime Capital of the World, instead of spending millions of dollars and utilizing a large portion of her office in going after Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization,” wrote Mr Trump in his Easter message to the media and supporters.
