NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump could still face criminal charges over his business dealings, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thursday, insisting in a rare statement that he would explain his final decision to the public.
“I understand the public desire to know more about our investigative steps. But, the law requires secrecy during an investigation. It is a felony in New York for a prosecutor to disclose grand jury matters. And for good reason,” said Bragg.
“Doing so can create problems for cases and investigations, the individuals involved, and the criminal justice system. It can affect witness testimony or even lead to witness tampering. Unauthorized public disclosures also potentially can affect a defendant’s right to a fair trial," Bragg said.
Because the case is still under investigation, it’s not clear exactly what charges Trump or his business might face.
But a lawyer who helped lead the investigation of the case, Mark Pomerantz, has said Trump’s “financial statements were false, and he has a long history of fabricating information relating to his personal finances and lying about his assets to banks, the national media, counterparties, and many others, including the American people.”
Pomerantz and the other lead investigator, Carey Dunne, abruptly resigned in February — and complained on their way out the door that Bragg was not seeking criminal charges.
“The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did,” Pomerantz wrote in his resignation letter to Bragg, leaked in March to The New York Times.
“I believe that your decision not to prosecute Donald Trump now, and on the existing record, is misguided and completely contrary to the public interest,” added Pomerantz, who prosecuted former Gambino crime family boss John “Junior” Gotti and other mobsters in the 1990s.
Bragg’s statement Thursday were his first remarks on the case since Pomerantz and Dunne quit the probe.
“While the law constrains me from commenting further at this time, I unequivocally 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,” Bragg added.
“In the meantime, we will not be discussing our investigative steps. Nor will we be discussing grand jury matters. In short, as we have previously said, the investigation continues.”
Sources with knowledge of Bragg’s thinking have said in recent weeks that his mind is not yet made up on the Trump case. An indictment against Trump would mark the first time a former president has been criminally charged in U.S. history.
He said seasoned investigators remain on the case. Bragg appointed Susan Hoffinger, chief of the investigation division, to take over the Trump probe when Pomerantz and Dunne quit.
“Susan has decades of experience as an assistant district attorney and a defense attorney, including New York state grand jury and trial experience, which are crucial for this investigation,” Bragg said, noting that complex white-collar investigations had been trademarks of his professional career.
The first months of Bragg’s tenure have been marked by twin controversies over the Trump prosecutors’ resignations and the new DA’s broader prosecution policies. Police unions and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell criticized Bragg for his approach to crime.
Bragg’s critics on the left, meanwhile, have accused him of bowing to political pressure and abandoning some of the progressive policies he ran on to appease critics in law enforcement.
“He’s under a tremendous amount of pressure from so many directions. Wholly unrelated to this, but the timing couldn’t have been worse for him, is the bail reform act controversies,” said David Shapiro, a former FBI agent, and professor at John Jay College.
“It’s very tough for him, so it behooves him to sort of ruffle the fewest feathers and sort of slow the pace down a bit, because there’s just too much going on right now.”
Bragg’s statement Thursday noted that as a state prosecutor and federal prosecutor he brought cases against 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,” he said.
“These experiences shape my approach and the investigative steps that the team is hard at work on. Prosecutors fulfilling their duties cannot and do not bring only cases that are ‘slam dunks.’”
Bragg said the law constrained him from commenting further but promised to inform the public of his decision.
A grand jury charged the Trump Organization and its chief financial executive Allen Weisselberg on June 30 in an indictment alleging a 15-year “audacious” tax fraud scheme. Both have pleaded not guilty.
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