NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision not to seek an indictment against Donald Trump was “misguided and completely contrary to the public interest,” said a prosecutor who probed the ex-president for almost three years.
Mark Pomerantz made the stunning declaration in his resignation letter to Bragg on Feb. 23 that was published Wednesday by the New York Times.
Attorney Mark Pomerantz in 2004. Pomerantz, a prosecutor who had been leading a criminal investigation into Donald Trump before quitting last month, said in his resignation letter that he believes the former president is “guilty of numerous felony violations” and he disagreed with the Manhattan district attorney’s decision not to seek an indictment. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
“I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations of the Penal Law in connection with the preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition,” Pomerantz wrote Bragg.
The “Penal Law” is New York’s state criminal code.
“His (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,” the letter said.
“The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did.”
The DA’s office doesn’t comment on active investigations but said Pomerantz’s departure did not signal the end of the probe.
“The investigation continues. A team of experienced prosecutors is working every day to follow the facts and the law,” said Danielle Filson, Bragg’s chief spokeswoman.
“There is nothing we can or should say at this juncture about an ongoing investigation.”
Bragg took office Jan. 1. His predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., hired Pomerantz to head the probe into Trump and his real estate business as a special assistant district attorney in early 2021.
Pomerantz said Vance was “intimately involved” in the probe and had concluded before leaving office that the facts warranted prosecution.
Pomerantz, a veteran white-collar criminal lawyer, resigned in February, as did Carey Dunne, another special assistant district attorney working on the Trump case.
Pomerantz said he and Dunne decided to quit when Bragg made clear he saw the case differently than Vance had.
“The investigation has been suspended indefinitely. Of course, that is your decision to make. I do not question your authority to make it, and I accept that you have made it sincerely,” Pomerantz wrote Bragg.
“However, a decision made in good faith may nevertheless be wrong. 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. I therefore cannot continue in my current position.”
Pomerantz spent hundreds of hours questioning Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, who’s testified before the grand jury hearing evidence against Trump 15 times.
Cohen started cooperating with the DA while serving a three-year sentence on campaign finance violation charges at the Otisville Correctional Institution.
Cohen told the Daily News he felt “extremely disappointed” that Bragg halted an indictment against Trump.
“I stated before the world during my House Oversight Committee hearing – I did more than just affirm the belief – I provided irrefutable, documentary evidence on the topic,” Cohen said.
“Had they put me on the stand, it is a belief of Pomerantz, Dunne, and myself that he would have been convicted.”
Pomerantz, Dunne, and Vance did not immediately respond to The News’ request for comment.
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