Feb. 23 (UPI) — Two prosecutors heading a criminal probe by the Manhattan District Attorney into former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization resigned on Wednesday.
Prosecutors Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz submitted their resignations after new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicated he had doubts about moving forward with the case, The New York Times reported.
Danielle Filson, a representative for Bragg confirmed the two prosecutors had left the investigation into whether Trump inflated the value of his assets to obtain favorable loan terms from banks.
“We are grateful for their service,” she said, adding she could not comment further and that “the investigation is ongoing.”
Dunne presented separate tax-related charges against former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in July and had served as Vance’s general counsel.
Pomerantz, a former federal prosecutor, was recruited from private practice to help lead the investigation and was working the case without taking a salary.
The pair’s resignation comes amid a month-long pause in their presentation of evidence to a grand jury convened by Vance in the fall before his term ended and he chose not to seek re-election.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has an active, parallel civil probe into Trump’s business practices and may provide alone with the civil lawsuit.
However, her office had hoped Bragg and his team would be more aggressive than Vance had been on the case and is disappointed in his lack of interest, The Washington Post reported, citing a person briefed on the criminal probe.
Trump has disputed the allegations that he inflated his property values or defrauded lenders and accused Bragg and James, both of whom are Black and Democrats, of being “racists” who are politically motivated.
“I’ve been representing Donald Trump for over a year in this case. and I haven’t found any evidence that could lead to a prosecution against him, or any crimes,” Trump lawyer Ronald P. Fischetti said.
“I hope Mr. Bragg will now look again at all the evidence in the case and make a statement that he is discontinuing all investigation of Donald Trump.”
Also Wednesday, Weisselberg and the Trump Organization asked a New York court to dismiss the criminal fraud charges that say he underreported income and failed to pay certain taxes for 12 years, which came as a result of the Manhattan probe.
Weisselberg was accused of enriching himself and other Trump Organization executives.
In separate court filings Tuesday, Weisselberg and the organization argued that the charges are politically motivated and should be dismissed.
Weisselberg contends that the tax fraud charges also violate immunity that he was given for cooperation in the federal investigation of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
Attorneys for the former Trump Organization chief financial officer argue that some of the charges involve offenses that are now outside the statute of limitations. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
The indictment last July did not accuse former President Donald Trump of wrongdoing.
Accounting firm Mazars USA earlier this month cut ties with Trump’s business and said that a decade of financial statements it prepared for the Trump Organization should not be relied upon.
Weisselberg’s attorneys also contended that some of the charges are past the statute of limitations — and that New York prosecutors can’t charge him for failing to pay taxes on $1.7 million in income between 2005 and 2017 because they involved federal, not state, taxes.
Prosecutors were expected to respond to the motion within a few weeks.
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