A six-month grand jury formed in 2021 to hear evidence against former President Donald Trump is due to expire this week.
The ending of the grand jury with no charges brought against Trump indicates that the criminal investigation launched by Democratic prosecutors in New York into the 45th president is “fizzling out,” The Washington Post reported.
Former New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. believed Trump could be found guilty of crimes related to manipulating property values for tax advantages and beneficial loan rates. The six-month grand jury was convened in November as part of the investigation.
However, the probe dragged on until the end of Vance’s term with no charges brought against Trump.
The case would eventually fall into the hands of Vance’s successor, Alvin Bragg, who had to decide whether to complete the presentation of evidence to the jury and request a vote on the charges.
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Bragg chose to pause the process, the Post reported.
One of the issues facing Bragg was whether to use former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen as a witness.
Bragg reportedly does not have much faith in Cohen, a convicted felon who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, violating campaign finance rules, providing false information to a bank and lying to Congress.
“Mr. Bragg’s decision not to indict and prosecute [Trump] is an error that will tarnish his time in office and career,” Cohen said Friday, according to the Post.
Will Trump be indicted?
Prosecutors Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz, who resigned from the investigation in February, said Bragg was stalling the probe.
“The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did,” Pomerantz wrote in his resignation letter, according to The New York Times.
“There are always additional facts to be pursued,” Pomerantz’s letter stated.
“But the investigative team that has been working on this matter for many months does not believe that it makes law enforcement sense to postpone a prosecution in the hope that additional evidence will somehow emerge.”
“I and others believe that your decision not to authorize prosecution now will doom any future prospects that Mr. Trump will be prosecuted for the criminal conduct we have been investigating.”
Braggs said the investigation is still underway and he will announce when it is complete.
The DA noted that even if the six-month jury expires, there are other grand juries that could take over.
