New Prosecutor Takes Over Trump Fraud Case

Susan Hoffinger will now lead the Manhattan DA's team in probe after 2 high-profile resignations
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 23, 2022 4:47 PM CST
Updated Feb 26, 2022 11:15 AM CST
Prosecutors Quit Trump Fraud Investigation
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks to supporters in New York.   (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Update: After the resignation this week of two top prosecutors in Manhattan district attorney's criminal investigation of Donald Trump's business practices, a new prosecutor has stepped up to lead the probe. A spokesperson for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced Friday that Susan Hoffinger, who has served in Bragg's office since February as the executive assistant DA and chief of investigations, will now head up the investigation, per Reuters. Hoffinger had worked previously in the Manhattan DA's office in the 1990s. Sources told the Washington Post earlier this week that Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz, the two prosecutors who resigned, had done so because they didn't feel Bragg was interested in pursuing the case against Trump. "Not true," a Bragg spokeswoman said Thursday, adding: "The investigation remains ongoing" with "the strong team that is in place." Our original story from Wednesday follows:

The future of the Manhattan district attorney's investigation of Donald Trump's business practices is starting to look very uncertain. Danielle Filson, a spokesperson for DA Alvin Bragg, tells NBC that two top prosecutors involved with the case have resigned. Sources tell the New York Times that Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz submitted their resignations after Bragg signaled that he had doubts about moving forward with the criminal case. Bragg was sworn in to replace Cyrus Vance Jr. on Jan. 1 and there has been little activity in the case over the last month, though a parallel civil investigation from New York Attorney General Letitia James' office has been gathering steam.

"The investigation is ongoing," Filson tells CNN. "We can't comment further." The presentation of evidence to a grand jury in the DA's case has been on hold for a month and plans to have a witness testify were postponed because of Bragg's doubts, according to the Times' sources. The term of a special grand jury convened in the case expires in April, and the Times predicts that the case might "peter out" without the involvement of Dunn and Pomerantz. After he was elected last year, Bragg said it was "obviously a consequential case" and he would focus on it personally.

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As in the civil case, the DA's office is investigating whether Trump inflated the value of his assets to get better terms from lenders—but there is a higher burden of proof in the criminal case. The Supreme Court ordered Trump to hand over his tax returns and financial records to prosecutors a year ago, but the case has been complicated by accounting firm Mazars' decision to drop Trump—and by the failure to secure the cooperation of Trump Organization chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, who was indicted on tax-related issues last year, along with the organization. (Trump has accused prosecutors of racism.)

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