Show strength and prosecute 

To the editor:

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, is a cowardly political operative who refuses to do his job, most importantly, he refuses to prosecute the leader of an attempt to overthrow our government, Donald J. Trump.  

The prosecutors who wanted to prosecute Trump thought Bragg decided it was too risky to indict Trump, and was fearful that he might lose the case.  

When former D.A. Cyrus Vance Jr. had asked retired prosecutors Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne to work on the prosecution of Trump for numerous crimes, he had empaneled a grand jury and handed Bragg the prosecutors and evidence he needed to bring a criminal case before the grand jury.  

When Bragg let the grand jury expire without any attempt to go after Trump, Pomerantz and Dunne quit the office in disgust. Bragg said his office is still investigating Trump (he has successfully prosecuted the Trump organization), but few believe he has any intention of prosecuting the former president.  

Pomerantz said that the view of the investigative team under Vance was that Trump clearly committed crimes but the challenge was fitting his misconduct within the pigeonholes of the New York Penal Law.  

A main witness against Trump, former Trump consigliere Michael Cohen, has stated emphatically that he is no longer willing to testify in the case due to Bragg’s timidity.  

Hopefully, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other prosecutors, including Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney, will have more interest in protecting American democracy and will prosecute Trump, a man for whom treason is a virtue.  

Michael J. Gorman