Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., a veteran prosecutor overseeing a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump, said Friday that he wont seek reelection, opting against a primary fight with progressive candidates who say hes a relic and not a reformer.
Vance made the announcement in a memo to staffers, ending months of speculation about his future and almost certainly guaranteeing itll be a brand-new D.A. who sees the Trump case through. His term expires at the end of the year.
Vance, a Democrat, counted Harvey Weinsteins conviction a year ago among his crowning achievements but faced withering criticism over other high-profile cases, including dropping charges against French financier Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011 and declining to prosecute Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. over fraud allegations in 2012.
I never imagined myself as District Attorney for decades like my predecessors. I never thought of this as my last job, even though its the best job and biggest honor Ill ever have. I said twelve years ago that change is fundamentally good and necessary for any institution, Vance, 66, said in a written statement.
His decision not to seek reelection was widely anticipated, but he held off on making it official while the U.S. Supreme Court weighed whether his office could obtain Trumps tax records. The court ruled in Vances favor last month.
Some of the Democrats campaigning to replace Vance want to slash the offices budget, cut staff and skip prosecutions for a wider range of low-level offenses. Eight candidates are on the ballot for the partys June primary, an election likely to decide Vances successor because Manhattan is so heavily Democratic.
As D.A., Vance ended most marijuana possession and turnstile jumping prosecutions, slashing the cases handled by his office by nearly 60%, to about 42,000 in 2019. He embraced diversionary programs for first-time offenders and established a unit to remedy wrongful convictions.
The Supreme Court ruling on Trumps taxes was a capstone for Vances tenure as district attorney, ending an 18-month fight with Trumps lawyers and bolstering a grand jury investigation that has drawn worldwide attention.
Vances investigation includes examining whether Trump or his businesses lied about the value of assets to gain favorable loan terms and tax benefits, and hush-money payments paid to women on Trumps behalf.
Vance will lead that probe through the end of this year with his general counsel, Carey Dunne, who made appeals court arguments on the offices behalf. He recently hired former mafia prosecutor Mark Pomerantz to assist in the probe.
The Trump case will likely be an early test for the next district attorney. And in the short term, legal observers say, Vances announcement could hasten the departure of prosecutors whove been loyal to him and wont want to work for his successor.
The candidates have avoided speaking directly about the Trump matter, saying they didnt want to prejudge an ongoing investigation.
Whats really important is that if theres a case or if its just an investigation thats pretty far along that itd be left in the hands of somebody who knows what theyre doing, whos competent, whos experienced, who has judgment and who doesnt think politically, said Daniel R. Alonso, Vances former chief assistant district attorney and now a partner at Buckley LLP.
Vances successor will be just the fourth elected district attorney in Manhattan in the past 80 years. Frank Hogan served for 31 years. Robert Morgenthau, under whom Vance served as an assistant district attorney, was in office for 34 years, until he was 90.
Its one of the most high-profile prosecution jobs in the world, dramatized on TVs Law and Order and Blue Bloods. The district attorney oversees a staff of 500 lawyers and has a budget of about $125 million.
A separate forfeiture fund bankrolled by Wall Street settlements and worth more than $800 million is used for grants to criminal justice and community organizations and big initiatives, such as testing backlogged rape kits.
Vance, whose father was President Jimmy Carters secretary of state, ran as a death penalty opponent and positioned himself as a criminal justice innovator, taking interest in national and global efforts to prevent cyberattacks, gun violence and the theft of artwork and antiquities.
After making a campaign pledge to re-examine the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, a 2012 tip led to a new suspect and ultimately a conviction.
Weinsteins conviction in a landmark #MeToo case last year boosted Vances lagging legacy, giving him a career-defining win in a tenure clouded by concerns that he repeatedly gave powerful people special treatment.
They included sidestepping an effort to pursue charges against Weinstein in 2015 and striking a deal in 2016 so well-connected gynecologist Robert Hadden could avoid prison for allegedly sexually abusing patients. Vances office reopened the Hadden case amid public outcry last year, and the doctor was indicted on federal charges.
(AP)
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