Radical Manhattan DA Still Looking for the Strawberries Trump Allegedly Stole

The Caine Mutiny is considered one of the finest films ever made. It made the American Film Institute’s top 100 films and was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1954, including Best Picture.

The scene where Captain Philip Francis Queeg (played brilliantly by Humphrey Bogart) tells his court-martial jury about an incident involving “missing” strawberries is often cited as one of the greatest scenes in Hollywood history.

Queeg began ranting about the officers on board being his enemies.

But they encouraged the crew to go around scoffing at me, and spreading wild rumors about steaming in circles, and then old yellow-strain. I was to blame for Lt. Maryk’s incompetence and poor seamanship. Lt. Maryk was the perfect officer, but not Captain Queeg. Ah, but the strawberries, that’s, that’s where I had them, they laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, with geometric logic, that a duplicate key to the ward room icebox did exist, and I’ve had produced that key if they hadn’t pulled the Caine out of action. I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officer.

The point being, there never were any missing strawberries. The cook had confessed to Captain Queeg to eating them. But Queeg turned the ship upside down looking for something that didn’t exist and that he knew didn’t exist.

It appears that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a radical who was elected with the assistance of the George Soros network, is having the same trouble with the prosecution of Donald Trump.

For three years, Bragg and his predecessor, Cyrus Vance, Jr., have been trying to prove that Donald Trump inflated the value of his holdings, thus fraudulently receiving loans from New York banks. Needless to say, Bragg hasn’t come up with much. Indeed, his two leading prosecuting attorneys, Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz, resigned after Bragg indicated he had doubts about proceeding with the case.

The New York Times seemed a bit perplexed at the time.

Without Mr. Bragg’s commitment to move forward, the prosecutors late last month postponed a plan to question at least one witness before the grand jury, one of the people said. They have not questioned any witnesses in front of the grand jury for more than a month, essentially pausing their investigation into whether Mr. Trump inflated the value of his assets to obtain favorable loan terms from banks.

Seemingly on the verge of dropping the case altogether, Bragg has breathed new life into the investigation — for no apparent reason.

There have also been questions about the timing of the grand jury. As anyone who has worked on criminal cases in New York knows, New York County has grand juries sitting all the time.

There is no magic at all to any previously reported dates.

The team working on this investigation is comprised of dedicated, experienced career prosecutors. They are going through documents, interviewing witnesses, and exploring evidence not previously explored. In the long and proud tradition of white-collar prosecutions at the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, we are investigating thoroughly and following the facts without fear or favor.

Bragg is claiming secrecy in not disclosing why he felt it was necessary to give a statement to the press confirming he was still hounding Trump. But the previous two months have seen his closest allies — radical Democrats in New York — turn on him.

But citing grand jury secrecy rules, Mr. Bragg declined to provide details on the new steps in the investigation, which has focused on whether Mr. Trump committed a crime in inflating the value of his hotels, golf clubs and other properties. And it remains unclear whether Mr. Bragg and his prosecutors have found a productive new route in the investigation, which has already spanned more than three years.

For Mr. Bragg, a series of interviews on Thursday as well as the release of a lengthy formal statement represent an attempt to quell the intense criticism he has faced over his handling of the high-stakes investigation into the former president.

If the New York Times hasn’t been able to wrangle any leaks from Bragg’s office on Trump’s wrongdoing after three years, it’s almost a certainty that none exists. What’s more, Bragg probably knows no evidence exists but is continuing the investigation anyway.

Captain Queeg would be proud.