Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Tuesday over the GOP’s alleged interference in his prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Bragg says a probe by Mr. Jordan, of Ohio, into the Manhattan district attorney’s office’s prosecution of the former president is a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” its work.
“Congress has no power to supervise state criminal prosecutions,” stated Mr. Bragg’s complaint, filed in federal court in New York. “Nor does Congress have the power to serve subpoenas ‘for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to punish those investigated.’”
Mr. Jordan dismissed the lawsuit as a further attempt to shield the indictment of the former president from scrutiny.
“First, they indict a president for no crime,” Mr. Jordan tweeted. “Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it.”
The lawsuit marks the latest in a tense back-and-forth between Mr. Bragg’s office and the House GOP, ignited by the former president’s grand jury indictment on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records.
SEE ALSO: Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg in the hot seat as Rep. Jim Jordan plans field hearing on crime
Mr. Jordan announced that his panel will hold a field hearing in New York City to address “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan.” The hearing, scheduled for Monday, is expected to scrutinize whether Mr. Bragg’s social justice reform measures are linked to increased violent crime in the city.
According to a GOP spokesman for the Judiciary Committee, House Republicans hope to schedule a series of similar hearings across the country in cities with liberal district attorneys, often elected with the help of well-funded campaign PACs that include large donations from billionaire leftist activist George Soros.
Last week, Mr. Jordan subpoenaed Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in Mr. Bragg’s office who worked on the hush money investigation of payments to former porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Pomerantz wrote a book about the Trump inquiry in which he said he quit the probe because Mr. Bragg was reluctant to bring charges.
Mr. Pomerantz and another prosecutor, Carey Dunne, oversaw the hush money investigation and pushed for criminal charges against Mr. Trump. Last month, Mr. Pomerantz released a book arguing that criminal charges were warranted and former District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. had authorized him to pursue Mr. Trump’s indictment.
Mr. Jordan last month requested Mr. Pomerantz testify before the panel. In response, Mr. Pomerantz’s attorney said his client would not cooperate in the investigation at the direction of Mr. Bragg‘s office.
Mr. Bragg issued a fiery statement accusing House Republicans of “an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation [that was] interfering in an ongoing criminal matter in state court.”
“Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law,” he said.
Mr. Jordan has also demanded testimony from Matthew Colangelo, a former Justice Department official with a history of investigating Donald Trump, who was hired by Mr. Bragg in the lead-up to the hush money indictment of the former president.
Mr. Jordan says details behind Mr. Bragg’s decision to hire Mr. Colangelo would “shed substantial light on the underlying motives for that office’s investigation into and indictment of President Trump.”
Mr. Colangelo left the Justice Department when he was tapped by Mr. Bragg in December to focus on “the office’s most sensitive and high-profile white-collar investigations.”
Before joining the Justice Department, Mr. Colangelo served as a lawyer on the New York attorney general’s civil inquiry into the Trump Foundation.
“Given your history of working for law-enforcement entities that are pursuing President Trump and the public reporting surrounding your decision to work for the New York County District Attorney’s Office, we request your cooperation with our oversight in your personal capacity,” Mr. Jordan wrote in a letter to Mr. Colangelo on Friday.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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