Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued to block US Representative Jim Jordan’s investigation of the criminal case against former President Donald Trump, calling it a “brazen and unconstitutional attack” on a local prosecution.
(Bloomberg) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued to block US Representative Jim Jordan’s investigation of the criminal case against former President Donald Trump, calling it a “brazen and unconstitutional attack” on a local prosecution.
Bragg filed suit Tuesday in Manhattan federal court against Jordan, an Ohio Republican, and the House Judiciary Committee, seeking an order blocking their investigation and a subpoena directed to Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the DA’s office. According to Bragg, Jordan and the committee he chairs lack authority under the US Constitution to oversee state criminal matters.
Read the lawsuit here
Jordan and most other congressional Republicans have raced to defend Trump, who has said he is making another White House bid in 2024, since Bragg announced his historic indictment of the former president. Trump himself has called for protests over the case and engaged in personal attacks on both the DA and the presiding judge, Juan Manuel Merchan.
In his suit, Bragg said Jordan and his fellow Republicans were participating in a “campaign of intimidation, retaliation and obstruction.” The district attorney said he’s received multiple death threats over the case.
House Republicans last week subpoenaed Pomerantz, who quit Bragg’s team last year after vigorously advocating for Trump’s prosecution.
Jordan wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena Thursday that Pomerantz contributed to “political pressure” when he resigned in frustration over Bragg’s alleged reluctance to move forward with charges at the time.
Bragg is seeking a court order declaring the Pomerantz subpoena invalid and blocking its enforcement. The DA is also asking for a judgment declaring that any attempts to subpoena him or any current or former prosecutors would also be invalid. US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil declined to enter an immediate order before hearing from Jordan and the committee. She scheduled a hearing for next week.
A spokesman for Jordan and the committee had no immediate comment on the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon. Jordan posted a message about Bragg’s suit to Twitter:
Trump pleaded not guilty last week to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged scheme to keep damaging information, including allegations of a decade-old affair by former porn star Stormy Daniels, from emerging during the 2016 election. Trump has denied the claims.
Jordan’s Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a field hearing in New York next week to consider how Bragg’s allegedly “pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime” in the city.
Bragg said in the complaint that the charges were approved by a grand jury made up of New York residents who “did their civic duty.”
“Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court,” Bragg said in the complaint. “He can avail himself of all the processes and protections that New York State’s robust criminal procedure affords.”
The case is Bragg v. Jordan, 23-cv-03032, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
–With assistance from Billy House.
(Updates with hearing scheduled in seventh paragraph.)
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