Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has filed a lawsuit in the court of the Southern District of New York against House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).
The lawsuit states that Bragg is bringing this action in response to the “unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of former President Donald J. Trump.”
The suit was filed on the same day that Jordan, as part of his investigation into an alleged politically motivated “weaponization” of the justice system, announced he plans to hold a field hearing in New York City on April 17 to discuss “victims of violent crime in Manhattan.”
To that, a Bragg aide countered, “If Chairman Jordan truly cared about public safety, he could take a short drive to Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron, or Toledo, in his home state, instead of using taxpayer dollars to travel hundreds of miles of his way.”
The lawsuit against Jordan claims that starting on March 20, the Congressman “began a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack District Attorney Bragg, making demands for confidential documents and testimony from the District Attorney himself as well as his current and former employees and officials.”
It adds, “Two days after Mr. Trump was arraigned on 34 felony counts in New York State Supreme Court, Chairman Jordan and the Committee served a subpoena on Mark Pomerantz, a former Special Assistant District Attorney who participated in an investigation of Mr. Trump and his businesses.”
Jordan’s was one of three Republicans-led House committees that issued a subpoena demanding testimony from Pomerantz.
Pomerantz had previously led the investigation into former President Trump’s role in hush money payments made amid the 2016 Presidential election—the case around which Trump has now been charged with 34 felony counts. Pomerantz stepped down last year after Bragg initially declined to pursue charges against Trump.
“Chairman Jordan claims he is seeking to conduct ‘oversight,’” Bragg’s lawsuit goes on. “But he has no power under the Constitution to oversee state and local criminal matters. By definition, then, he has no legitimate legislative purpose for issuing this subpoena” that Bragg asserts “threatens the sovereign powers of the States, confidence in the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, and the integrity of an ongoing criminal prosecution. This Court should enjoin its enforcement.”
Jordan has left open the possibility of subpoenaing Bragg, which the District Attorney’s own lawyers reportedly are moving to prevent.
