Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Tuesday, calling the Ohio Republican’s inquiry into the prosecution of former President Donald Trump “an unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack” on a local criminal case.
The lawsuit ratcheted up the conflict between Bragg, a Democrat, and Republican defenders of Trump, including members of Congress, in what could become a constitutional showdown over the responsibilities of the branches of government.
Bragg indicted Trump on 34 felony counts of filing false business records in his alleged $130,000 hush-money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump pleaded not guilty a week ago.
Jordan, R-Ohio, has demanded answers from Bragg about the case, which three House Republican chairmen called politically motivated. Jordan also subpoenaed a former prosecutor in Bragg’s office, Mark Pomerantz, who has written a book about his time in the office.
But Bragg said Jordan’s inquiry interfered with his criminal case in the first such congressional effort in history.
U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil declined Tuesday to enter a restraining order against the subpoena. She set an April 17 deadline for Jordan to respond in writing and an April 19 hearing for oral arguments in the case.
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Bragg lawsuit: Jordan trying to ‘interfere’ with criminal justice system
The lawsuit characterized Jordan’s committee as casting Congress as a “super grand jury” to “second guess the judgment of New York citizens and interfere with the state criminal justice process.”
The lawsuit asserts Trump’s rhetoric before and after his indictment has prompted threats and Republican lawmakers to launch a campaign of retaliation. Bragg’s office received more than 1,000 calls and emails from Trump’s supporters, including death threats and a package containing a suspicious white powder, according to the lawsuit.
“These statements have had a powerful effect,” the lawsuit said. “But rather than denounce efforts to vilify and denigrate the District Attorney and the grand jury process, House Republicans are participating in those efforts.”
Bragg’s lawsuit calls out Trump allies including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for allegedly stoking extreme responses to the case against Trump that echoed calls for demonstrations before Jan. 6, 2021.
The lawsuit compares Trump’s call for protests to his arrest as bearing “a striking resemblance to the December 19, 2020, tweet in which he urged his supporters to protest after he lost the 2020 presidential election: ‘Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!'”
The lawsuit seeks to block Jordan’s subpoena of Pomerantz, which Bragg said seeks “highly sensitive and confidential local prosecutorial information.” Bragg said basic principles of federalism, common sense and Supreme Court precedent should forbid Congress from demanding the information.
Exhibits accompanying the lawsuit included a Pomerantz letter dated March 27 to Jordan saying that Bragg’s office “instructed me not to provide any information or materials in response to your request.”
Leslie Dubeck, Bragg’s general counsel, had written that instruction in a March 25 letter to Pomerantz because of “significant concerns about federalism, state sovereignty, the limits on congressional power and the purpose and legality” of the committee’s inquiry.
Jordan contends Bragg trying to avoid oversight
Jordan replied to the lawsuit on Twitter, saying Bragg was trying to avoid oversight.
“First, they indict a president for no crime,” Jordan said. “Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it.”
His committee scheduled a hearing Monday in New York to review crime statistics in the city.
Recap:Trump charged with 34 felony counts in hush-money case, lashes out at DA Alvin Bragg
Bragg’s lawsuit says Jordan sought to interrogate Pomerantz about the Trump case, which he called “no less an affront to state sovereignty than subpoenaing the District Attorney himself.” Though Jordan said he is conducting oversight, “he has no power under the Constitution to oversee state and local criminal matters,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit called the subpoena unique and likely to interfere irreparably with the case.
“The Judiciary Committee’s subpoena to Mr. Pomerantz marks the first time in our nation’s history that Congress has used its compulsory process to interfere with an ongoing state criminal case,” the lawsuit said. “The subpoena would also irreparably injure the District Attorney by, among other things, interfering with an ongoing criminal case, compromising grand jury secrecy and the attorney-client privilege, and disrupting his preparation for trial.”
Trump is charged with falsifying business records after his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, testified he directed the payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 election.
Bragg charged that the falsification was linked to violations of state and federal campaign law, which elevated the charges from misdemeanors to felonies.
