Alvin Bragg Sues Jim Jordan Over Trump Case Meddling
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sued House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in an effort to stop Republicans for meddling in his case against former President Donald Trump. The New York Times was the first to report the suit.
Bragg and Jordan have been exchanging attacks as the latter has attempted to use his seat atop the House Judiciary Committee to disrupt the former’s investigation into Trump. Bragg’s office charged Trump with 34 counts of felony falsification of business records related to a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump pleaded not guilty last week.
In the suit filed Tuesday, Bragg calls Jordan’s tactics — which have included subpoenas and, most recently, an announcement that the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on crime in New York next Monday — “brazen and unconstitutional,” and as well as a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack.”
“Congress has no power to supervise state criminal prosecutions,” Bragg writes in the suit, adding that Jordan’s subpoena threatens the “sovereign powers of the States, confidence in the secrecy of grand jury proceedings, and the integrity of an ongoing criminal prosecution.”
Jordan responded by arguing the contrary. “First, they indict a president for no crime. Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it,” he wrote on Twitter.
The suit seeks to prevent Jordan from enforcing subpoenas related to Bragg’s investigation. Jordan subpoenaed former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz last week, alleging Pomerantz was “searching for any basis on which to bring criminal charges” against Trump. Bragg was not happy. “The House GOP continues to attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation,” his office wrote in response. “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.”
Bragg went after Jordan again on Monday after Jordan announced that he’s going to hold a Judiciary Committee hearing on Bragg’s “pro-crime, anti-victim policies” in Manhattan next Monday.
“Don’t be fooled, the House GOP is coming to the safest big city in America for a political stunt,” Bragg’s office wrote, noting that the murder rate in New York City is three times lower than that of Columbus, Ohio, and that if Jordan truly cared about public safety he should take a drive to his home state.