On Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a lawsuit against Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, asking a court to block elements of the congressional inquiry into his case against former President Donald Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty last week to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to his role in hush money payments made toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
Bragg called the GOP’s inquiry an “unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack” of an ongoing investigation, and said in the suit that allowing Jordan’s demands would cause “imminent irreparable harm if the secret and privileged material is compelled to be disclosed.” Bragg’s suit asked the court to block Jordan’s subpoena of former Assistant DA Mark Pomerantz. Jordan has requested that Pomerantz to sit for a deposition as part of the Judiciary panel’s investigation into the indictment of Trump.
Bragg said in a statement Tuesday: “Chairman Jordan’s subpoena is an unconstitutional attempt to undermine an ongoing New York felony criminal prosecution and investigation. As our complaint details, this is an unprecedented, illegitimate interference by Congress that lacks any legal merit and defies basic principles of federalism.” The lawsuit from Bragg is the culmination of an ongoing dispute between Bragg and Jordan, who issued the subpoena to Pomerantz two days after former President Trump was charged with 34 felony counts. Bragg said that Jordan was attempting to “undermine” the criminal case against Trump by seeking Pomerantz’s testimony.
In response, Jordan tweeted that the lawsuit attempts to block congressional oversight: “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.”
A federal judge in New York has scheduled an April 19 hearing for Bragg’s lawsuit.
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