Manhattan DA sues Rep Jordan over Trump indictment inquiry
Published:Wednesday | April 12, 2023 | 1:09 AM
NEW YORK (AP):
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued Rep Jim Jordan on Tuesday, an extraordinary move as he seeks to halt a House Judiciary Committee inquiry that the prosecutor contends is a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” him over his indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Bragg, a Democrat, is asking a judge to invalidate subpoenas that Jordan, the committee’s Republican chair, has issued or plans to issue as part of an investigation of Bragg’s handling of the case, the first criminal prosecution of a former US president.
US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee who previously served as a federal bankruptcy court judge, declined Tuesday to take immediate action on the lawsuit. She scheduled an initial hearing for April 19 in Manhattan, the day before the committee plans to question, under subpoena, a top former prosecutor who was involved in the Trump probe.
Bragg’s lawsuit, a forceful escalation after weeks of sparring with Jordan and other Republican lawmakers in letters and media statements, seeks to end what it says is a “constitutionally destructive fishing expedition” that threatens the sovereignty and integrity of a state-level prosecution.
“Congress lacks any valid legislative purpose to engage in a free-ranging campaign of harassment in retaliation for the District Attorney’s investigation and prosecution of Mr Trump under the laws of New York,” the lawsuit says, citing the lack of authority in the Constitution for Congress “to oversee, let alone disrupt, ongoing state law criminal matters”.
In response, Jordan tweeted Tuesday: “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.”
The Judiciary Committee recently issued a subpoena seeking testimony from a Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor who previously oversaw the Trump investigation and sparred with Bragg over the direction of the probe before leaving the office last year. Pomerantz, who has declined to cooperate with the committee, is under subpoena to testify at a deposition on April 20 unless Vyskocil intervenes. The committee has also sought documents and testimony from the DA’s office but Bragg has rejected those requests.