This week, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a lawsuit against House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan in an effort to block Republicans’ demands that witnesses testify before Congress and produce documents related to the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Trump’s indictment sparked widespread condemnation by Republicans, and the back-and-forth between Jordan and Bragg highlights how aggressively the GOP has defended the former president against an effort it claims is politically driven. The House investigation, ultimately, is a means to find some evidence that the indictment is a political attack, to defuse its severity, and to distract voters from the charges.
Bragg’s lawsuit follows ongoing attacks Republicans have made on this case. In early April, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money that was paid to former porn performer Stormy Daniels.
Ahead of the indictment, Jordan and two other Republican committee chairs sent Bragg a letter requesting his testimony and demanding documents tied to the Trump investigation. Bragg’s office responded to that letter defending his work, and argued at the time that there was no place for federal lawmakers to interfere in a New York state criminal case.
Since the indictment came down, Jordan has intensified his investigation into Bragg’s case against Trump, and issued a subpoena to Mark Pomerantz, a former senior prosecutor who worked in the DA’s office and who has expressed disagreement about how some aspects of the case were handled. The GOP alleges that Pomerantz declined to voluntarily participate, following guidance from the New York DA’s office not to do so.
Bragg’s lawsuit aims to counter what he describes as a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” his office and its charges against the former president. Specifically, the lawsuit seeks to stymie the subpoena for Pomerantz, and to block Republicans from…
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