Congressional Republicans have subpoenaed Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor who quit District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in a dispute over how to charge former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chair of the House Judicial Committee, whipped off a letter Thursday demanding that Pomerantz explain why he left Bragg’s team months before the historic indictment of Trump on charges tied to hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Even though Pomerantz wanted Trump to face more serious charges, Jordan cryptically asserted that his resignation casts doubt on Bragg’s later decision to file lesser charges.
“Pomerantz’s public statements about the investigation strongly suggest that Bragg’s prosecution of President Trump is politically motivated,” the committee said in a statement.
Pomerantz, who wrote a book about his squabble with Bragg, did not immediately respond to the subpoena. He previously told Jordan he would not appear voluntarily, citing instructions from Bragg not to discuss the ongoing criminal case against Trump.
Ironically, Jordan last year defied a congressional subpoena for his own testimony before the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The staunch supporter of former President Trump, who admits talking to Trump as the violence unfolded, derided that subpoena as a political side show.
Jordan and his GOP allies are seeking to put Bragg on the hot seat for what they consider to be a political witch hunt aimed at Trump.
Trump himself has attacked Bragg as an “animal” and calls his wife a “Trump-hating lunatic.” The former president has also lashed out at Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over his trial.
The lawmakers have asked Bragg to testify as well and hand over documents about the Trump probe. But he refused, accusing them of improperly seeking to undermine a legally sound local prosecution.
Pomerantz and another senior prosecutor were brought onto the Trump probe by Bragg’s predecessor, former Manhattan DA Cy Vance.
Vance says federal prosecutors during Trump’s presidency told him to “stand down” on the case, which included the hush money payments as well as a sweeping alleged pattern by Trump and his company of fraudulently under- and overvaluing assets.
After Trump left office, Vance ordered investigators to start building a case against Trump. Pomerantz said he decided to proceed with the sprawling financial case.
When Bragg won election to replace Vance, he questioned whether the evidence was strong enough to win a conviction of Trump.
He instead decided to move ahead first with the more self-contained hush money case. That prompted Pomerantz to resign in a huff and pen the book that criticized Bragg for not having the steel to take on Trump.
Bragg slammed Pomerantz, saying the book could undermine the ongoing probe of Trump.