Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday sued U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and the House GOP committee investigating his case against former President Donald Trump for an “unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack” on his office.
The Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit comes a day after the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee said it would hold a field hearing next week at the Jacob Javits Federal Building in lower Manhattan. Jordan opened an inquiry into Bragg’s Trump investigation March 20 when it became clear it was nearing an indictment.
“(Rather) than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the Committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction. Mr. Trump in particular has threatened New York officials with violent and racist vitriol,” reads an excerpt from Bragg’s suit.
The suit names former special prosecutor Mark Pomerantz as a defendant, who Bragg tried to stop from releasing a book about the confidential probe ahead of Trump’s indictment. It seeks to halt the committee from enforcing a subpoena on him to testify about the investigation on April 20.
“Chairman Jordan and the Committee have, in essence, appointed Congress as a super grand jury that can flex its subpoena power to second guess the judgment of New York citizens and interfere with the state criminal justice process,” reads an excerpt of the lawsuit.
The suit accused Jordan and his congressional allies of changing their reasons for looking into the office “as it suits them,” leading to a “scattershot hodgepodge of new purported legislative interests and purposes” to justify the “unwarranted ‘incursion’” in a state criminal case.
“Each of these is a baseless pretext for hauling Mr. Pomerantz to Washington for a retaliatory political circus designed to undermine the rule of law and New York’s police power.”
Pomerantz was appointed to head the Manhattan DA’s Trump probe in early 2021 by Bragg’s predecessor Cyrus Vance Jr. When Bragg took office, the two men quickly diverged on the strength of the fledgling case against the former president, according to Pomerantz’s book and New York Daily News sources. The issues led Pomerantz to quit the probe.
In his resignation letter, Pomerantz accused Bragg of letting Trump get away with committing numerous felonies in a “grave miscarriage of justice.” His book chronicling his work on the investigation, “People vs. Donald Trump,” divulges debates about how to charge Trump within the office and Bragg’s misgivings about the case’s now-star witness Michael Cohen.
The House GOP committee cited the revelations in Pomerantz’s book in its subpoena last week. Bragg’s lawsuit says enforcement of the subpoena could irreparably harm his office’s criminal case against Trump.
“The Judiciary Committee’s subpoena to Mr. Pomerantz marks the first time in our nation’s history that Congress has used its compulsory process to interfere with an ongoing state criminal case,” reads one of the court filings.
“The subpoena would also irreparably injure the District Attorney by, among other things, interfering with an ongoing criminal case, compromising grand jury secrecy and the attorney-client privilege, and disrupting his preparation for trial.”
Bragg’s office accused the GOP committee of acting on Trump’s behalf.
“As Mr. Trump escalated his invective against the District Attorney, his allies in Congress — working at the behest of Mr. Trump’s lawyer — stepped in to abet the campaign of obstruction and intimidation.”
The suit also makes multiple references to Trump’s online campaign against Bragg and includes screenshots of several Truth Social posts, including an article Trump posted featuring a him holding a baseball bat next to a picture of the DA. It said the office has received more than 1,000 calls and emails from Trump supporters since he wrongly predicted his arrest on March 15.
“District Attorney Bragg has received multiple death threats,”Bragg’s suit says. “In one instance, he received a package containing suspicious white powder with a note making a specific death threat against him.” The suit says the threats have been “threatening and racially charged.”
“But rather than denounce efforts to vilify and denigrate the District Attorney and the grand jury process, House Republicans are participating in those efforts,” the suit reads.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say he did to disguise an illicit “hush money” payment to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, which violated election laws.
Theodore Boutrous, a lawyer representing Bragg’s office in the suit, said the GOP committee’s attempts to interfere in the case “have absolutely no legal basis.”
“These blatantly political efforts are an affront to state sovereignty, basic constitutional principles of federalism, and the rule of law. The lawsuit we filed today aims to prevent this patently illegitimate abuse of Congress’ subpoena powers and to protect local law enforcement and state court criminal proceedings in this country against impermissible intrusions from the federal government,” Boutrous said.
In a statement, Bragg said his office “focuses on the law and the evidence, not political gamesmanship or threats.”
“We look forward to presenting our case in court to enjoin enforcement of the subpoena,” the DA said.
Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina declined comment.