Alvin Bragg accused Jim Jordan of investigating the House

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New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks after former US President Donald Trump appears in the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, following his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury following an investigation into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in New York City, April 4, 2023.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block a House Judiciary Committee subpoena issued last week to a former prosecutor who played a key role in Bragg’s criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump.

Bragg’s suit escalates a battle that began when Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and other Trump allies in the House recently opened an inquiry into the DA’s prosecution of Trump.

The suit calls that inquiry an “unprecedented and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of former President Donald J. Trump.”

The complaint, filed in US District Court in Manhattan says “Congress has no power to regulate state criminal prosecution.”

“Nor does Congress have the power to serve subpoenas ‘for the personal aggrandizement of investigators or to punish those under investigation.’ “

The suit names as defendants Jordan, the Judiciary Committee and Mark Pomerantz, who resigned last year from Bragg’s office as a special assistant DA.

Pomerantz and another prosecutor resigned after Bragg indicated he would not pursue charges against Trump over false statements about valuations of real estate assets owned by the Trump Organization.

Jordan and the committee served Pomerantz with a subpoena last week, two days after Trump was arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on a grand jury indictment alleging 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The prosecution is related to a $130,000 hush-hush payment made by then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

The subpoena seeks to compel Pomerantz to testify at an April 20 deposition.

Bragg’s suit says the subpoena, and Jordan’s other requests for information, “requested highly sensitive and confidential local prosecution information belonging to the District Attorney’s Office and the People of New York.”

“Fundamental principles of federalism and common sense, as well as existing Supreme Court precedent, prohibit Congress from requiring this,” the suit said.

Jordan quickly responded to Bragg in a tweet.

“First, they’re accusing a president of no crime,” Jordan wrote. “Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask about federal funds they say they used to.”

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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