The Manhattan DA charged Rep. Jim Jordan for questioning the Donald Trump case in the Chicago Tribune

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Rep. Jim Jordan on Tuesday, a rare move as he tries to stop a House Judiciary Committee inquiry that prosecutors say 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 quash subpoenas that Jordan, a Republican who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has or plans to issue as part of an investigation into Bragg’s handling of the case, the first criminal prosecution of a former US president.

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Braggs’ lawsuit, a sharp 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 sanctity of a prosecution at the state level.

Congress lacked any valid legislative purpose to engage in an independent campaign of harassment in retaliation for the District Attorney’s investigation and prosecution of Mr. Trump under New York laws, the lawsuit says, citing a lack of Constitutional authority for Congress to oversee, ignore, disrupt, ongoing state law in criminal matters.

In response, Jordan tweeted on Tuesday: First, they are accusing a president of no crime. Then they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask about federal funds they say they used to.

The Judiciary Committee recently issued a subpoena seeking testimony from a former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, who once oversaw the Trump investigation and sparred with Bragg over the direction of the investigation before leaving office last year. The committee also sought documents and testimony from Bragg and his office. Bragg refused those requests.

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing in Manhattan on Monday about crime in New York City and what it says are Braggs’ pro-crime, anti-victim policies. The DA’s office, however, points to statistics showing that violent crime in Manhattan has dropped since Bragg took office in January 2022.

In response, Bragg said that if Jordan, who is from Ohio, really cared about public safety, he would travel to some of the major cities in his home state, where crime is reportedly higher than New York.

Bragg is represented in the lawsuit by Theodore Boutrous, a prominent First Amendment attorney who has also represented Trumps estranged niece, Mary Trump, in legal battles with her famous uncle. The case has been assigned to US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee who previously served as a federal bankruptcy court judge.

Bragg, in his lawsuit, said he was taking legal action in response to an unprecedented frivolous and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution. and investigations into former President Donald J. Trump.

Trump was indicted on March 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations that he had affairs with out of wedlock He denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment last week in Manhattan.

Republicans were complaining against Bragg even before Trump’s indictment.

Jordan issued a series of letters and subpoenas to individuals involved in the case. Pomerantz declined to voluntarily cooperate with the committees’ request last month at the direction of Braggs’ office, citing the ongoing investigation.

Jordan sees Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, who were the top deputies tasked with running the investigation on a day-to-day basis, as catalysts for Braggs’ decision to go ahead with the money case.

The Braggs case set what was already a difficult battle over the scope and limits of congressional administrative powers in the new territory. House Republicans have argued that because the Manhattan case involves campaign finance and what prosecutors say is a conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election, Congress has direct oversight.

Many expected Jordan to subpoena Bragg by now but it appears the heated back-and-forth between the two elected officials has come to a head. Jordan’s committee has come at Bragg hard in recent weeks, but a court battle over a committee subpoena could derail its momentum and fuel criticism from Democrats that the panel is playing politics instead of addressing the important issues.

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