Ex-Trump inquiry prosecutor ordered to testify before US congressional panel

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NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) – A former prosecutor who led the Manhattan District Attorney’s criminal investigation into former U.S. President Donald Trump is to testify before a congressional committee, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat whose bureau investigation led to a grand jury indicting Trump in the first criminal charges against a former president, sued Republican Rep. Jim Jordan last week to block a subpoena to testify from former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz.

The subpoena came from the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jordan. Pomerantz’s deposition is scheduled for Thursday.

After hearing arguments in Manhattan federal court on whether to block the subpoena, U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil issued a written ruling approving the subpoena but encouraging the parties to reach a compromise on how which Pomerantz’s assignment would unfold.

“Mr. Pomerantz is scheduled to appear for deposition in Congress,” Vyskocil wrote, adding a reference to a phrase frequently used by Trump critics, “No one is above the law.”

Bragg and Pomerantz both appealed to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. Vyskocil later denied a request by Bragg to delay Pomerantz’s testimony until her appeal was heard, saying she did not believe her appeal was likely to succeed.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Jordan said the decision shows “Congress has the ability to exercise oversight.”

Theodore Boutrous, an attorney for Bragg, argued that Jordan was seeking to interfere with a local lawsuit and “intimidate” the district attorney’s office.

Matthew Berry, the House’s general counsel, countered that the subpoena was covered by the constitutional protection of “speech or debate” in Congress, and that the committee needed Pomerantz’s testimony to assess legislation restricting what he called the “politically motivated prosecutions” of presidents.

Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential campaign, pleaded not guilty on April 4 to 34 felony charges for a silent payment made before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels, to stop her from discussing a sexual encounter she said they had. He denies that the affair took place.

Vyskocil, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, said she does not approve of either side’s “agenda”. She said she presumes Bragg was acting in good faith, but some of her constituents want to see Trump prosecuted. She said Jordan had also “launched a political response” to Bragg’s accusations.

“The only issue before the Court at this time is whether Bragg has a legal basis to overturn a congressional subpoena that was issued with a valid legislative purpose,” she wrote. “He does not do.”

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York Editing by Marguerita Choy

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Luke Cohen

Thomson Reuters

New York Federal Courts Reports. Previously, he worked as a correspondent in Venezuela and Argentina.

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