Ohio Representative Jim Jordan sent a letter to two former Manhattan prosecutors Wednesday demanding that the attorneys testify before Congress about their role in the criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to wrap up his investigation within the week into whether Trump was involved in the $130,000 hush money payout to adult- film star Stormy Daniels during his first presidential campaign in 2016. As the indictment looms, Jordan, alongside other House GOP leaders, have launched their own probe into Bragg and his investigation for what they’ve claimed is “an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.”
In addition to demanding Bragg’s testimony, Jordan has sent a similar letter to two prosecutors—Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne—who led the investigation of Trump prior to Bragg taking office in January 2022. Jordan said that Pomerantz and Dunne resigned “in protest” of Bragg’s suspension of their investigation of Trump, in which Bragg had previously indicated he was not fully confident.
Pomerantz’s resignation letter, which was obtained by The New York Times and addressed on February 23, 2022, tore apart Bragg’s decision to suspend the probe, claiming that Trump was “guilty of numerous felony violations” and that it was “a grave failure of justice” for Bragg to go passive.
Since resigning, Pomerantz and Dunne have started a nonprofit law firm dedicated to fighting against authoritarianism, and in February, Pomerantz released a book diving into why he still believes Trump should be prosecuted.
#BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan just sent letters to former prosecutors Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz demanding documents and testimony relating to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority amid the reported impending indictment of President Trump. pic.twitter.com/8rZ5SE75p6
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 23, 2023
While Jordan addressed two separate letters for the attorneys, there was much overlap in the documents, shared to Twitter by the House Judiciary Committee, including claims that Pomerantz and Dunne’s “efforts to shame Bragg have worked as he is reportedly resurrecting a so-called ‘zombie’ case against President Trump using a tenuous and untested legal theory.”
“The inference from the totality of these facts is that Bragg’s impending indictment is motivated by political calculations,” Jordan added. “The facts of this matter have not changed since 2018 and no new witnesses have emerged.”
“Your actions, both as a special prosecutor and since leaving the District Attorney’s office, cast serious doubt on administration of fair and impartial justice in this matter,” the letters continue. “In light of this unprecedented and overzealous investigation, Congress has a keen interest in understanding the relevant facts to inform potential legislations to improve the functioning and fairness of our criminal justice system and to better delineate prosecutorial authority between federal and local officials.”
In addition to the attorneys’ testimonies, Jordan is requesting “all documents and communications” between Pomerantz, Dunne and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that relates to Trump or its investigation of the former president.
Legal experts previously told Newsweek that the House GOP’s investigation of Bragg may be a violation of the separation of powers between federal and state branches. Jim Townsend, director of the Levin Center at Wayne State University Law School, said that “Congress‘ power to investigate and issue subpoenas and so on is limited to matters that involve a valid legislative purpose.”
“That’s the key term, meaning that it has to be related to and a furtherance of a legitimate task of Congress,” Townsend added.
Robert Sanders, assistant professor of national security at the University of New Haven, also previously told Newsweek that Jordan’s investigation into Bragg was a “funky situation.”
“If the 10th Amendment will bar Jordan from doing something and overcoming the sovereignty of New York to do its executive privilege functions, i.e. investigate crimes within jurisdiction, Jordan needs to go pound sand,” Sanders said via phone. “But if the 10th Amendment’s not a shield, or if there’s something else he can latch himself onto … he can try to jump in there.”
Newsweek has reached out to Pomerantz and Dunne’s law firm, Free and Fair Litigation Group, via email for comment.
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