President Donald Trump and porn actress Stormy Daniels
3 congressional committee chairmen demand investigative records and witness testimonies with Trump
The Manhattan attorney general on Thursday hit back at House Republicans aggressively scrutinizing his office’s criminal investigation into Donald Trump, what the office called an improper attempt by Congress to derail the former president’s prosecution.
The office of Attorney General Alvin Bragg responded to a letter on Monday asking him to provide communications, documents and testimonies regarding his investigation of Trump, an extraordinary request from three Republican committee chairs to involve themselves in an investigation that is expected to result in criminal charges once morest the former president.
The response from the attorney general’s office, signed by general counsel Leslie Dubik, called the Republicans’ request “an unprecedented investigation in a pending internal trial.”
The Prague office is investigating Trump’s role in paying to buy the silence of a porn star, and there have been several signs that prosecutors are close to issuing an indictment, though the exact timing remains unknown.
Although the special grand jury that hears evidence regarding Trump meets on Thursday, it usually doesn’t hear evidence regarding Trump that day, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Republicans rallied to the former president’s side this week, in the wake of a Saturday post from Trump inaccurately predicting his arrest on Tuesday, and calling on his supporters to protest with charged language reminiscent of his social media posts in the weeks leading up to the attack on the US Capitol on June 6. January 2021.
And on Saturday, the Speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, called for investigations into whether federal funds were being used in “politically motivated prosecutions,” an action clearly meant to threaten Prague.
Republican Representative Jim Jordan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has moved and taken steps to issue subpoenas to the attorney general’s office. Jordan’s chief attorney reached out to the Prague office on Wednesday to ask who might obtain a subpoena.
The lawyer also alleged that the Prague office had twice hung up on one of Jordan’s aides who called earlier, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office declined to comment, other than to say the office was assessing the prosecution’s credibility.
Jordan also sent letters on Wednesday to the two former leaders in the investigation, Carrie R. Dunn and Mark F. Pomerantz, requesting documents and testimony related to the Prague case.
Both Mr. Dunn and Mr. Pomerantz resigned from their positions in the Attorney General’s office in February 2022 following Mr. Bragg decided not to seek an indictment once morest Trump in connection with his business practices.
