WASHINGTON — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday accused House Republicans of trying to "undermine" his office's criminal case against former President Donald Trump through an "unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation."
"Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law," Bragg tweeted in response a subpoena House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, issued to a former prosecutor involved in the investigation.
In a letter accompanying the subpoena, Jordan told former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz that his previous role in the DA’s office leading the probe into Trump's finances makes him "uniquely situated to provide information that is relevant and necessary" to the committee's investigation into Bragg's prosecution of Trump.
Jordan had asked Pomerantz, who abruptly resigned from the DA's office last year, for his testimony in a letter last month.
He said in his letter Thursday that Pomerantz had rejected the committee's request "at the direction" of the DA's office and argued that Pomerantz has already discussed much of the information the committee is seeking in a book that was published in February, as well as in media interviews.
"As a result, you have no basis to decline to testify about matters before the Committee that you have already discussed in your book and/or on a prime-time television program with an audience in the millions, including on the basis of any purported duty of confidentiality or privilege interest," Jordan wrote.
The subpoena calls on Pomerantz to sit for a deposition before the panel.
Jordan, a Trump ally, also contended that Pomerantz's book "reveals the extent" to which the indictment of Trump by Bragg "appears to have been politically motivated."
In the book, “People vs. Donald Trump,” which came out before Trump was indicted, Pomerantz wrote about his time leading the investigation into Trump’s alleged financial crimes and accused Bragg of not acting soon enough to charge the former president.
Bragg "failed to recognize that the case had to be brought to vindicate the rule of law, and to demonstrate to the public that no one can hold himself above the law,” Pomerantz wrote.
Pomerantz declined to comment.
Jordan said his committee's investigation will "inform the consideration of potential legislative reforms that would, if enacted, insulate current and former Presidents from such politically motivated state and local prosecutions."
House Republicans have also asked for testimony from Bragg, which the DA's office blasted as “an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution” in a response letter last month.
In his statement Thursday, Bragg said, "These elected officials would better serve their constituents and the country, and fulfill their oath of office, by doing their jobs in Congress and not intruding on the sovereignty of the state of New York by interfering in ongoing criminal matter in state court."
Pomerantz led a team under Bragg's predecessor, Cy Vance, that eventually indicted the Trump Organization for fraud. Pomerantz, however, resigned from the office in February 2022, a month into Bragg's tenure.
Speaking after Trump's arraignment Tuesday, Bragg said his office was prosecuting the case now because his investigators had gathered more evidence over the past year. In his statement Thursday, he suggested the investigation is still ongoing, complaining Republicans were trying to "undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case."
