After Trump’s indictment
US Attorney charges Republicans with interference
Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s attorney general, speaks at a news conference following the indictment of former US President Trump. photo
©John Minchillo/AP
For weeks, influential Republicans have been trying to pressure the New York Attorney’s Office to indict Donald Trump. Now she is defending herself – with another legal step.
After the indictment of former US President Donald Trump in New York, District Attorney Alvin Bragg is now suing a leading Republican for interference in the case. Republican Congressman Jim Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee he chairs are responsible for an “unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack” on the ongoing prosecution against Trump, Bragg said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan.
Jordan is leading a “campaign to intimidate and attack” District Attorney Bragg. “Congress has no authority under Article I of the Constitution to oversee, much less interfere with, ongoing criminal matters under state law,” it said. The move aims to prevent the Judiciary Committee from taking action against Trump’s indictment.
In the document, Bragg asks the court to invalidate and unconstitutional a subpoena previously issued by the committee — and any other subpoenas — from former New York City attorney Mark Pomerantz. Pomerantz was involved in investigations against Trump. Jordan responded dismissively yesterday: “First they charge a President with no crime. Then they charge to block Congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do this,” he wrote on Twitter .
Trump pleads ‘not guilty’
Last week, Trump became the first former US president in history to be criminally indicted in connection with hush money payments to a porn star in New York. He was briefly taken into custody and pleaded “not guilty”. Trump ally Jordan had previously taken an aggressive stance against Bragg and initiated Judiciary Committee action against him. He also claimed without evidence that Bragg was acting under “political pressure from left-wing activists.” It is not ruled out that the committee could also summon the prosecutor himself.
The Republicans, with their majority in the House of Representatives, can drive parliamentary inquiries and try to put Bragg under pressure in other ways. According to media reports, the committee announced that it would travel to New York in the coming days to hear the prosecutor’s “victims”. After taking office in 2022, Bragg had to defend himself against allegations that he was too soft on street crime.
Bragg gets death threats
The lawsuit now filed mentions indirect and direct threats against Bragg – including a message from Trump. This showed a photo collage with a picture of Trump with a baseball bat next to a picture of the prosecutor. An envelope containing white powder and a death threat received at Bragg’s office are also mentioned. The powder later turned out to be harmless. The office has also received more than 1,000 calls from people claiming to be Trump supporters. Many of those calls were threatening and racist.
Before Trump was indicted, Bragg, Manhattan’s first black district attorney, had already prepared his colleagues for turbulent weeks and months. In a letter to staff quoted in the US media, he promised that all threats against the prosecutor’s office would be investigated: “We will not tolerate any attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”