Alvin Bragg responds to Republican calls for him to testify before Congress
Jack Birle
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said his office would not be “intimidated” after House Republicans called for him to testify over reports he will indict former President Donald Trump.
Bragg’s office says the calls from prominent House Republicans for oversight will not deter its actions on the potential Trump indictment.
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“We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law. In every prosecution, we follow the law without fear or favor to uncover the truth. Our skilled, honest and dedicated lawyers remain hard at work,” a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office told Fox News.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said Saturday he was “directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy” after reports surfaced suggesting that Bragg’s office was going to indict Trump.
“Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump,” the speaker tweeted. “I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), along with other House Republicans, sent a letter to Bragg on Monday demanding to hear from him and looking for communications along with other relevant material related to the potential indictment of Trump.
“You are reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current declared candidate for that office. This indictment comes after years of your office searching for a basis — any basis — on which to bring charges, ultimately settling on a novel legal theory untested anywhere in the country and one that federal authorities declined to pursue,” the letter read.
“If these reports are accurate, your actions will erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the course of the 2024 presidential election. In light of the serious consequences of your actions, we expect that you will testify about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision,” it continued.
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Prosecutors in New York have been investigating to see if Trump falsified business records to list a $130,000 reimbursement of his then-lawyer Michael Cohen for paying off porn star Stormy Daniels as a legal expense. Falsifying business records in that way is a misdemeanor in New York, but it can be upped to a felony if the district attorney’s office argues the falsification was done with the intent of concealing a second crime.
A Manhattan grand jury could go forward with an indictment of Trump as soon as the district attorney’s office is secured by law enforcement for expected protests. On Saturday, Trump said he believed he would be arrested Tuesday.