The House Judiciary Committee could subpoena Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who spearheaded the indictment of former President Donald Trump, according to a report by Fox news Digital.
The House Judiciary Committee, which is now chaired by Republican Jim Jordan, is "seriously weighing" issuing subpoenas for Democrat Bragg as well as two investigators who resigned from his team earlier, the report added.
Trump Arrainged
Trump, who is the Republican front-runner for 2024 presidential election, was arraigned earlier this week as he appeared at the Manhattan court following a New York grand jury's indictment in an alleged hush money probe involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump, who became the first former US president in history to be charged with a criminal offense, pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of offences detailed in the indictment.
The Fox report says that both Jim Jordan and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer have been pressing Bragg for answers on certain aspects of the investigation. This suggests that Bragg and his investigators are likely to be summoned for testifying before Congress, the report says.
The two other prosecutors who are likely to be issued subpeonas are Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne. Pomerantz and Dunne resigned in February 2022 after Bragg raised doubts about the legal footing of a criminal case against Trump, the report says. The two ex-prosecutors were working on the Trump investigation under former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance.
A letter written last year by Pomerantz says that Brag suspended the investigation and stopped pursuing charges against Trump.
Who is Mark Pomerantz?
According to the Fox Digital report, Pomerantz worked for New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before joining the Manhattan District Attorney's office. The report adds that Pomerantz was linked professionally to Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schume's brother. Robert Schumer, Chuck's brother is a partner at the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm. Pomerantz had taken a leave from the firm to work for the Manhattan DA's office. It also adds that Pomerantz donated to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump's indictment shows that he has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. These charges cumulatively attract a maximum punishment of 136 years in prison. According to Bragg's indictment, Trump "repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."
The federal prosecutors had, in 2019, avoided charging Trump in the case relating to the alleged hush money payment for adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The Fox report also says that the Federal Election Commission had rejected an investigation into the matter in 2021 as well.
The next hearing in the case is in December 2023, and the prosecutors want the trial to start in early 2024, when the Republican party's primaries will be in full swing.
