Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed Friday to testify before Congress as Republicans try to discredit former President Donald Trump’s conviction, but indicated that could not happen until after Trump is convicted next month.
Bragg’s office has resisted calls to testify before Congress, citing the ongoing case against the former president, but in a letter Friday to GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Bragg to be willing to testify at a future date. .
The letter from Bragg’s general counsel states that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is willing to engage with the committee to set a date for the testimony and to “determine the scope and purpose of the better understand the proposed hearing.”
“This Office is committed to voluntary cooperation. That cooperation includes making the district attorney available to testify on behalf of the State Attorney’s Office at an agreed date, and evaluating the appropriateness of allowing an assistant district attorney to testify publicly about a active prosecution to which he has been assigned,” the letter said. .
A jury in Manhattan on May 30 found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying company records. Bragg, a Democrat, presented the first indictment against a former U.S. president when he announced charges against Trump last year.
Bragg accused Trump of falsifying his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s reimbursement to cover up a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from speaking out before the 2016 election about an alleged affair with Trump.
Jordan then demanded that Bragg and prosecutor Matthew Colangelo appear for a hearing on June 13 after Trump’s guilty verdict was reached.
CNN has contacted the district attorney’s office and Jordan’s office for additional information.
Bragg’s willingness to testify is the latest in a series of efforts by House Republicans to defend Trump amid his legal troubles by going after those involved in his cases.
Jordan, along with House Oversight Chairman James Comer and House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, sent a letter last year calling for Bragg’s pretrial testimony and criticizing Bragg’s investigation into the former president as an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial discretion.” .”
Along with Bragg, Jordan previously investigated other members of the Manhattan district attorney’s office as key Trump allies sought to portray his criminal charges as politically motivated. Jordan last year subpoenaed former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz for his role in investigating Trump and his business empire and sought voluntary cooperation from Colangelo.
Similarly, Republicans have questioned Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis about whether she used federal funding in her state-level investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Adam Levine contributed to this report.
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