NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Agreed Friday to testify before what will likely be a hostile, Republican-controlled congressional subcommittee, but probably not until afterward Former President Donald Trump will be sentenced in July.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, subsequently wrote Bragg in late May Trump’s conviction in his hush money trialaccusing him of conducting a “political persecution” and asking for his testimony at a hearing on June 13.
In a response letter, Leslie Dubeck, the Manhattan district attorney’s general counsel, said the prosecutor’s office was “committed to voluntary cooperation.”
That cooperation, it added, also included making Bragg, a Democrat, available to testify “at an agreed date.” But the letter noted that Jordan’s chosen date “involves several scheduling conflicts.”
It noted that Trump’s prosecution has not yet been completed. Trump, who was convicted of falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to a porn actor during the 2016 presidential campaignis expected to be sentenced on July 11. Before then, prosecutors will do that make recommendations to a judge about what kind of punishment Trump deserves.
“The district court and review courts of appeals have issued numerous orders seeking to protect due process in the People v. Trump case, and participating in a public hearing at this time would be potentially detrimental to those efforts,” the letter said . .
Bragg’s office requested the opportunity to discuss an alternate date with the subcommittee and learn more about “the scope and purpose of the proposed hearing.”
Jordan has also requested testimony from Matthew Colangelo, one of the lead prosecutors in the Trump case. Bragg’s office did not rule that out, but said in the letter that it would “evaluate the appropriateness” of allowing an assistant district attorney to testify publicly about an active prosecution.
Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, has proposed withholding federal funding from any entity that tries to prosecute a former president. He has also spoken out against what he describes as the “weaponization of the federal government.”
His committee previously fought successfully to get testimony from Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor who worked on Trump’s case, over Bragg’s initial objections. However, that statement yielded little, with Pomerantz refusing to answer many questions because it could expose him to criminal charges for disclosing secret grand jury testimony.
