House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) escalated his investigation into the Manhattan district attorney with a subpoena on Thursday.
The subpoena seeks a deposition from former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz, who has been gung-ho about criminally charging former President Donald Trump.
A grand jury indicted Trump last week, a culmination of months investigating so-called hush money payments during the 2016 election cycle.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged to be a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election.
Trump, who is months into a 2024 presidential campaign, claims the investigations he faces from Bragg and others are politically motivated and denies any wrongdoing.
Pomerantz abruptly resigned along with one other prosecutor leading the Trump inquiry in February of last year after Bragg reportedly expressed doubts about the case he inherited from his predecessor.
In a resignation letter that later came to light, Pomerantz insisted Trump was “guilty of numerous felony violations.” He has since opened a law firm with the other prosecutor who quit, Carey Dunne, and earlier this year came out with a tell-all book called “People vs. Donald Trump.”
Jordan said Pomerantz’s public statements about the investigation “strongly suggest that Bragg’s prosecution of President Trump is politically motivated.”
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The Judiciary Committee requested Pomerantz’s voluntary cooperation in a letter on March 22, but Jordan said he “refused to comply at the direction of the New York County District Attorney’s Office.” Jordan’s subpoena cover letter cited a March 25 letter from Leslie Dubeck, the general counsel for Bragg’s office.
The Daily Wire reached out to Pomerantz’s firm, the Free and Fair Litigation Group, for comment.
In response to the subpoena, Bragg’s office released a statement criticizing the House GOP for an “attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation.”
Manhattan DA spox responds to Jordan’s subpoena of Mark Pomerantz:
“These elected officials would better serve their constituents and the country, and fulfill their oath of office, by doing their jobs in Congress and not intruding on the sovereignty of the state of New York.” pic.twitter.com/e6WgBfKnef
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) April 6, 2023
Bragg’s in-house general counsel previously criticized the inquiry led by Jordan and other House Republicans as “an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty” in response to demands for communications, documents, and testimony.
In his statement Thursday, Jordan said, “The Manhattan DA’s Office has acknowledged that it used federal forfeiture funds in its investigations of President Trump, including during Pomerantz’s tenure.”
The Judiciary Committee “is conducting oversight of Bragg’s unprecedented prosecutorial conduct to inform the consideration of potential legislative reforms that would, among other things, prevent state or local politically motivated prosecutions of current or former presidents,” Jordan added.