The office of New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday urged House Republicans to withdraw a demand for information on its case against former president Donald Trump, again rebuffing what it characterized as “unlawful political interference” in an ongoing criminal case.
In a letter to the three committee chairmen who are pressing for documents and testimony about Trump’s case, Leslie B. Dubeck, the general counsel for Bragg’s office, chastised them for choosing to “collaborate” with the former president, who is now under indictment. A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on Thursday after hearing evidence about alleged hush-money payments from Trump to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
As of Friday morning, the indictment — with specific charges against Trump — remains sealed. On his Truth Social platform, Trump has kept up a steady stream of attacks on Bragg in all-caps posts and condemned the indictment.
“As you are no doubt aware, former President Trump has directed harsh invective against District Attorney Bragg and threatened on social media that his arrest or indictment in New York may unleash ‘death & destruction,’” Dubeck wrote.
Dubeck said the GOP chairs — Jim Jordan (Ohio) on the Judiciary Committee; Bryan Steil (Wis.) on the Administration Committee; and James Comer (Ky.) on the Oversight Committee — could have used their positions to denounce those attacks and urge respect for the fairness of the justice system.
“Instead, you and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump’s efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges and made unfounded allegations that the Office’s investigation … is politically motivated,” Dubeck wrote. “We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference.”
Representatives for Jordan, Steil and Comer did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
In their March 25 letter to Bragg’s office, the chairmen said they were seeking documents because Congress may consider legislation to shield former presidents from state criminal investigations for “personal acts.” Dubeck accused them of inventing “a baseless pretext to interfere with our Office’s work,” noting the chairmen had not cited that rationale in their original request for materials.
Jordan and other GOP lawmakers had first sent a letter to Bragg on March 20 demanding documents and testimony related to the investigation. The request came after Trump claimed he would be arrested in the coming days and called on his supporters to protest.
In a reply to Jordan’s first letter, Bragg’s office said their request “treads into territory very clearly reserved to the states” — and noted that it had only come after Trump had “created a false expectation that he would be arrested … and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene.”
On Friday, Dubeck repeated that the committees lack jurisdiction to oversee a state criminal prosecution. She also slammed the notion that the Manhattan district attorney’s office had failed to dispute that its investigation was politically motivated because it had not provided GOP lawmakers with the materials they demanded.
“That conclusion is misleading and meritless,” Dubeck wrote Friday. “We did not engage in a point-by-point rebuttal of your letter because our Office is legally constrained in how it publicly discusses pending criminal proceedings, as prosecutorial offices are across the country and as you well know.”
If House Republicans did not withdraw their request, Dubeck said again, the district attorney’s office would be willing to meet to discuss how to accommodate their request without violating their obligations as prosecutors.
“We trust you will make a good-faith effort to reach a negotiated resolution before taking the unprecedented and unconstitutional step of serving a subpoena on a district attorney for information related to an ongoing state criminal prosecution,” she concluded.
Jordan’s demands of Bragg’s office have drawn sharp criticism from Democrats, who pointed out that the right-wing lawmaker had ignored a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Jan. 6 committee later voted to refer Jordan and other GOP lawmakers who had also defied its subpoenas to the House Ethics Committee.
Republicans have rallied to Trump’s defense since the former president predicted nearly two weeks ago that he would be arrested. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and many other high-profile GOP figures — including those who could be Trump’s chief rivals in the 2024 presidential primary — accused Bragg, a Democrat, of pursuing a political agenda.
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, was paid $130,000 by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer. Trump reimbursed Cohen after becoming president, in installments that were designated legal fees. Bragg is believed to be considering charges related to the payments that would include falsifying business records, possibly in commission of another campaign-related crime.
Jacqueline Alemany contributed to this report.
