House Republican Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, ignoring a stern warning from Alvin Bragg to not interfere with his hush money payoff probe into Donald Trump, has issued a subpoena to one of two former New York prosecutors who resigned over what appeared at the time to be the Manhattan District Attorney’s decision to stall the investigation.
In a statement from the House Judiciary Committee Jordan say he “subpoenaed former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz to appear before the Committee for a deposition. As a special assistant district attorney, Pomerantz led the investigation into President Donald Trump’s finances before resigning in protest after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s initial reluctance to move forward with charges against President Trump. Pomerantz publicly criticized Bragg for failing to aggressively prosecute President Trump and even wrote a memoir describing his eagerness to investigate President Trump and disclosing internal deliberations about the investigation.”
Chairman Jordan is claiming “Pomerantz’s public statements about the investigation strongly suggest that Bragg’s prosecution of President Trump is politically motivated.”
However, Pomerantz has publicly stated the reason he resigned was because he believed, based on the investigation, that Trump had committed multiple crimes.
READ MORE: ‘It’s Illegal’: Legal Experts Trounce Clarence Thomas Over Bombshell Corruption Allegations
The New York Times in March of last year reported Pomerantz “believed that the former president was ‘guilty of numerous felony violations’ and that it was ‘a grave failure of justice’ not to hold him accountable, according to a copy of his resignation letter.”
In that letter Pomerantz “states explicitly his belief that the office could have convicted the former president. Mr. Bragg’s decision was ‘contrary to the public interest,’ he wrote.”
“The team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did,” the letter states. Pomerantz also “wrote that he believed there was enough evidence to prove Mr. Trump’s guilt ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.'”
Chairman Jordan may have difficulty enforcing the subpoena. Pomerantz refused a request to voluntarily appear, and legal experts including Bragg’s general counsel have made clear Jordan does not have the authority to investigate Bragg or an open case.
Also, Chairman Jordan last year refused to comply with a lawful subpoena from the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
Jordan also claims he 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.”
CNN adds that the subpoena “comes as Jordan has left the door open on whether to take the unprecedented step to subpoena Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, as part of the larger House Republican effort to discredit the case he has brought against Trump.”