Jim Jordan Calls Bragg Lawsuit an Attempt to ‘Block Congressional Oversight’ After Trump Indictment for ‘No Crime’
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) reacted to a lawsuit filed against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday by characterizing it as an attempt to “block congressional oversight” of a politically motivated prosecution.
Bragg’s lawsuit was first reported on by the New York Times earlier in the day and accuses Jordan of launching a “brazen and unconstitutional attack” on Bragg’s case against former president Donald Trump. Jordan responded to the news in a tweet later in the afternoon.
“First, they indict a president for no crime,” said Jordan, “Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it.”
First, they indict a president for no crime.
Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 11, 2023
Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 counts of falsification of business records on March 30 and was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 4. The charges relate to hush money Trump paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in order to keep Daniels quiet about a past affair with Trump during the waning days of the 2016 presidential election.
Bragg’s lawsuit alleges that Jordan and the Republican majority on the Judiciary Committee have been engaged in “a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack District Attorney Bragg, making demands for confidential documents and testimony from the District Attorney himself as well as his current and former employees and officials.”
The committee has issued a subpoena for Mark Pomerantz, the former lead prosecutor on the Trump case prior to his resigning in protest last year over Bragg’s decision not to seek an indictment of Trump at that time. Bragg has called the subpoena “unprecedented” and an “abuse of power.
Jordan has been a reliable ally of Trump’s for years and a vocal critic of the Trump indictment, even threatening to consider “limiting funds” for the FBI and Department of Justice as a result of it.
