The House Judiciary Committee is “seriously weighing” issuing subpoenas for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and two prosecutors who resigned last year from his team to testify before Congress following the unprecedented indictment of former President Trump, a source familiar told Fox News Digital.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in criminal court in Lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon. The charges are related to alleged hush-money payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 04: Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court during his arraignment on April 4, 2023, in New York City. Trump was arraigned during his first court appearance today following an indictment by a grand jury that heard evidence about money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. With the indictment, Trump becomes the first former U.S. president in history to be charged with a criminal offense. (Photo by Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images)
Since last week, days before the unprecedented indictment and arrest of a former President of the United States, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer began demanding answers from Bragg and his office – suggesting he testify before Congress.
A source familiar told Fox News Digital on Wednesday night that the House Judiciary Committee is “seriously” considering issuing subpoenas for Bragg, and the two ex-prosecutors – Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne – to testify before the panel.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, left, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, right. (Associated Press)
Bragg, when he took over as district attorney in January 2022, stopped pursuing charges against Trump and suspended the investigation “indefinitely,” according to a letter written last year by Pomerantz.
Pomerantz and Dunne, who had been leading the investigation under Bragg’s predecessor – former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance – submitted their resignations in February 2022 after Bragg began raising doubts about pursuing a case against Trump.
After Pomerantz resigned, he wrote a tell-all book based on the investigation, which was still ongoing. The book seemingly made the case to charge Trump.
TRUMP FACES MAXIMUM SENTENCE OF 136 YEARS IN PRISON FOR 34-COUNT INDICTMENT
Before joining the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, Pomerantz was of counsel at New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He took leave from the firm last year to join Vance’s office to investigate Trump’s financial dealings.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s brother, Robert Schumer, is a partner at the firm. Pomerantz donated to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference to discuss the charges against Steve Bannon in New York on September 8, 2022. ((Photo by ALEX KENT/AFP via Getty Images))
Dunne, before leading the Trump investigation, served as general counsel for the district attorney’s office and successfully argued before the Supreme Court for Trump’s tax records.
The discussions surrounding subpoenaing Bragg, Pomerantz and Dunne come after Trump’s unprecedented surrender to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and arraignment.
The indictment was unsealed in court during Trump’s arraignment Tuesday before presiding trial Judge Juan Merchan. Trump was charged in a New York Supreme Court indictment with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Bragg alleged that Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower, Monday, April 3, 2023, in New York. Trump arrived in New York on Monday for his expected booking and arraignment the following day on charges arising from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
The former President of the United States, who is currently the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner, faces a maximum sentence of 136 years in prison if convicted.
But in 2019, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
The judge said he would like to move ahead as expeditiously as possible with the case. The next hearing in the case is Dec. 4, 2023, in the same Lower Manhattan court.
The prosecution wants a trial in January 2024 – the height of the GOP presidential primary season. Trump’s defense wants to delay that as long as possible.
Trump has slammed the DA’s investigation and the charges as “Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
