Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference after the arraignment of former president Donald Trump in New York. AP
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference after the arraignment of former president Donald Trump in New York. AP
New York, United States: A Republican legislator was sued on Tuesday by the US attorney representing Donald Trump in an effort to prevent the congressman from interfering in the prosecution of the former president.
Congressman Jim Jordan was accused in the complaint by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of an “unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack” on his prosecution of the 76-year-old former president.
Last week, Bragg unveiled 34 allegations against Trump for purported hush money payments made to support his 2016 campaign, including ones to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about sex she allegedly had with the former president.
Trump — who denies the liaison and pleaded not guilty to all counts during a historic arraignment — has repeatedly accused Bragg, an elected Democrat, of waging a witch hunt.
Bragg’s lawsuit against Jordan, filed in the Southern District of New York, comes after Jordan and two Republican colleagues requested last month that Bragg testify before Congress about his probe into Trump, who had not yet been indicted.
The Republicans — who are all committee chairmen in the House of Representatives — accused Bragg of waging a “politically motivated prosecution” and demanded that he hand over documents related to the case.
Bragg’s office responded by accusing the trio of “an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution.”
After the indictment against Trump was unveiled last week, Jordan issued a subpoena to a former prosecutor in Bragg’s office, seeking that he give testimony to lawmakers behind closed doors.
Bragg’s lawsuit, which accuses Jordan of “a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” the district attorney, seeks to block any deposition from happening. It also seeks to prevent Bragg from being subpoenaed.
Trump — the frontrunner in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination — is the first former or sitting president to ever be charged with a crime.
He is accused of falsifying business records to cover up the $130,000 payment to Daniels, made just weeks before the 2016 election that sent him to the White House.
Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee announced on Monday that it would hold a “field hearing” about Bragg’s policies as district attorney with “victims of violent crime” in Manhattan on 17 April.
A spokesperson for Bragg slammed the meeting as a “political stunt.”
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