House Republicans are seeking to expand their investigation into the Manhattan district attorney’s office by seeking testimony from two former prosecutors who resigned from the office last year.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) requested testimony from former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz and former Manhattan Special Assistant District Attorney Carey Dunne regarding their involvement in the office’s investigation into former President Donald Trump.
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The requests come ahead of an expected indictment over hush-money payments Trump allegedly had his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen make to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about a sexual affair.
“New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg is reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current declared candidate for that office,” Jordan wrote. “The inference from the totality of these facts is that Bragg’s impending indictment is motivated by political calculations.”
Jordan is specifically requesting information about Pomerantz’s and Dunn’s resignations from the Manhattan DA’s office, which came shortly after Bragg became district attorney and suspended the Trump investigation. The pair resigned in protest of that decision, which Jordan said pressured Bragg to reopen the case.
“It now appears that your efforts to shame Bragg have worked as he is reportedly resurrecting a so-called “zombie” case against President Trump using a tenuous and untested legal theory,” the Ohio Republican wrote. “Your actions … cast serious doubt on the administration of fair and impartial justice in this matter.”
Jordan pressed the former prosecutors to testify before the House Oversight Committee as well as provide any documents related to the Trump investigation. The request comes days after Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Bragg compelling him to testify and to turn over any internal communications made with Pomerantz and Dunne.
Bragg has not responded to those requests, telling Axios his office "will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process."
The letter comes as Trump faces a looming indictment in the hush-money case. It’s not clear what charges the former president may face. Reports of a possible indictment emerged after Cohen testified before the Manhattan grand jury multiple times earlier this month.
Cohen was convicted in 2018 after pleading guilty to paying two women who accused Trump of sexual affairs to be silent, which included Stormy Daniels. As part of the scheme, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 and was later reimbursed by the Trump Organization.
Manhattan prosecutors later opened an investigation into whether Trump falsified business records to list the reimbursement as a legal expense. Such a crime is a misdemeanor in New York but could be increased to a felony if Bragg's office argues the fraud was intended to conceal a second crime.
At the time of Cohen’s trial, federal prosecutors did not press charges against Trump due to guidance from the Justice Department that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime. However, prosecutors revived discussions about possible charges shortly before Trump left office in 2021.
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The case received increased attention after Trump posted on his Truth Social account over the weekend that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, urging his supporters to protest and "take our nation back." The call for protests has prompted increased security measures outside the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the Capitol building, and Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago.
GOP lawmakers were quick to decry Trump's possible arrest, denouncing it as being a political attack ahead of a crucial election cycle. House Republicans announced on Monday they would be opening investigations into Bragg and his conduct surrounding Trump’s indictment.