House Republicans on Wednesday called for the testimony and production of documents from two former Manhattan prosecutors who were previously in charge of a criminal investigation into Donald Trump. The prosecutors resigned from their positions last year following a dispute over the direction of the probe.
As the party rallies around the former president, Rep. Jim Jordan, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has sent letters to Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne requesting transcribed interviews and a series of communications by March 27. The development comes as a grand jury in New York is considering the possibility of bringing an indictment against Trump, but which adjourned suddenly on Thursday for at least a week.
The letters, seen by The Associated Press, are just one aspect of a broader Republican-led congressional inquiry into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is nearing the completion of his investigation into whether Donald Trump was involved in an unlawful hush money arrangement with a pornographic actor. Jordan and other prominent Republicans have criticized Bragg’s investigation as a “political persecution” that lacks substance, the AP noted.
“Last year, you resigned from the office over Bragg’s initial reluctance to move forward with charges, shaming Bragg in your resignation letter — which was subsequently leaked — into bringing charges,” Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote in the letter, dated late Wednesday. “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.”
Just days prior to reaching out to Carey and Pomerantz, Jordan and two other Republican committee chairpersons had sent a letter to Bragg, a Democrat, requesting information regarding Bragg’s handling of the Trump case, which the Republicans described as an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.” Specifically, they asked for testimony, documents, and copies of any communications between Bragg and the Department of Justice.
“No authorities wanted to take the case, but then what changed? President Trump announces he’s running for president and shazam,” Jordan said in a press conference with reporters on Wednesday.
House Republicans are utilizing the power of their new majority to defend Trump, who is still viewed as the leader of the party, as he makes a second run for the presidency, the AP noted.
Pomerantz and Dunne had supervised the investigation into the hush-money scheme until the beginning of last year. Pomerantz recently published a book called “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account,” in which he recounts how he was authorized by then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in December 2021 to pursue an indictment against Trump.
According to Pomerantz, the hush-money payments that were made or arranged by Michael Cohen have been one of the most legally complex and challenging aspects of the investigations into the former president.
Although Vance had moved away from the hush-money angle in 2019 and focused on other matters, Pomerantz revisited the issue when he assumed his position in January 2021. He was searching for a way to secure more serious felony charges against Trump, the AP reported.
Cohen’s credibility was called into question — again — this week after a February 2018 letter from his attorneys to the Federal Election Commission was made public. That letter indicates that Cohen paid out $130,000 in hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election using his own funds and utterly independent of any input or knowledge of the payment by Trump himself.
Cohen has claimed under oath that Trump directed him to make the payment and then reimbursed him as a campaign expense, something Trump has routinely denied.
Trump himself posted a copy of the letter on his Truth Social platform.
