of “unlawful interference in political affairs” in Trump case
Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney, criticized the House Republicans’ demand for information about their case against former President Donald Trump. He called it “unlawful political interference” in a criminal case.
Before Trump was indicted on Thursday, three committee chairmen, Jim Jordan, R.Ohio, Bryan Steil and James Comer, R.Ky., tried to access documents and testimony regarding Trump’s hush-money case. Leslie Dubeck, general counsel for Bragg’s, wrote a letter to lawmakers that was obtained by the Washington Post. He rebuked the Republicans for trying “to collaborate” with the former president.
“Ex-President Trump directed harsh invective towards District Attorney Bragg and threatened via social media that his arrest in New York or indictment there may unleash ‘death and destruction,'” Dubeck wrote the chairmen.
Trump is still not aware of the specific charges, but he has attempted to undermine the criminal investigation into his far-right social media site Truth Social.
Dubeck pointed out that lawmakers could have used their powerful positions to condemn Trump’s baseless attacks against the justice system. Dubeck wrote, “Instead you and many others have chosen to cooperate with Mr. Trump’s efforts to denigrate and denigrate integrity of elected state prosecutor and trial judges and made unfounded allegations that the Office’s investigation…is politically motivated.”
She continued, “We urge that you refrain from these inflammatory allegations, withdraw your request for information, and let criminal justice proceed without unlawful interference.”
Want a daily summary of all the Salon news and commentary? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.
The chairmen wrote to Bragg’s office on March 25 that they were looking for the documents because Congress might attempt to pass legislation to protect former presidents against state criminal investigations for “personal actions.” Dubeck replied to the request by saying that they were trying “a baseless pretext” to interfere with our Office’s work. He also stated that they had never cited this rationale in their original request.
Dubeck reiterated Friday her assertion that the committees don’t have the jurisdiction to supervise a state criminal prosecution. She also ripped apart the argument they were politically motivated for not handing over the requested materials.
Dubeck wrote Friday, “That conclusion is misleading. It is not meritless.” “We didn’t engage in a point by point rebuttal to your letter because our Office is legally restricted in how it discusses pending criminal proceedings publicly, as are all prosecutorial offices across the country and as we well know.”
Dubeck reiterated that the district attorney’s office would meet with the Republican legislators to discuss their request and how to fulfill it without violating their obligations as prosecutors.
“We trust that you will make a good-faith attempt to reach a negotiated solution before taking the unconstitutional and unprecedented step of serving a subpoena to a district attorney to obtain information related to a state criminal case,” she concluded.
