House Republicans target N.Y. prosecutor
ORLANDO, Fla. — House Republicans on Monday rallied around former President Donald Trump ahead of his expected indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, using their investigative power to scrutinize active criminal inquiries targeting him as at least one other GOP lawmaker endorsed his 2024 presidential campaign.
Three Republican committee chairmen demanded on Monday morning that Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who is said to be close to indicting Trump, provide communications, documents and testimony about his investigation, an extraordinary move by Congress to involve itself in an active criminal inquiry.
“You are reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority,” wrote Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio of the Judiciary Committee, James R. Comer of Kentucky of the Oversight and Accountability Committee and Bryan Steil of Wisconsin of the Administration Committee. “If these reports are accurate, your actions will erode the confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the course of the 2024 presidential election.”
They demanded “all documents and communications referring or relating to the New York County District Attorney Office’s receipt and use of federal funds.”
That office receives very little funding from the federal government, according to its most recent budget, but the letter also served as a warning to the FBI and the Justice Department, which is also considering prosecutions of Trump.
The letter was House Republicans’ latest effort to use their investigatory powers to defend Trump. They have authorized a new subcommittee to scrutinize criminal investigations into Trump’s conduct and quietly wound down a congressional inquiry into his finances and conflicts of interest as president. The Justice Department has so far resisted what federal prosecutors view as unnecessary intrusions into their work, citing long-standing department policy. Bragg was anticipated to be unlikely to allow Republicans access to materials related to an active case.
Still, Trump’s lawyers have quietly urged the Republican-led House to interfere. Last month, Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina wrote to Jordan calling on Congress to investigate the “egregious abuse of power” by what he called a “rogue local district attorney,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times.
The news that Republicans would do so came as House GOP lawmakers, who have gathered for a retreat in Orlando to plot out their policy agenda, were facing fresh political calculations about how to position themselves as Trump confronts new challenges and a potentially divisive presidential primary looms.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who has been loyal to both Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, on Monday announced her official endorsement of Trump’s presidential campaign, indicating that the expected indictment had pushed her to unequivocally choose sides.
“I support President Trump,” Luna said in a statement to The New York Times. In explaining her support, she said that Bragg was “trying to cook up charges outside of the statute of limitation against Trump” and that “this is unheard-of, and Americans should see it for what it is: an abuse of power and fascist overreach of the justice system.”