Jim Jordan Subpoenas Former Manhattan DA Attorney Who Demanded Trump Be Indicted
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Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) subpoenaed Mark Pomerantz, a former senior lawyer in Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, to testify on Capitol Hill following public statements he made pressuring his old boss to pursue a case against Donald Trump.
“Congress has a specific and manifestly important interest in preventing politically motivated prosecutions of current and former Presidents by elected state and local prosecutors, particularly in jurisdictions — like New York County — where the prosecutor is popularly elected and trial-level judges lack life tenure,” Jordan, who is also chairman of the House Judiciary, wrote in a Thursday letter first obtained by Breitbart.
Jordan zeroed in on a recent book Pomerantz had written, People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account, in which the former special assistant discussed in extensive detail the Manhattan office’s investigation into Trump.
The Justice Department wasn't going to bring this case.
The previous District Attorney Cy Vance wasn't going to bring this case.
And even Alvin Bragg himself, when he first gets elected, didn’t want to bring the case.
But you know who did want to bring it? Mark Pomerantz.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 6, 2023
“As we put the facts together, many of us came to believe that we had enough evidence to convict him [Trump], and we could present a solid case in court that would lead to a guilty verdict,” Pomerantz wrote in the book’s introduction.
“But then the district attorney’s office went through one of its very infrequent regime changes. The new regime decided that Donald Trump should not be prosecuted, and the investigation faltered. What happened? Grab something to drink and find a comfortable chair. I will tell you all about it,” Pomerantz wrote, alluding to Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., who opted not to prosecute Trump.
However, Pomerantz’s activism since resigning his post in February 2022, Jordan contends, crossed the line.
“You describe your eagerness to investigate President Trump, writing that you were ‘delighted’ to join an unpaid group of lawyers advising on the Trump investigations, and joking that salary negotiations had gone ‘great’ because you would have paid to join the investigation,” Jordan wrote about the book in Thursday’s subpoena.
“The depth of your personal animosity towards him is apparent in your writing.”
Pomerantz was a former special assistant in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and spent three years investigating the legal case against Trump. However, he acrimoniously left, citing Bragg’s earlier hesitancy to prosecute the former president.
“As you know from our recent conversations and presentations, I believe that Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations,” Pomerantz wrote in his resignation letter that was published in the New York Times.
You have reached the decision not to go forward with the grand jury presentation and not to seek criminal charges at the present time. The investigation has been suspended indefinitely. Of course, that is your decision to make. I do not question your authority to make it, and I accept that you have made it sincerely. However, a decision made in good faith may nevertheless be wrong. I believe that your decision not to prosecute Donald Trump now, and on the existing record, is misguided and completely contrary to the public interest. I therefore cannot continue in my current position.
Jordan first contacted Pomerantz on March 22 seeking his testimony but Bragg has since instructed his former employee not to provide any relevant material to Congress about the investigation into Trump.
On March 27, Pomerantz told the House Judiciary Committee that he would respect Bragg’s instructions and disregard Jordan’s order.
On Tuesday, Bragg unsealed the case against Trump revealing the former president had been charged with 34 felonies stemming from falsified business records related to hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, an adult actress, prior to the 2016 presidential election.
“Under New York state law it is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and an intent to conceal another crime. That is exactly what this case is about. Thirty-four false statements made to cover up other crimes,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said during a press conference hosted Tuesday afternoon following Trump’s arraignment.
“These are felony crimes in New York state, no matter who you are.”
