U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, 2 other House chairmen demand answers from Manhattan DA on looming Trump prosecution
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WASHINGTON – Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil on Monday joined two top House Republicans in demanding testimony from Manhattan’s district attorney amid reports of an impending indictment of former President Donald Trump, calling the potential charges a “politically motivated prosecutorial decision.”
“Your decision to pursue such a politically motivated prosecution — while adopting progressive criminal justice policies that allow career ‘criminals (to) run the streets’ of Manhattan — requires congressional scrutiny about how public safety funds appropriated by Congress are implemented by local law-enforcement agencies,” Steil, chairman of the House Administration Committee, wrote in a letter to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky co-signed the letter with Steil.
The letter comes during speculation that the Manhattan district attorney’s office could seek criminal charges against the former president related to an alleged $130,000 hush money payment during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to porn star Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with Trump.
It is the latest move from Republicans to defend the former president after Trump over the weekend indicated he could be arrested as soon as Tuesday. An indictment would be unprecedented for a former president and would come as Trump runs again for president in 2024.
The Republican chairmen in the letter alleged that an indictment of Trump would “erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice” and interfere in the upcoming presidential election.
They called the legal grounds for a looming indictment, which could involve election law and allegations of falsifying business records, “tenuous and untested,” noting federal prosecutors have so far declined to bring charges against Trump. The Republicans also criticized Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney who was involved in the payments and who reportedly testified in front of the New York grand jury, as having a “serious credibility problem.”
“The facts of this matter have not changed since 2018 and no new witnesses have emerged,” the letter reads. “The only intervening factor, it appears, was President Trump’s announcement that he would be a candidate for President in 2024.”
Bragg, the district attorney, last April acknowledged his office was continuing to investigate Trump. He said at the time investigators were “going through documents, interviewing witnesses, and exploring evidence not previously explored.”
A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Monday evening pushed back on the Republicans' characterization of crime in New York, noting shootings and homicides in Manhattan are down this year under Bragg's leadership.
"We will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law," the spokesperson said. "In every prosecution, we follow the law without fear or favor to uncover the truth."
Steil, Jordan and Comer in the letter requested Bragg’s testimony about his office’s decisions and demanded all documents and communications between the Manhattan district attorney’s office, the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal law enforcement agencies related to the Trump inquiry. They also requested communications to and from former employees Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz, who quit Bragg’s office over a previous decision not to pursue charges against Trump.
Monday's letter marked the latest step for Steil, a Janesville Republican who has re-energized what is traditionally a low-key House Administration Committee. After beginning his chairmanship with a hearing grilling the now-fired Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton over accusations of misconduct, Steil has positioned the committee to conduct oversight of congressional operations more broadly.
An oversight plan adopted for Steil's committee pledges to review the "politicization" of congressional agencies like the U.S. Capitol Police, review policies put in place when Democrats controlled the House and look into security concerns stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Last month, Steil defended Speaker Kevin McCarthy's decision to release thousands of hours of footage from the riot to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who largely portrayed the deadly insurrection as non-violent.
Steil's involvement in Monday's letter stems from his leadership of House Administration, which has oversight over federal elections.
The Republicans on Monday indicated they are interested in considering legislative reforms surrounding special counsels and suggested they could look into how the New York district attorney’s office uses federal funds.
“Your apparent decision to pursue criminal charges where federal authorities declined to do so requires oversight to inform potential legislative reforms about the delineation of prosecutorial authority between federal and local officials,” the letter reads.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Steil signs GOP letter demanding answers from Manhattan DA on Trump
