House panel subpoenas former New York prosecutor in Trump felony case

Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, listens during a hearing on February 9, 2023 in Washington.

A House committee issued a subpoena Thursday for a former Manhattan prosecutor as part of an effort to undercut the criminal case against former President Donald Trump unveiled this week by District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, issued the summons for Mark Pomerantz, who helped lead the Trump investigation before resigning last year when Bragg did not immediately move to bring charges against Trump.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg discuss charges filed against former President Donald Trump on April 4, 2023 in New York City.

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Bragg unveiled the case before Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts related to a hush money scheme allegedly directed by Trump in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels about an alleged affair years earlier.

House committee has no authority over local DA’s workings

While Jordan’s committee has no authority over the the local district attorney’s operations, the chairman also has suggested he would call for Bragg’s testimony about the investigation, which Trump and Republican allies have cast as politically motivated.

Bragg has asserted that the House Republican actions are attempts to intimidate prosecutors and interfere with their work.

“Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court and avail himself of all processes and protections that New York State’s robust criminal procedure affords,” Bragg said in a letter to House GOP members. “What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State.”

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Asked for comment, Pomerantz told USA TODAY, “I have no public comment at this time.”

When leaving the office last year, Pomerantz’s resignation letter referred to his belief that Trump was “guilty of numerous felony violations.”