Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has agreed to testify before a House Judiciary Committee panel about former President Trump’s recent hush-money trial, which led to the first conviction of a former president.
Bragg’s response comes after House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter last month calling on Bragg and the other prosecutor in the case, Matthew Colangelo, to testify at a June 13 hearing on the “unprecedented political prosecution of President Trump.” Prosecutors responded Friday, saying their office was “committed to voluntary cooperation,” according to the Associated Press.
According to the Associated Press, Leslie Dubeck, an attorney for the district attorney’s office, wrote in a letter to Jordan that Bragg could testify “at an agreed-upon date and time,” but that the proposed date and time would create “various scheduling conflicts.”
The Hill has reached out to the prosecutor and Jordan’s office for comment.
The former president was convicted by a New York jury last week of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up his attempts to pay porn star Stormy Daniels hush money to cover up past allegations of infidelity during the 2016 presidential election, which he denies. Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention opens in Milwaukee, where he is expected to be officially nominated as the Republican candidate.
In their response, prosecutors noted that the case is not over yet: They still need to submit their recommendations for disciplinary action against the former president to the judge, the letter said.
“The trial court and appellate courts have issued numerous orders to protect the fair administration of justice in People v. Trump, and participating in a hearing at this time could adversely affect those efforts,” they wrote, according to the Associated Press.
Dubeck also asked Jordan’s office for more information about “the scope and purpose of the proposed hearing” and an opportunity to negotiate an alternative date.
In the letter, prosecutors said it was not impossible for Colangelo to testify, but added that they would “evaluate the appropriateness” of the prosecution’s activities.
The agreement comes as Jordan, who called the outcome of the case a “travesty of justice,” threatens to withhold Justice Department funding that had been earmarked for the Trump investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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