First appearance on Fox: The House Judiciary Committee is investigating top prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Trump for their past work as senior Justice Department officials under the Biden administration.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told Attorney General Merrick Garland that Bragg’s attorney, Matthew Colangelo, said there was a “perception that coordination” was taking place. requests for records related to their employment.
Mr. Colangelo delivered opening arguments against Mr. Bragg in Mr. Trump’s trial, alleging “criminal conspiracy and cover-up.”
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“The Judiciary Committee oversees politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials,” Jordan said in a letter to Garland obtained by Fox News Digital. “Since last year, public defenders who campaigned on the promise of prosecuting President Trump engaged in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial power by indicting a former president of the United States and a leading candidate for the current president. ”
A group photo of former President Trump, Matt Colangelo, New York prosecutor Letitia James, and Manhattan prosecutor Bragg. (Fox News Digital/Getty Images/Department of Justice)
Jordan noted that Bragg had indicted Trump on 34 counts of first-degree falsification of business records. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His unprecedented and historic criminal trial is underway in its third week.
The charge of falsifying business records is usually a misdemeanor, but Mr. Bragg must convince a jury that Trump is suspected of falsifying those records in furtherance of “another crime.” Prosecutors have suggested other crimes aimed at preventing or promoting an election are violations of New York state law. On its face, as an isolated crime, the charge is usually also a misdemeanor. Bragg said the combination of allegations of falsifying business records and interfering with or facilitating an election constitutes a felony.
“New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg is working on one of these politicized prosecutions, and former Justice Department official Matthew B. Colangelo is also leading some of it,” Jordan said. I wrote. “Therefore, given our knowledge that the Department of Justice is assisting in the politicized prosecution of Mr. Bragg, we have written to request information and documentation regarding Mr. Colangelo’s employment.”
Jordan argued that Colangelo’s career history “demonstrates a preoccupation with investigating people rather than prosecuting crimes.”
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Jordan pointed to Colangelo’s work in the New York attorney general’s office investigating President Trump and leading “a series of state lawsuits against Trump administration policies.”
Jordan said Colangelo began work as acting deputy attorney general on January 20, 2021, the first day of the Biden administration. Mr. Colangelo subsequently became Chief Deputy Attorney General.
Mr. Colangelo joined Mr. Bragg’s office in December 2022 after the resignations of Mark Pomerantz and Carrie Dunn, the prosecutors investigating Mr. Trump. Those prosecutors resigned in protest of Bragg’s initial reluctance to prosecute Trump.
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump during a hearing next to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo in Manhattan federal court regarding President Trump’s push to transfer criminal cases to federal court, June 27, 2023, in New York City, U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche speaks from the podium. In the courtroom sketch.Reuters/Jane Rosenberg (Reuters)
“Mr. Bragg reportedly hired Mr. Colangelo to “start” his office’s investigation of President Trump because of Mr. Colangelo’s “history of taking on Donald J. Trump and his family business.” ” Mr. Jordan wrote. “Mr. Colangelo is currently the lead prosecutor in President Trump’s trial.”
New York prosecutors allege President Trump tried to cover up with false business records
Jordan told Garland that Bragg’s prosecution of Trump “relates to the same federal subject matter that the Justice Department closed in 2018, and that it is a state-level extension of a matter that the federal government previously declined to prosecute.” “This is raising concerns that prosecutors are planning to retry the case,” he said.
Bragg’s prosecution relies “heavily” on testimony from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
“Since then, Cohen has been vocal about his deeply personal animosity toward President Trump,” Jordan wrote.
U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan speaks to the press. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Jordan went on to request documents and information about Colangelo’s work at the Justice Department related to Trump and Cohen.
“As the committee has previously explained, Mr. Bragg’s politicized prosecution of President Trump has serious consequences for federal interests,” Jordan wrote. “The fact that a former senior official at the Biden Justice Department is now leading the prosecution of President Biden’s major political opponents only furthers the perception that the Biden Justice Department has been politicized and weaponized.”
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Jordan said that any communication between Colangelo and employees of Mr. Bragg’s office, the office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James, the office of Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fannie Willis, or the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel or related documents requested from January 2021 to December 2022. to Trump, the Trump Organization, or any other entity owned or affiliated with Trump.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan Prosecutor Matt Colangelo, and Prosecutor Alvin Bragg.
Trump claimed there were lawsuits against him in every jurisdiction. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference charges. Smith’s secret records charges. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ charges were filed against him for election interference and coordination with President Biden.
Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
President Trump was also hit with a now-reduced $454 million verdict in a non-jury civil fraud trial stemming from a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James. He is appealing that decision.
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Meanwhile, Jordan requests all personnel files related to Colangelo. All communications between the Justice Department and Bragg’s office related to the prosecution of Mr. Trump. All records relating to Cohen’s convictions in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Jordan asked Garland to turn over the records by May 14.
The investigation into Mr. Colangelo comes days after Mr. Jordan and Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released a 300-page report alleging that Mr. Bragg “influenced prosecutorial discretion with political motives and hostility.” I was disappointed.
