DA Bragg, Colangelo to Testify Before House Panel

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Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and the lead prosecutor in the New York criminal trial against Donald Trump will testify July 12 before the House Judiciary Committee, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.

House Republicans are set to grill Bragg and Matthew Colangelo, who was third in charge in the Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) before leaving to be Bragg’s lead prosecutor against Trump. The hearing will occur a day after Trump is sentenced by Judge Juan Merchan after being convicted by a jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover a payment made by disgraced former attorney Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said he is the victim of a political prosecution because he is the presumptive Republican challenger to President Joe Biden in November’s election.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the Judiciary Committee and a Trump ally, wrote a letter to Bragg on May 31 requesting him to testify.

“This hearing will examine actions by state and local prosecutors to engage politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials, in particular the recent political prosecution of President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office,” Jordan wrote.

Bragg reportedly suggested his testimony would have to wait until after Trump was sentenced.

“It undermines the rule of law to spread dangerous misinformation, baseless claims and conspiracy theories following the jury’s return of a full-count felony conviction in People v. Trump,” Bragg’s office said in a statement to The New York Times. “Nonetheless, we respect our government institutions and plan to appear voluntarily before the subcommittee.”

Although Colangelo left his post as the DOJ’s Acting Associate Attorney General to join Bragg’s team to prosecute Trump, the DOJ has denied there was any coordination regarding the prosecution.

Carlos Felipe Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, wrote in a letter to Jordan on Tuesday, obtained by Axios, that the department’s “comprehensive search” for communications between the DOJ and the Bragg’s office “found none.”

“This is unsurprising … The Department does not supervise the work of the District Attorney’s office,” Uriarte wrote. “Our extraordinary efforts to respond to your speculation should put it to rest.”