Jim Jordan argues court has no authority to block subpoena

Rep. Jim Jordan on Monday responded to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s federal lawsuit against him — arguing the court has no authority to block his subpoena of a lawyer who worked on the DA’s investigation of former President Donald Trump.

Lawyers for the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jordan (R-Ohio), argued lawmakers have a right to probe whether ex-presidents are being subjected to “politically motivated state investigations and prosecutions,” according to the Manhattan federal court filing.

The Judiciary Committee is seeking deposition testimony from former assistant district attorney Mark Pomerantz — who quit Bragg’s office last year after the DA initially decided not to prosecute Trump — as part of its investigation into the indictment of the 76-year-old former president.

Bragg sued Jordan and the committee last week to block that subpoena and other requests for documents and testimony, calling it an “unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of former President Donald J. Trump.”

But attorneys for the GOP-led House of Representatives argued in their response that the congressional probe is proper because “the prospect of a politically motivated prosecution of a former President could give rise to issues of substantial federal concern.”

The federal government “has a substantial interest in the welfare of former Presidents,” the filing states.

“Congress may therefore examine whether former Presidents are being subject to politically motivated state investigations and prosecutions due to the policies they advanced as President, and, if so, what legislative remedies may be appropriate,” the attorneys wrote.

They also argued that Jordan and other lawmakers are immune from lawsuits such as Bragg’s under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. 

The filing came as Jordan and other members of Congress traveled to Manhattan Monday to hold a hearing at a federal building near Bragg’s office to amplify voices of crime victims in New York.

Jordan and other Republicans have sought to highlight crime victims in the city to show that the elected Democratic DA’s focus should be local issues – not prosecuting Trump.

Bragg’s office responded by pointing to NYPD statistics that show murders, shootings and burglaries have all dropped in his jurisdiction in the first quarter of 2023. 

Attorneys for the DA’s Office also filed a brief in the federal suit co-signed by a host of former members of Congress, prosecutors and other experts calling the Judiciary Committee’s investigation “unlawful interference” that is “outrageous and unprecedented.” 

The letter was supported by four former GOP members of Congress. 

Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in March. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in criminal court the following week.