The dramatic tit-for-tat between Alvin Bragg and Jim Jordan escalated Tuesday when the Manhattan District Attorney sued the House Judiciary Committee chairman, claiming Congress had no business investigating the New York State indictment of Donald Trump. But a modest expenditure of federally regulated funds by Bragg’s office may complicate his efforts to keep lawmakers from nosing around, thanks to court rulings that date to the 1970s Pentagon Papers leak.
The legal rub for Bragg is that his office has already acknowledged it spent $5,000 seized from criminals under the federal asset forfeiture program to pursue the criminal investigations against Trump, his company and his former CFO and wage court fights over subpoena compliance.
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Mike Davis, head of the Article III Project and a former Senate Judiciary Committee counsel who vetted Supreme Court and federal judiciary nominees, said he believes Jordan should not be deterred by Bragg’s lawsuit one bit and should expand the probe to look at the New York prosecutor’s frequent decisions to downgrade felony violent crimes to misdemeanors while pursuing 34 felony charges against Trump.
“Bragg is endangering New Yorkers by diverting federal funds from real crimes — like carjackings, robberies, assaults, rapes, and murders — to interfere in a presidential election,” Davis said. “Congress has a duty, under Section 5 of the 14th Amendment and its oversight of the federal purse, to investigate.”
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Some legal experts like Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said the Trump indictment even triggers Congress’ interest in global relations, since prominent leaders from El Salvador to Mexico have stated publicly Bragg’s pursuit of a political enemy is a setback to democracy worldwide.
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