(NewsNation) — Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a resolution Tuesday to hold Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who investigated former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress.

“I believe Mr. Pomerantz engaged in misconduct in his targeting of President Trump, and his refusal to answer simple questions should not go unpunished,” Gaetz wrote on Twitter. “If he fails to comply with the congressional subpoena, then the Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives must summon him by force.”

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs which came out during his 2016 presidential campaign. Pomerantz was part of the Trump probe at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, before he left after disagreements over the investigation’s direction. Recently, he was subpoenaed and went before the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee.

NewsNation partner The Hill wrote that Pomerantz said he was appearing before the committee because he was required to — but issued a sharp rebuke of the panel, and disclosed his intent to invoke the Fifth Amendment.

“What I do not respect is the use of the Committee’s subpoena power to compel me to participate in an act of political theater,” Pomerantz’s statement read, according to The Hill. “This deposition is for show. I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative ‘oversight.’”

“Fortunately, I do not have to cooperate with the cynical histrionics that this deposition represents,” it later adds. “Although the rule of law compels me to be here, it does not require that I play a substantive role in your theatrical production. Under the law, I can decline to answer your questions for several reasons.”

Speaking on “Morning in America,” however, Gaetz said political theater is how Pomerantz got involved in the Trump matter to begin with.

“He literally volunteered to go and investigate not a crime, but the man Donald Trump,” Gaetz said.

Part of the reason he invoked the Fifth Amendment, Pomerantz said, was because the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had previously warned him before he published a book on the investigation that he could face criminal liability if he revealed grand jury material or violated a provision of the New York City Charter dealing with misuse of confidential information

The book detailing Pomerantz’s experience, and why he thinks Trump should be prosecuted, is called “People vs. Donald Trump.” It was published by Simon & Schuster in February 2023.

“You don’t get to say, ‘Well, I wrote this book about the whole endeavor, I stand by the book, but now I’m not going to answer specific questions about laws that may have been broken in the prosecution,'” Gaetz said. “So when someone puts forward a frivolous basis to not answer questions, then Congress has the right to take a contempt action against them.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.