House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Thursday subpoenaed a former Manhattan District Attorney’s Office prosecutor who had worked on the office’s investigation into hush money payments from former President Trump.
The move escalates a fledgling investigation into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office that began shortly after Trump predicted his arrest in connection with the probe and comes as Jordan has said he is weighing a subpoena to Bragg.
The subpoena to Mark Pomerantz follows a letter asking him to speak with the committee about his resignation from the office after leading the investigation into Trump.
“Based on your unique role as a special assistant district attorney leading the investigation into President Trump’s finances, you are uniquely situated to provide information that is relevant and necessary to inform the Committee’s oversight and potential legislative reforms,” Jordan wrote in the letter.
He goes on to address a book penned by Pomerantz about efforts to prosecute Trump as well as television appearances made to discuss the case.
“As a result, you have no basis to decline to testify about matters before the Committee that you have already discussed in your book and/or on a prime-time television program with an audience in the millions, including on the basis of any purported duty of confidentiality or privilege interest,” Jordan added.
Pomerantz resigned from working on Bragg’s Trump investigation about a year ago over disagreements with Bragg over the Trump case, writing in a resignation letter published by the New York Times that he believed Trump was “guilty of numerous felony violations.” He said Bragg’s reluctance to pursue charges against Trump was “misguided and completely contrary to the public interest.”
Jordan sent initial testimony requests to Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, a former Manhattan special assistant District Attorney who also resigned from Bragg’s Trump investigation around the same time as Pomerantz, on Mar. 22 following an announcement from Trump last month that he expected to be arrested in the hush money probe.
Jordan has separately teamed up with House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) — at the encouragement of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — to seek documents and testimony from Bragg himself about the case, charging that the case is politically motivated.
The requests have spurred a battle between the House GOP investigators and Bragg over questions of Congressional jurisdiction and warnings over interfering in an ongoing criminal case.
The cover letter of the subpoena to Pomerantz delves deep into passages from his book, teasing out his thoughts on witnesses and Trump himself, as well as the personal consequence of being involved in the first-ever criminal prosecution of a president.
“These perceptions appear to have colored your work as a special assistant district attorney, to the point that you even resigned because the investigation into President Trump was not proceeding fast enough for your liking,” Jordan writes.
“In your resignation letter, you prejudged the results of the District Attorney’s investigation, writing that ‘Donald Trump is guilty of numerous felony violations,’ and vowing not to be a ‘passive participant’ to “a grave failure of justice.”
The Hill reached out for comment at Pomerantz’s current law firm, a non-profit he established with Dunne, which did not respond.
Dunne is reportedly also not cooperating with Jordan’s request to testify.
Bragg, however, did respond to the news of the subpoena, writing that Jordan was “interfering in an ongoing criminal matter in state court.”
“The House GOP continues to attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation,” Bragg tweeted. “Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law.”
The subpoena deadline is April 20, and an earlier letter from the committee indicates the panel wants all documents and communications he retains in relation to the investigation.
The effort to compel testimony from Pomerantz, while intensifying Jordan’s posture in the probe, is not as explosive a step as the subpoena to Bragg he says he is still mulling.
Jordan said on Fox News on Wednesday that compelling testimony from Pomerantz “might be an easier route to pursue initially than Mr. Bragg, but everything is on the table.”
This story was updated at 4:32 p.m.