The Manhattan district attorney’s office reprimanded three House Republican chairmen Thursday, arguing that they exceeded their request for DA Alvin Bragg’s testimony related to a secret money investigation involving former President Donald Trump.
In a letter obtained by NBC News, Leslie Dubeck, general counsel for the Manhattan DA’s office, called her request “an unprecedented investigation into a pending local prosecution” that “came only after Donald Trump created false hope that he would be arrested next time.” Day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene.
“Neither fact is a valid basis for a congressional investigation,” she wrote. She also stated that the district attorney in New York is a “constitutional officer who ‘has the responsibility to conduct all trials for crimes and misdemeanors cognizable by the court of the county in which he serves.’
The letter was addressed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, and House Administration Committee Chairman Brian Steele.
Dubeck wrote, “These are quintessential police powers belonging to the state, and your letter is very clear in the area reserved for the states.” “It suggests that the congressional investigation is being conducted ‘solely for the personal advancement of the investigators’ or to ‘punish’ the investigators, and is, therefore, ‘unconscionable.'”
She requested a meeting with the committees’ staff to “better understand” their requests for information.
Three Republican chairs sent letters to Bragg earlier this week requesting that he testify before Congress.
“You are about to allegedly engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial power: the prosecution of a former President of the United States and a currently declared candidate for that office,” he wrote on Monday.
His letter came after Trump predicted in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday that he would be arrested on Tuesday. However, a decision is still pending in the Manhattan Grand Jury investigation regarding surreptitious payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. His letter marked the first investigative action from the committees after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., vowed to investigate those probing Trump.
Meanwhile, Jordan requested testimony from two former prosecutors on Wednesday, expanding the broader GOP investigation into Bragg.
He sent the letters to former prosecutors Mark Pomerantz and Kerry Dunn, who was involved in criminal investigations of Trump and his company, the Trump Organization. Pomerantz and Dunne abruptly resigned from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office last year.
In his letters, Jordan requested that the former prosecutor testify in a written interview “as soon as possible” and turn over documents and information from January 2017 to the present.
“Last year, you resigned office over Bragg’s initial reluctance to proceed with the allegations, shaming Bragg in your resignation letter,” Jordan wrote to Pomerantz. For any prosecution, we request your cooperation in overseeing this politically motivated prosecution decision.”