On Monday, Reps. Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryan Steil wrote to District Attorney Alvin Bragg, accusing him of preparing to "engage in an extraordinary abuse of prosecutorial authority" and seeking his testimony if a New York grand jury delivers an indictment charging Trump.
Inquiries into the circumstances surrounding a $130,000 payment made on Trump's behalf to adult film star Stormy Daniels only days before the 2016 election have been conducted by Bragg and the grand jury he assembled, including possible business record manipulation. Trump asserted on Thursday that he is "100% innocent" and has rejected all wrongdoing.
In their letter, the trio of GOP chairs also demanded details about any communications between the DA's office and the Justice Department, as well as information about the use of federal funding in Bragg's office. Comer heads the House Oversight Committee, Steil is in charge of the Committee on House Administration, and Jordan is in charge of the House Judiciary Committee.
Leslie Dubeck, the general counsel in Bragg's office, responded to the lawmakers on Thursday. In response to their demands, she said that doing so would expose "non-public material regarding a criminal investigation that is confidential under state law."
Dubeck said in reference to Trump's remark over the weekend that he anticipated being detained on Tuesday that the chairmen's letter "only came after Donald Trump established a false expectation that he would be jailed the next day and his lawyers apparently requested you to intervene." "Neither fact is a legitimate foundation for congressional inquiry."
Dubeck said the DA's office cannot divulge information about grand jury proceedings absent a ruling from a judge. Invoking historical precedent and Supreme Court rulings about the divide of state and federal authority, she referred to the chairmen's demands as a "unlawful incursion into New York's sovereignty."
She added, "It is obvious that Congress cannot have any valid legislative job relative to the control of local prosecutors enforcing state law." "The District Attorney is duty bound by his constitutional oath to New York's sovereign interest in the exercise of police powers reserved to the States under the Tenth Amendment, in order to safeguard the federalist ideals of the Constitution."
Dubeck said Congress is "not the appropriate branch to review pending criminal matters."
"If a grand jury brings charges against Donald Trump, the DA's Office will have an obligation, as in any case, to release a large amount of information from its files to the defendant so that he may prepare a defense," she stated. The Courts of New York are the appropriate venue for such a challenge since they are set up to consider and review such objections. "The Letter's accusation that the DA's Office is pursuing a prosecution for political motives is false.
Addressing the chairmen's request for information about the DA's office use of federal money, Dubeck said the office is "preparing and will submit a statement outlining its use of federal funding." She requested a meeting with the legislators "to ascertain whether the Committee has any valid legislative purpose in the requested information that may be provided without compromising [New York's] sovereign interests."
According to sources speaking to CBS News, the grand jury looking into Trump did not convene on Wednesday as scheduled and is slated to hear testimony in a different case on Thursday. This suggests that any vote on an indictment would likely be postponed until at least next week.
