The 50-page complaint that Alvin Bragg just filed against Jim Jordan and his committee alternates between sober recitations of legal fact and ferocious calling out of major crimes against the Constitution and actual people. Sometimes both. From the first page of the filing:
,,,seek highly sensitive and confidential local prosecutorial information that belongs to the Office of the District Attorney and the People of New York. Basic principles of federalism and common sense, as well as binding Supreme Court precedent, forbid Congress from demanding it.
,,,unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack
…a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack District Attorney Bragg
The subpoena served on Mr. Pomerantz is invalid, unenforceable, unconstitutional, and ultra vires because it has no legitimate legislative purpose.
Ultra vires = beyond their authority.
Bragg has weaponized the perennial States’ Rights Dog Whistle against the Whistling Dogs who are now vehemently throwing themselves under the electric bus, because the Base would literally rather die than see Equal Justice meted out to their Fearful Leader.
Mehdi does excellent rants about these and other lawless goons.
Does anybody remember prosecutor “Ham” Burger in the TV show Perry Mason objecting to a question at a trial in similar language?
Burger: Objection, Your Honor, incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.
Mason: I withdraw the question, Your Honor.
Or the Marx Brothers, in Duck Soup?
Chico, on the stand: OK, now I ask you one. What is it has a trunk but no keys, weighs two thousand pounds, and lives in a circus?
Groucho: That’s irrelevant!
Chico: Irrelevant! Hey! Dat’s the answer!
OK, with that out of the way, let’s see what nonsense we have in real life.
Sentence First! Verdict After!
The obstructor claims to be obstructed.
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan ran to Fox News to b*tch and moan about being sued by DA Alvin Bragg over his interference with Manhattan's indictment of Trump.
Fox News host Bret Baier read off the charges Bragg made against Jordan's immoral interference in the Manhattan DA's prosecution of Trump.
"They're obstructing our investigation, Brett," Jordan said without giggling. "We have a constitutional duty to get to the facts, particularly when you have a district attorney interfering with the most important election we have, which is the election of the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States."
Congress has no authority over state prosecutions, and Jordan knows this. He's playing his usual brand of performative grievance politics.
Fox News Flash: Jordan fires back at Bragg lawsuit: He used fed funds to indict Trump for 'no crime'
Bragg claims Jordan is interfering in a state or municipal case
Fox News Flash: Jordan blasts Bragg lawsuit: Prosecutor upset Congress wants oversight on his anti-Trump former associate
Former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who worked with Alvin Bragg, wrote a book about bringing lawsuit against Trump
Bragg has ordered Pomerantz not to comply in any way with the Committee’s subpoena. Pomerantz told the Committee to lalk to Bragg.
Politico: House GOP’s Sunshine State retreat turns into a Trump defense play
Republican lawmakers had hoped to spend three days in Florida talking up their agenda. Instead, they’re getting pulled to focus on one Florida man in particular.
In their letter, the House GOP chairs warn that a potential Trump indictment would “erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the course of the 2024 presidential election.”
“In light of the serious consequences of your actions, we expect that you will testify about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision,” they told Bragg.
In a response to the letter, which POLITICO first reported on Monday morning that House Republicans would be sending, Bragg’s office sent a statement noting that “New York remains one of the safest big cities in the U.S. with a far lower murder rate than the most populous cities where the Committee Chairmen hail from — Ohio, Wisconsin, and Kentucky.”
Burn!
Facts
The Bragg filing opens with 24 points of law, and follows that with a series of FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS, supported by points 25-111. The rest of the brief, points 112-127, consists of requests for actions by the Court.
A. District Attorney Bragg Takes Office And Reduces Crime In New York City.
B. District Attorney Bragg Continues His Predecessor’s Investigations Into Mr. Trump.
C. Chairmen Of Three Congressional Committees Send A Letter Requesting Documents and Testimony from District Attorney Bragg, Mr.Pomerantz, and Carey Dunne.
D. District Attorney Bragg Responds.
E. Former President Donald Trump Launches Attacks on Social Media and Puts District Attorney Bragg And Other New Yorkers at Risk.
F. The Chairmen Continue to Insist on Document Production and Testimony.
G. Donald Trump Persists in His Attacks on Social Media.
H. Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne Respond.
I. New York State Supreme Court Unseals The Fact That Mr. Trump Ha Been Indicted And The Chairmen (And Other Members Of Congress) React.
J. District Attorney Bragg Responds to the Chairmen.
K. Donald Trump and His Supporters Continue to Interfere with an Ongoing State Criminal Proceeding.
L. Mr. Trump Is Arraigned, And Chairman Jordan And The Committee Subpoena Mr. Pomerantz.
Further Reading
The Manhattan district attorney's federal lawsuit means House Republicans will have to defend their interference in court.
Apology
A very early draft of this post got published in error. My error. I regret the confusion I caused.
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