The day after Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 felony charges, a House panel led by Trump ally Jim Jordan called for the district attorney who prosecuted the former president to testify before Congress next month.
The House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government announced on X that it would demand that New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office built the case against Mr Trump, appear before the subcommittee on 13 June. Mr Jordan also serves as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which houses the subcommittee.
The announcement came after a jury in New York found Mr Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to corruptly influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. The verdict made Mr Trump the first former president to be convicted of a felony.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Bragg said: “The only voice that matters is the voice of the jury”.Mr Bragg said his team had treated the case like they would any other, despite the defendant being like no other in American history.
“I did my job,” he said.
The verdict, as well as the trial as a whole, infuriated Republicans, who promised there would be consequences for Mr Bragg’s investigation and the eventual indictment and trial.
The subcommittee also requested Matthew Colangelo, the senior counsel in Mr Bragg’s office appear.
It is not the first time that the subcommittee has gone after Mr Bragg. Last year, ahead of the indictment, Mr Jordan sent a letter requesting Mr Bragg to testify before the subcommittee.
Mr Bragg has repeatedly rebuffed Mr Jordan, even filing a lawsuit asking a federal court to urge Mr Jordan from interfering into his prosecution of the former president.
Mr Jordan for his part has held Judiciary Committee hearings in New York City to falsely portray the city as being overrun by crime. That in turn led to heckling from protesters in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City, including chants of “Hey hey, ho, ho, Jim Jordan’s got to go.”
A hardline Republican and co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, Mr Jordan played a crucial role in Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Mr Trump, for his part, endorsed Mr Jordan’s bid to become speaker of the House, which ultimately failed due to opposition from more mainstream Republicans.
