DA Bragg to testify in Congress on Trump case
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and one of the trial team prosecutors in former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial have agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on July 12, the day after Trump’s sentencing, according to Bragg’s office.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, requested testimony from Bragg and Matthew Colangelo in May 31 letters that he posted on X. Jordan said the hearing will focus on the “weaponization” of the federal government, echoing an accusation Trump has leveled without evidence that the Biden administration – not Bragg, as a New York state prosecutor – was behind the case.
Trump was convicted by unanimous jury verdict on May 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a conspiracy to unlawfully interfere in the 2016 election through a scheme involving a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
“It undermines the rule of law to spread dangerous misinformation, baseless claims, and conspiracy theories following the jury’s return of a fullcount felony conviction in People v. Trump,” a spokesperson for Bragg said in a statement to USA TODAY.
“Nonetheless, we respect our government institutions and plan to appear voluntarily before the subcommittee after sentencing,” the statement said.
Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that Biden is behind his New York state case.
In trying to paint the portrait of a conspiracy, Trump has noted that Colangelo is a former U.S. Justice Department official who later joined New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, where he worked on the civil fraud case against Trump that resulted in a $454 million judgment against him. Colangelo was appointed senior counsel in Bragg’s office in December 2022.
Biden’s allies sent Colangelo “to directly oversee the D.A., perhaps to make sure that Bragg followed their illegal orders and commands,” Trump claimed without evidence.
In his letters to Bragg and Colangelo, Jordan said the hearing “will examine actions by state and local prosecutors to engage politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials, in particular the recent political prosecution of President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.”
On Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte sent a letter to the committee stating the department didn’t find a single email communication between any of its leadership officials and Bragg’s office regarding any investigation or prosecution of Trump.
“This is unsurprising,” Uriarte said, noting the two prosecuting entities are separate. “As the Attorney General stated at his hearing, the conspiracy theory that the recent jury verdict in New York state court was somehow controlled by the Department is not only false, it is irresponsible.”
A spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee hasn’t respond to a request for comment.