House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is requesting documents from the New York attorney general regarding the hiring of the lead prosecutor in Donald Trump’s trial. hush money trial.
Jordan, R-Ohio, accused Matthew Colangelo, a former top official in Attorney General Letitia James’ office, of aiding what he called a “politicized prosecution” of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg when Trump was on trial in New York.
In a letter to James on Wednesday, Jordan said Colangelo has spent years prosecuting Trump since his tenure as chief counsel in the state attorney general’s office, overseeing his allegations against the Trump administration. civil fraud case resulting in $454 million verdict Against Trump and his companies.
Assistant District Attorney Colangelo, who delivered the opening statement at Trump’s trial in New York last month, is a former top Justice Department official in Washington who served as assistant attorney general under President Joe Biden and then as principal deputy attorney general.
It is unusual for a House committee to make demands on a local prosecutor in the middle of a trial. Attempts by Jordan to obtain information from Bragg’s office have been met with criticism that he does not respect the role of local government in federalism.
But Trump has recently complained that his allies in Washington have not done enough to defend him, leading a recent parade of supporters to a Manhattan courtroom.
Jordan has also increased its demands from the prosecutors accusing Trump.
Jordan said in a recent letter that the memo “demonstrates his obsession with investigating a person rather than prosecuting a crime.”
“The fact that a former top Biden Justice Department official whose previous job included leading a ‘wave of state litigation against Trump administration policies’ is now leading the prosecution of President Biden’s chief political opponent only adds to the perception of Biden Justice.” The department has become politicized and armed,” Jordan said.
Bragg, a Democrat, announced in late 2022 that Colangelo was joining his office as part of a team investigating Trump in the hush money case.
Trump said the case against him this year is “all Biden’s stuff, which is Biden and his thugs, because I don’t know if he knows he’s alive. And what’s happening to our country is shameful.”
Trump and his allies have said they are campaigning against him to hinder the political prospects of federal prosecutors.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made by Cohen. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
At the beginning of the trial, Trump privately complained about it did not see The public defense he expected from his close allies as he sat for hours each day in a frigid Manhattan courtroom kept his mouth shut to stop him from attacking witnesses and others in the case as ordered by the judge.
“No one is defending me,” Trump said.
Trump’s allies are growing delivers attacks that he cannot turn himself on.
Bragg rejected Trump’s claims that the indictment was politically motivated.
Jordan’s letter also seeks connections between Colangelo and the New York and Fulton County, Georgia, district attorneys’ offices, the Department of Justice, the Democratic National Committee and Biden’s campaign for President.
He also asks”[a]All personal documents relating to Mr. Colangelo’s employment, hiring and firing at the New York Attorney General’s Office.”
Trump is being indicted in Fulton County and in the office of special counsel Jack Smith at the Justice Department stemming from allegations related to his efforts to stay in office beyond the 2020 presidential election. Trump pleaded not guilty in these cases.