{"id":571277,"date":"2023-04-22T07:20:20","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T04:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/house-republicans-manhattan-da-end-fight-over-trump-inquiry\/"},"modified":"2023-04-22T07:20:20","modified_gmt":"2023-04-22T04:20:20","slug":"house-republicans-manhattan-da-end-fight-over-trump-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/house-republicans-manhattan-da-end-fight-over-trump-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"#House Republicans, Manhattan DA end fight over Trump inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed Friday to let Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee question an ex-prosecutor about the criminal case against former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, committee members will be able to question Mark Pomerantz under oath next month in Washington. The deal resolves a lawsuit in which Bragg had sought to block Pomerantz from testifying, ending a legal dispute that escalated to a federal app<\/a>eals court just weeks after Trump’s historic indictment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pomerantz will be accompanied by a lawyer from Bragg’s office, an accommodation the committee said it would have allowed even without Friday’s agreement.<\/p>\n

Bragg\u2019s office and the Judiciary Committee reached the agreement after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay Thursday<\/a> that temporarily halted enforcement of a House subpoena which had called for Pomerantz to testify.<\/p>\n

The appeals court had been scheduled to hear oral arguments in the dispute on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Bragg’s office said the agreement, delaying Pomerantz’s testimony until May 12, preserves the district attorney’s \u201cprivileges and interests\u201d in his ongoing Trump prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur successful stay of this subpoena blocked the immedia<\/a>te deposition and afforded us the time necessary to coordinate with the House Judiciary Committee on an agreement that protects the District Attorney\u2019s privileges and interests,\u201d Bragg\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased with this resolution, which ensures any questioning of our former employee will take place in the presence of our General<\/a> Counsel on a reasonable, agreed upon timeframe. We are gratified that the Second Circuit\u2019s ruling provided us with the opportunity to successfully resolve this dispute,\u201d Bragg\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

Bragg had appealed to the 2nd Circuit after a lower court judge ruled Wednesday that there was no legal basis to block the Judiciary Committee\u2019s subpoena and that Pomerantz\u2019s deposition must go forward as scheduled.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Bragg withdrew his appeal.<\/p>\n

Russell Dye, a spokesperson for committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said in a statement, \u201cMr. Pomerantz\u2019s deposition will go forward on May 12, and we look forward to his appearance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pomerantz once oversaw the yearslong Trump investigation but left the job after clashing with Bragg over the direction of the case. He recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and other shows.<\/p>\n

Bragg, a Democrat, sued Jordan and the Judiciary Committee last week seeking to block the subpoena. His lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, argued that seeking Pomerantz\u2019s testimony was part of a \u201ctransparent campaign to intimidate and attack\u201d Bragg and that Congress was \u201cinvading a state\u201d to investigate a local prosecutor when it had no authority to do so.<\/p>\n

Boutrous said House Republicans\u2019 interest in Bragg amounted to Congress \u201cjumping in and haranguing the D.A. while the prosecution is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Judiciary Committee started scrutinizing Bragg\u2019s investigation of the former president in the weeks that preceded his indictment. Jordan sent letters seeking interviews with Bragg and documents before subpoenaing Pomerantz. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, said in her ruling Wednesday that she would handle any legal fights that may arise from other subpoenas in the committee\u2019s investigation of Bragg.<\/p>\n

A committee lawyer, Matthew Berry, said at that hearing that Congress has legitimate legislative reasons for wanting to question Pomerantz and examine Bragg\u2019s prosecution of Trump, citing the office\u2019s use of $5,000 in federal funds to pay for Trump-related investigations.<\/p>\n

Congress is also considering legislation, offered by Republicans in the wake of Trump\u2019s indictment, to change how criminal cases against former presidents unfold, Berry said. One bill would prohibit prosecutors from using federal funds to investigate presidents, and another would require any criminal cases involving a former president be resolved in federal court instead of at the state level.<\/p>\n

House Republicans, Berry said, want to protect the sovereignty and autonomy of the presidency, envisioning a scenario where the commander in chief could feel obligated to make certain decisions to avoid having local prosecutors in politically unfavorable jurisdictions charge them with crimes after they leave office.<\/p>\n

For those reasons, Berry argued, Congress is immune from judicial intervention, citing the speech and debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

Pomerantz could refuse to answer certain questions, citing legal privilege and ethical obligations, and Jordan would rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis, Berry said, but he shouldn\u2019t be exempt from showing up. If Jordan were to overrule Pomerantz and he still refused to answer, he could then face a criminal referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress, but that wouldn\u2019t happen immediately, Berry said.<\/p>\n

Trump was indicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com\/mikesisak and Larry Neumeister at twitter.com\/lneumeister and send confidential tips by visiting https:\/\/www.ap.org\/tips\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally published <\/span>