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Last week House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed former New York County Special District Attorney Mark Pomerantz. Pomerantz left the office not long after Bragg took over, allegedly because he was upset that Bragg wouldn’t prosecute Trump. The subpoena from Jordan was ostensibly for oversight of Bragg’s behavior. Here’s a bit of the letter to Pomerantz from Rep. Jordan.
…if state or local prosecutors are able to engage in politically motivated prosecutions of Presidents of the United States (current or former) for personal acts, this could have a profound impact on how Presidents choose to exercise their powers while in office. For example, a President could choose to avoid taking action he believes to be in the national interest because it would negatively impact New York City for fear that he would be subject to a retaliatory prosecution in New York City.
As a result, the New York County District Attorney’s unprecedented prosecutorial conduct requires oversight to inform the consideration of potential legislative reforms that would, if enacted, insulate current and former Presidents from such politically motivated state and local prosecutions. These potential legislative reforms may include, among other things, broadening the existing statutory right of removal of certain criminal cases from state court to federal court.
That’s the setup for why Jordan believes oversight is needed. The payoff is that he wants Pomerantz to testify about what he knows about the decision to prosecute Trump, something which was the focus of a book he recently published.
