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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg attends an event in New York on December 10, 2022.
(Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Rejecting 'Brazen' Interference in Trump Criminal Case, New York DA Sues Jim Jordan
"Rather than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction," reads the lawsuit.
Apr 11, 2023
Lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who as chair of the House Judiciary Committee has launched numerous attempts to interfere with the prosecution of former Republican President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit was filed a week after Bragg's office charged Trump with 34 felony counts stemming from his alleged "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
Jordan responded to the charges by issuing a subpoena to a former investigator in Bragg's office, Mark Pomerantz, calling on him to provide the Ohio Republican's committee with a closed-door deposition about the probe into Trump's alleged crimes.
The subpoena amounted to a "brazen and unconstitutional attack" by a close ally of Trump who is intent on waging a "transparent campaign to intimidate" the district attorney's office, Bragg's lawyers said in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York.
Bragg is seeking to bar Jordan from enforcing the subpoena and from demanding testimony from anyone else, including the district attorney himself.
"Rather than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction," reads the lawsuit.
In addition to the subpoena, Jordan—along with Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who respectively chair the House Oversight, and Administration committees—sent letters last month to Bragg's office demanding documents regarding the investigation into Trump, claiming the House Judiciary Committee has the authority to oversee the case.
"Usually Republicans want a weak federal government," Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Tuesday. "Seems now they want a centralized system."
\u201cCongress has no authority over a local DA & #AlvinBragg is rightly suing. Usually Republicans want a weak fed\u2019l gov\u2019t. Seems now they want a centralized system. \u201cManhattan D.A. sues Congress members for \u201cbrazen\u201d attack on Trump prosecution\u201d https://t.co/3OmaGeFGUX\u201d— Maya Wiley (@Maya Wiley) 1681241953
Jordan is also planning to hold a "field hearing" on April 17 in New York to investigate whether Bragg has inappropriately focused on prosecuting Trump—a 2024 presidential candidate—while failing to address crime in the city, which is down this year according to The New York Times.
"House Republicans' attempts to interfere in the prosecution of their political ally Donald Trump by a local DA are unprecedented and dangerous," said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It's good that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is not taking this lying down."
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Lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who as chair of the House Judiciary Committee has launched numerous attempts to interfere with the prosecution of former Republican President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit was filed a week after Bragg's office charged Trump with 34 felony counts stemming from his alleged "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
Jordan responded to the charges by issuing a subpoena to a former investigator in Bragg's office, Mark Pomerantz, calling on him to provide the Ohio Republican's committee with a closed-door deposition about the probe into Trump's alleged crimes.
The subpoena amounted to a "brazen and unconstitutional attack" by a close ally of Trump who is intent on waging a "transparent campaign to intimidate" the district attorney's office, Bragg's lawyers said in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York.
Bragg is seeking to bar Jordan from enforcing the subpoena and from demanding testimony from anyone else, including the district attorney himself.
"Rather than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction," reads the lawsuit.
In addition to the subpoena, Jordan—along with Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who respectively chair the House Oversight, and Administration committees—sent letters last month to Bragg's office demanding documents regarding the investigation into Trump, claiming the House Judiciary Committee has the authority to oversee the case.
"Usually Republicans want a weak federal government," Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Tuesday. "Seems now they want a centralized system."
\u201cCongress has no authority over a local DA & #AlvinBragg is rightly suing. Usually Republicans want a weak fed\u2019l gov\u2019t. Seems now they want a centralized system. \u201cManhattan D.A. sues Congress members for \u201cbrazen\u201d attack on Trump prosecution\u201d https://t.co/3OmaGeFGUX\u201d— Maya Wiley (@Maya Wiley) 1681241953
Jordan is also planning to hold a "field hearing" on April 17 in New York to investigate whether Bragg has inappropriately focused on prosecuting Trump—a 2024 presidential candidate—while failing to address crime in the city, which is down this year according to The New York Times.
"House Republicans' attempts to interfere in the prosecution of their political ally Donald Trump by a local DA are unprecedented and dangerous," said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It's good that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is not taking this lying down."
Lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who as chair of the House Judiciary Committee has launched numerous attempts to interfere with the prosecution of former Republican President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit was filed a week after Bragg's office charged Trump with 34 felony counts stemming from his alleged "hush money" payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
Jordan responded to the charges by issuing a subpoena to a former investigator in Bragg's office, Mark Pomerantz, calling on him to provide the Ohio Republican's committee with a closed-door deposition about the probe into Trump's alleged crimes.
The subpoena amounted to a "brazen and unconstitutional attack" by a close ally of Trump who is intent on waging a "transparent campaign to intimidate" the district attorney's office, Bragg's lawyers said in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York.
Bragg is seeking to bar Jordan from enforcing the subpoena and from demanding testimony from anyone else, including the district attorney himself.
"Rather than allowing the criminal process to proceed in the ordinary course, Chairman Jordan and the committee are participating in a campaign of intimidation, retaliation, and obstruction," reads the lawsuit.
In addition to the subpoena, Jordan—along with Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), who respectively chair the House Oversight, and Administration committees—sent letters last month to Bragg's office demanding documents regarding the investigation into Trump, claiming the House Judiciary Committee has the authority to oversee the case.
"Usually Republicans want a weak federal government," Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Tuesday. "Seems now they want a centralized system."
\u201cCongress has no authority over a local DA & #AlvinBragg is rightly suing. Usually Republicans want a weak fed\u2019l gov\u2019t. Seems now they want a centralized system. \u201cManhattan D.A. sues Congress members for \u201cbrazen\u201d attack on Trump prosecution\u201d https://t.co/3OmaGeFGUX\u201d— Maya Wiley (@Maya Wiley) 1681241953
Jordan is also planning to hold a "field hearing" on April 17 in New York to investigate whether Bragg has inappropriately focused on prosecuting Trump—a 2024 presidential candidate—while failing to address crime in the city, which is down this year according to The New York Times.
"House Republicans' attempts to interfere in the prosecution of their political ally Donald Trump by a local DA are unprecedented and dangerous," said Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "It's good that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg is not taking this lying down."
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LATEST NEWS
US Appeals Court Blocks Maine's Voter-Approved Ban on Overseas Corporate Money in Elections
"Our elections should belong to us, not to corporations owned or influenced by foreign governments whose interests may not align with our own," said the head of the committee behind the measure.
Aug 11, 2025
The Associated Press reported Monday that a federal appeals court recently blocked Maine from enforcing a ban on foreign interference in elections that the state's voters passed in 2023.
After Hydro-Quebec spent millions of dollars on a referendum, 86% of Mainers voted for Question 2, which would block foreign governments and companies with 5% or more foreign government ownership from donating to state referendums.
Then, the Maine Association of Broadcasters, Maine Press Association, Central Maine Power, and Versant Power sued to block the ballot initiative. According to the AP, last month, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston affirmed a lower-court ruling that the measure likely violates the First Amendment to the federal Constitution.
Judge Lara Montecalvo wrote that "the prohibition is overly broad, silencing U.S. corporations based on the mere possibility that foreign shareholders might try to influence its decisions on political speech, even where those foreign shareholders may be passive owners that exercise no influence or control over the corporation's political spending."
As the AP detailed:
The matter was sent back to the lower court, where it will proceed, and there has been no substantive movement on it in recent weeks, said Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for the Maine attorney general's office, on Monday. The law is on the state's books, but the state cannot enforce it while legal challenges are still pending, Hayes said.
Just months before voters approved Question 2, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the ban, citing fears that it could silence "legitimate voices, including Maine-based businesses." She previously vetoed a similar measure in 2021.
Still, supporters of the ballot initiative continue to fight for it. Rick Bennett, chair of Protect Maine Elections, the committee formed to support Question 2, said in a statement that "Mainers spoke with one voice: Our elections should belong to us, not to corporations owned or influenced by foreign governments whose interests may not align with our own."
A year after Maine voters approved that foreign election interference law, they also overwhelmingly backed a ballot measure to restrict super political action committees (PACs). U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf blocked that measure, Question 1, last month.
"We think ultimately the court of appeals is going to reverse this decision because it's grounded in a misunderstanding of what the Supreme Court has said," Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard professor and founder of the nonprofit Equal Citizens that helped put Question 1 on the ballot, told News Center Maine in July. "We are exhausted, all of us, especially people in Maine, with the enormous influence money has in our politics, and we want to do something about it."
Over 100 Children Have Died of Severe Hunger Amid Israeli Siege: Gaza Health Ministry
"People are being starved, children are being killed, families have lost everything," said the United Nations agency for Palestinian Refugees.
Aug 11, 2025
The Gaza Health Ministry announced on Monday that more than 100 children in Gaza have died of severe hunger during Israel's siege of the territory.
As Al Jazeera reported, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said that a total of 222 Palestinians have died from hunger during the siege, including 101 children. The vast majority of these deaths have come in just the last three weeks when the hunger crisis in Gaza started to garner international media attention, the ministry said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East on Monday emphasized the direness of the situation in a statement calling for a cease-fire to allow more aid into Gaza.
"People are being starved, children are being killed," the agency said. "Families have lost everything. Political will and leadership can stop an escalation and end the war. Every heartbeat counts."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that there is no starvation crisis in Gaza and has said such reports are part of a "fake" propaganda campaign waged by Israel's enemies.
However, it isn't just the Gaza Health Ministry warning of a hunger crisis in the region, as international charity Save the Children last week said that 43% of pregnant and breastfeeding women who showed up to its clinics in Gaza last month were malnourished, which represented a threefold increase since March, when the Israeli military imposed a total siege on the area.
The latest numbers about starvation in Gaza come as the Israeli government is pushing forward with a plan to fully invade and occupy Gaza, which experts have warned will only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis among its people.
"If these plans are implemented, they will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings, and destruction," said Miroslav Jenca, the United Nations assistant secretary general, over the weekend.
'Playing With Fire': Gavin Newsom Warns Trump He Will Wipe California GOP Off the Map
"If you will not stand down I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states," said Newsom.
Aug 11, 2025
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday put U.S. President Donald Trump on notice that he is not messing around when it comes to plans to ruthlessly redraw his state's congressional districts.
In a letter sent to Trump, Newsom warned that he is ready to take the gloves off should Texas go through with a mid-decade gerrymander that independent analysts have estimated could net Republicans five additional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
"You are playing with fire, risking the destabilization of our democracy, while knowing that California can neutralize any gains you can hope to make," he said. "This attempt to rig congressional maps to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in the 2026 election is an affront to American democracy."
Newsom—a likely presidential candidate for 2028—emphasized that he believes congressional maps "should be drawn by independent, citizen-led efforts," but he said that the actions of Texas Republicans were leaving him with little choice.
"If you will not stand down I will be forced to lead an effort to redraw the maps in California to offset the rigging of maps in red states," he said. "But if the other states call off their redistricting efforts, we will happily do the same. And American democracy will be better for it."
Newsom's office followed up this letter by sending a Trump-style all-caps post on X that reiterated the redistricting threat and finished up by writing, "THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION IN THIS MATTER."
Democratic Texas state lawmakers last week fled the state in order to deny the GOP-led Legislature quorum to vote on a new congressional map that would take a hatchet to many districts currently held by Democratic representatives. Newsom has responded by threatening to undo his state's independent redistricting process through a special ballot initiative this fall so that the California Legislature can redraw the state map with a strong partisan gerrymander.
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