Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan thought it’d be a good idea to interfere in an ongoing local criminal investigation. Amid reports that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg might indict Donald Trump, the Ohio Republican joined two other GOP committee chairs to ask Bragg to testify before Congress.
The prosecutor, Jordan insisted, “owes” Republicans answers.
Has Bragg brought charges against the former president? No. Is there any evidence that the district attorney has engaged in any wrongdoing? No. Does the U.S. House have jurisdiction over a local prosecutor’s office? Probably not. But the far-right Judiciary Committee chairman pounced anyway.
Rep. Jamie Raskin was not pleased. “The Republicans’ letter to the Manhattan District Attorney represents an astonishing and unprecedented abuse of power as they attempt to use Congressional resources to interfere in an ongoing criminal investigation at another level of government and obstruct a possible criminal indictment,” the Maryland Democrat said in a statement.
Yesterday, as The Hill reported, Jordan went even further.
Jordan on Wednesday sent letters to Mark Pomerantz, former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney, and Carey Dunne, former Manhattan Special Assistant District Attorney, both of whom resigned from Bragg’s Trump investigation in February 2022 because they disagreed with the district attorney’s reluctance to try and indict Trump on the second grand jury that had been empaneled in the case.
Note, the Judiciary Committee chairman didn’t just request the prosecutors’ testimony, he also asked that Pomerantz and Dunne “hand over documents and communications.”
A variety of adjectives come to mind to describe such a dynamic, but for now, let’s go with “bonkers.”
Jordan has presented literally no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. Bragg hasn’t even indicted the former president yet, and it’s open question as to whether such charges will ever materialize. For a congressional committee chair to demand private materials from a local prosecutor and former members of his team, about an ongoing case, isn’t just ridiculous, it’s also a rather obvious abuse.
What’s more, if the Ohioan were able to speak with Pomerantz and Dunne, he might not like what they have to say: Pomerantz is on record saying that, based on the evidence he saw, Trump is “guilty of numerous felony violations.”
But stepping back, as Jordan and too many of his GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill become increasingly agitated about an indictment that hasn’t happened yet, I have some modest advice for Republicans: Pace yourselves. In recent days, hysterical elements within the party have condemned charges they haven’t seen. They’ve decried prosecutorial overreach that hasn’t occurred. One senator went so far as to call for the Manhattan district attorney to be locked up for reasons the Republican would not explain. NBC News’ First Read team added yesterday, “Can we take a deep breath? Exercise some caution? And let the justice system work its course? After all, it was just a few months ago when Republicans attacked the FBI for searching Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. But those criticisms quickly died down after it got reported what the ex-president had at his Florida home (like classified documents on Iran and China).” If Trump is indicted — and as of today, that remains an “if” — there will be a lengthy adjudication process. He will have ample opportunity to present a defense. There might also be other criminal charges filed in entirely different jurisdictions about entirely separate scandals. It would be to everyone’s benefit, including the former president’s sycophantic GOP allies, to at least try to approach these issues with some degree of caution and maturity. Right now, Jordan is choosing an altogether less constructive path.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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