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Manhattan DA Accused of Politically Motivated Prosecution in Trump Trial: House Judiciary Committee Report

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‘Bragg’s politically motivated prosecution of President Trump threatens to destroy this notion of blind justice,’ the committee alleges.

The Home Judiciary Committee has launched a report documenting the panel’s allegations that Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg’s resolution to deliver felony costs towards former President Donald Trump within the so-called “hush cash” case was pushed by a political vendetta.

The committee introduced the publication of the report—entitled “An Anatomy of a Political Prosecution: The Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace’s Vendetta In opposition to President Donald J. Trump”—in an April 25 press launch that accused Mr. Bragg of undermining Individuals’ confidence within the judicial system.

“The elemental mission of any prosecutor’s workplace is to uphold the rule of regulation. And one of many hallmarks of this mission is to make sure that justice is blind—utilized pretty and equally,” the committee wrote within the launch.

“Bragg’s politically motivated prosecution of President Trump threatens to destroy this notion of blind justice by utilizing the felony justice system to assault a person he disagrees with politically, and, in flip, erodes the arrogance of the American individuals,” it added.

The report particulars the backdrop of Mr. Bragg’s resolution to cost President Trump with 34 felony counts utilizing a novel authorized principle that bootstrapped misdemeanor allegations right into a felony, alleging that the prosecution was motivated by political calculations.

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“The story behind the DANY’s [District Attorney of New York] investigation into President Trump and the individuals concerned illustrate the clear partisan goal of this case,” committee members wrote within the report’s government abstract.

The committee advocated for numerous legislative options to what it described as “politically motivated native prosecutions,” noting within the report that draft payments just like the No Extra Political Prosecutions Act is also used to handle Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis’ prosecution of President Trump on costs of participating in a felony conspiracy to intrude within the 2020 election.

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Mr. Bragg’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for touch upon the report.

‘Strain Marketing campaign’

The committee’s report alleged that Mr. Bragg, an elected Democrat, introduced the case partly attributable to strain from former particular prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who led an investigation into President Trump’s funds.

Mr. Pomerantz, who authored a e-book titled “Folks vs. Donald Trump,” was a Manhattan prosecutor underneath Mr. Bragg. He resigned in 2022 due to Mr. Bragg’s preliminary unwillingness to pursue a felony case towards the previous president.

“Pomerantz’s e-book was a part of a public strain marketing campaign to drive District Legal professional Alvin Bragg into motion,” the Judiciary Committee mentioned within the launch, alleging that Mr. Bragg’s resolution to alter President Trump in April 2023 was as a result of he “succumbed to Pomerantz’s strain marketing campaign.”

Days after Mr. Bragg indicted President Trump in April 2023, Home Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed Mr. Pomerantz, ordering him to look earlier than the committee to testify.
Mr. Bragg sued in a bid to dam the congressional subpoena, however a decide denied his request.

Whereas Mr. Pomerantz did in the end seem earlier than the panel and was questioned for round six hours, he refused to provide substantive responses, repeatedly claiming Fifth Modification protections.

“When Pomerantz appeared earlier than the Judiciary Committee to debate his e-book and politically motivated investigation, he was unusually silent—refusing to reply even essentially the most fundamental of questions,” the committee members wrote within the report, which features a transcript of Mr. Pomerantz’s deposition.

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The transcript reveals that Mr. Pomerantz declined to reply over 200 questions, both pleading the fifth or stating that he couldn’t disclose privileged info.

L: Mark F. Pomerantz at a press convention in New York Metropolis on March 12, 2008. (Chris Hondros/Getty Pictures) R: Then-President Donald Trump speaks to the media from the White Home South Garden in Washington on Aug. 7, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Instances)

In its report, the committee additionally referenced Mr. Pomerantz’s e-book, which the panel mentioned paints a “startling image of prosecutorial abuse.”

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“Pomerantz’s personal phrases present how the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace, populated with partisans who overtly bragged about their want to get President Trump, used its immense energy within the persecution of an individual, not a criminal offense,” the report states.

The committee highlighted Mr. Pomerantz’s numerous grievances with President Trump, as outlined in his e-book, together with the previous particular prosecutor’s eagerness to see the previous president prosecuted.

“These are the actions of a rogue, overzealous prosecutor appearing with political motivations,” committee members wrote. “And that motivation contaminated the investigation from the beginning.”

The committee additionally mentioned within the report that Mr. Bragg’s resolution to deliver felony costs towards the previous president following Mr. Pomerantz’s “strain marketing campaign” raised “appreciable suspicions” as as to if his resolution was attributable to political strain.

Mr. Pomerantz was not out there for touch upon the report’s allegations however he mentioned in earlier testimony that he’s sure he broke no legal guidelines and that his e-book is correct.

The report additionally particulars what it describes as proof of Mr. Bragg’s open animosity in the direction of President Trump whereas taking a sharply vital view of the DA’s resolution to bootstrap misdemeanor costs into felonies.

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“Bragg in the end settled on a novel authorized principle untested anyplace within the nation and one which federal authorities declined to pursue to resurrect the matter,” the report states. “The one intervening issue, it seems, was President Trump’s announcement that he could be a candidate for President in 2024.”

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg (C) returns to court for a pre-trial hearing in a hush-money case for former President Donald Trump in criminal court in New York City on March 25, 2024. (Mary Altaffer-Pool/Getty Images)
Manhattan district legal professional Alvin Bragg (C) returns to courtroom for a pre-trial listening to in a hush-money case for former President Donald Trump in felony courtroom in New York Metropolis on March 25, 2024. (Mary Altaffer-Pool/Getty Pictures)

From Misdemeanor to Felony

Mr. Bragg indicted President Trump on 34 counts of allegedly falsifying enterprise information with a view to conceal $130,000 in funds to grownup movie actress Stormy Daniels in change for conserving quiet about her allegations of an affair.

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Beneath New York state regulation, falsifying enterprise information is a misdemeanor. Nevertheless, if the information fraud was used to cowl up or commit one other crime, the cost could possibly be elevated to a felony.

“These costs are usually misdemeanors topic to a two-year statute of limitations, however Bragg used a novel and untested authorized principle—beforehand declined by federal prosecutors—to bootstrap the misdemeanor allegations as a felony, which prolonged the statute of limitations to 5 years, by alleging that information had been falsified to hide a second crime,” the report states.

President Trump has denied the affair and any wrongdoing, alleging that the case is politically motivated.

Numerous authorized consultants have challenged the way in which Mr. Bragg elevated the misdemeanor right into a felony.

“As a way to flip the state statute right into a felony, it’s important to borrow a federal statute,” retired Harvard regulation professor Alan Dershowitz informed The Epoch Instances in an interview in March 2023. He mentioned that this combining of legal guidelines “appears to lift actual severe authorized questions.”

“In Bragg’s case, what they’re attempting to do is add one and one, and provide you with 11,” Mr. Dershowitz mentioned. “No rational individual would take a look at these two statutes and say that Trump violated them.”

Mr. Dershowitz not too long ago mentioned that he believes that Mr. Bragg’s workplace has violated voters’ rights with the Trump prosecution, with the authorized scholar arguing that the case quantities to a felony conspiracy to affect elections.

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