DA Bragg Sues "Gym" Jordan

Alvin Bragg takes off the gloves:

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued Rep. Jim Jordan on Tuesday, an extraordinary move as he seeks to halt a House Judiciary Committee inquiry that the prosecutor contends is a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” him over his indictment of former President Donald Trump.

Bragg, a Democrat, is asking a judge to invalidate subpoenas that Jordan, the committee’s Republican chair, has issued or plans to issue as part of an investigation of Bragg’s handling of the case, the first criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee who previously served as a federal bankruptcy court judge, declined Tuesday to take immediate action on the lawsuit. She scheduled an initial hearing for April 19 in Manhattan, the day before the committee plans to question, under subpoena, a top former prosecutor who was involved in the Trump probe.

Bragg’s lawsuit, a forceful escalation after weeks of sparring with Jordan and other Republican lawmakers in letters and media statements, seeks to end what it says is a “constitutionally destructive fishing expedition” that threatens the sovereignty and integrity of a state-level prosecution.

“Congress lacks any valid legislative purpose to engage in a free-ranging campaign of harassment in retaliation for the District Attorney’s investigation and prosecution of Mr. Trump under the laws of New York,” the lawsuit says, citing the lack of authority in the Constitution for Congress “to oversee, let alone disrupt, ongoing state law criminal matters.” 

Every prosecutor or special counsel investigating the Malignant Loser's multi- year crime spree needs to adopt the same posture when it comes to the seditionists and enablers in Congress who're trying to delay and obstruct those investigations.  If they come after you, you go after them.

(Image:  Getty Images)

QOTD - It's About The Bluff

 

"I’ve seen prosecutors who would chew off their own foot rather than give up on a $20 hand-to-hand drug deal. I’ve seen U.S. Attorneys who would start with the damn part-time janitor in the building where corrupt business was being conducted and work their way mercilessly up the food chain from there. What is it about this ambulatory lump of triglycerides that scares the daylights out of every prosecutor who crosses his path? I mean, the guy isn’t even as rich as he says he is. And anyway, giving up on wealthy criminals because they can afford better lawyers than the government can is yet another set of rails on which we can run to authoritarian hell. That’s always been the former president*’s fundamental immune system, and he hasn’t even had top-of-the-line legal help. It’s all about the bluff. Always was." -- Charles P. Pierce, on  Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's apparent decision not to extend the term of the grand jury investigating the financial crimes of the Trump Organization. What a chickenshit they elected up there in Manhattan.

"Less Talking, More Indicting": Message To Manhattan's DA

 

Former Federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner lays out a simple proposition to foot dragging Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on prosecuting the manifest crimes committed by the Malignant Loser, the Trump Organization and his crime family: "How about less talking and more indicting." Recently, his two foremost prosecutors on the Trump investigation, Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, resigned claiming that Bragg had halted an indictment of the Malignant Loser, convinced that he "was guilty of numerous felony violations." Bragg claimed Thursday that the investigation was ongoing. Kirschner has doubts about that, and so do we.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Inexcusable Act

The bombshell dropped in the New York Times in the form of former Manhattan ADA Mark Pomerantz's letter saying that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is wrong not to take evidence of the Malignant Loser's multiple felonies to a grand jury is causing many to question not only Bragg's judgement but his competence and courage.  Bragg was elected to his office as a nominal Democrat last November following the retirement of Cyrus Vance, Jr., who wanted the case against Trump to go to the grand jury. Now, legal experts are saying Bragg's inertia and lack of interest in pursuing justice for Trump's felonies place him and the case in peril, as Newsweek reports:

"Speaking to Newsweek, former Los Angeles County prosecutor and criminal defense attorney Josh Ritter said that Bragg is now in a no-win situation regarding how he continues the investigation into Trump, and that Pomerantz's letter presents 'huge problems' for him and the former president.

"'What Mr. Pomerantz is describing cannot be characterized as a simple difference in opinion between prosecutors. The letter is nothing short of a scathing rebuke on Mr. Bragg's refusal to bring charges against Trump for what Mr. Pomerantz describes as clear-cut criminal behavior,' Ritter said.

"'This letter places Mr. Bragg in a completely untenable position. If Mr. Bragg were to now reverse course and pursue an indictment against Trump, he will no doubt be excoriated for bowing to political pressure. Conversely, if Mr. Bragg maintains his current position the letter raises questions about Mr. Trump's potential crimes that cannot remain unanswered.'"  (our emphasis)

The "untenable position" is one that Bragg put himself into, ignoring the solid evidence gathered over the past two years by a team of experienced prosecutors of major financial fraud cases and ignoring the advice of his long-serving predecessor.  Neama Rahmani, a former Federal prosecutor quoted in the Newsweek article put the problem this way:

"'Criminal prosecutions get worse over time, and delay benefits the defense,' Rahmani said. 'Witness memories fade, evidence disappears, and statute of limitations run. Bragg's apparent decision to delay the investigation and his reluctance to bring charges now is a clear win for Trump.'"

There will be a time when Bragg's motivation will be clearer, given the headwinds against his decision in his own office, and that time can't come too soon. One question that should give pause: if he ran knowing that he would inherit this case, why didn't he tell the voters that he'd drop it? In the meantime, reassign the case to the State of New York's estimable Attorney General Letitia James, who will get the job done and is fearless and up to speed with the evidence. Then Bragg needs to be challenged in the next election by a Dem with integrity and courage who believes that no one is above the law.

(photos: Trump and his enabler Bragg.  Getty)