Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agrees to testify before Congress following Trump verdict
By Jillian Sykes, Gloria Pazmino and Shania Shelton, CNN
(CNN) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed on Friday to testify before Congress as Republicans attempt to discredit former President Donald Trump’s conviction, but indicated that could happen only after Trump is sentenced next month.
Bragg’s office has resisted calls to testify before Congress citing the ongoing case against the former president, but in a letter Friday to GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bragg stated his willingness to testify at a future date.
The letter from Bragg’s general counsel said the Manhattan DA’s office is willing to engage with the committee to decide a date for the testimony as well as to “better understand the scope and the purpose of the proposed hearing.”
“This Office is committed to voluntary cooperation. That cooperation includes making the District Attorney available to provide testimony on behalf of the Office at an agreed-upon date, and evaluating the propriety of allowing an Assistant District Attorney to testify publicly about an active prosecution to which he is assigned,” the letter reads.
A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records on May 30. Bragg, a Democrat, presented the first indictment of a former US president when he announced charges against Trump last year.
Bragg accused Trump of falsifying the repayment of his former lawyer Michael Cohen in order to cover up a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from speaking out about an alleged affair with Trump before the 2016 election.
Jordan then demanded Bragg and prosecutor Matthew Colangelo appear for a hearing on June 13 after Trump’s guilty verdict was reached.
CNN has reached out to the DA’s office as well as Jordan’s office for additional information.
Bragg’s willingness to testify is the latest action in a series of attempts by House Republicans to try to defend Trump amid his legal troubles by going after those involved in his cases.
Jordan, along with House Oversight Chairman James Comer and House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, sent a letter calling for Bragg’s testimony last year ahead of the trial and criticized Bragg’s investigation into the former president as an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.”
Along with Bragg, Jordan has previously looked to investigate other members in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, as key allies of Trump attempted to frame his criminal charges as politically motivated. Jordan subpoenaed former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz last year for his role investigating Trump and his business empire and sought voluntary cooperation from Colangelo.
Similarly, Republicans have questioned Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on whether she used federal funding in her state-level investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Adam Levine contributed to this report.
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