By Chloe Atkins, Daniel Barnes and Dareh Gregorian
A former prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney's office must appear for a deposition before the House Judiciary Committee, despite the DA's contention that House Republicans are trying to interfere with his investigation into former President Donald Trump.
In a ruling Wednesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil sided with the arguments presented by the Rep. Jim Jordan-led committee that the panel's subpoena of former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz was lawful and proper.
"The subpoena was issued with a 'valid legislative purpose' in connection with the 'broad' and 'indispensable' congressional power to 'conduct investigations," wrote the judge, who's a Trump nominee. "Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law."
Bragg filed suit last week in federal court in Manhattan against the committee and Jordan, R-Ohio, charging that they’re improperly trying to interfere with his prosecution of Trump for political reasons.
Jordan maintained it’s Bragg’s investigation that is politically motivated. His committee subpoenaed Pomerantz, who’d been involved with the DA’s investigation into Trump, to testify Thursday.
The judge mocked the DA's 50-page suit in her ruling, saying, "The first 35 pages of the Complaint have little to do with the subpoena at issue and are nothing short of a public relations tirade against former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump."
She also took aim at the DA's contention that the committee was trying to undermine the Trump investigation.
"There is no question that New York, a sovereign state in our federal system, has authority to enforce its criminal laws through its local prosecutors," she wrote. "However, the Court rejects the premise that the Committee’s investigation will interfere with DANY’s ongoing prosecution. The subpoena of Pomerantz, who was a private citizen and public commentator at the time Bragg indicted Trump, will not prevent or impede the criminal prosecution that is proceeding in New York state court."The judge added she did not care about the political finger-pointing from both sides in the case."The Court does not endorse either side’s agenda. The sole question before the Court at this time is whether Bragg has a legal basis to quash a congressional subpoena that was issued with a valid legislative purpose. He does not," she wrote in her 25-page ruling.There was no immediate comment from the DA's office. At a hearing in the case earlier Wednesday, Bragg’s attorneys indicated that they would ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a stay if Vyskocil didn’t rule in their favor.