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Trump prosecutor sues congressman over interfering in case

Published April 11,2023
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In this file photo taken on April 04, 2023, former US President Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York. (AFP)

The U.S. attorney prosecuting Donald Trump sued a Republican lawmaker on Tuesday to try to stop the congressman from interfering in his case against the former president.

In the lawsuit, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Representative Jim Jordan of an "unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack" on his prosecution of 76-year-old Trump.

Bragg last week announced 34 charges against Trump over alleged hush money payments meant to help his 2016 presidential campaign -- including to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, meant to silence her about sex she says she had with the ex-president.

Trump -- who denies the liaison and pleaded not guilty to all counts during a historic arraignment -- has repeatedly accused Bragg, an elected Democrat, of waging a witch hunt.

Bragg's lawsuit against Jordan, filed in the Southern District of New York, comes after Jordan and two Republican colleagues requested last month that Bragg testify before Congress about his probe into Trump, who had not yet been indicted.

The Republicans -- who are all committee chairmen in the House of Representatives -- accused Bragg of waging a "politically motivated prosecution" and demanded that he hand over documents related to the case.

Bragg's office responded by accusing the trio of "an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution."

After the indictment against Trump was unveiled last week, Jordan issued a subpoena to a former prosecutor in Bragg's office, seeking that he give testimony to lawmakers behind closed doors.

Bragg's lawsuit, which accuses Jordan of "a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack" the district attorney, seeks to block any deposition from happening. It also seeks to prevent Bragg from being subpoenaed.

Trump -- the frontrunner in the race for the 2024 Republican nomination -- is the first former or sitting president to ever be charged with a crime.

He is accused of falsifying business records to cover up the $130,000 payment to Daniels, made just weeks before the 2016 election that sent him to the White House.

Jordan's House Judiciary Committee announced on Monday that it would hold a "field hearing" about Bragg's policies as district attorney with "victims of violent crime" in Manhattan on April 17.

A spokesperson for Bragg slammed the meeting as a "political stunt."