Comer knocks NY DA probe as ‘political stunt’ against Trump campaign

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) on Sunday knocked the Manhattan District Attorney’s probe into former President Trump’s role in an alleged hush money payment as a “political stunt” targeting Trump as he campaigns for re-election to the White House in 2024.

“We believe this is a political stunt. By Mr. Bragg. We believe the statute of limitations has expired on all of this stuff,” Comer said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.

“I don’t believe that Bragg would be doing this if Donald Trump were not running for president. And that’s something that we would like to ask Mr. Bragg as well, would you be doing this if he weren’t a declared candidate for president for President of the United states? If so, if this is the reason you’re doing [this] then this is a political investigation,” Comer said.

Trump and his allies have knocked the Manhattan DA’s investigation as politically motivated, and some have thrown direct attacks at Bragg as his office looks into the alleged hush money payment made during Trump’s 2016 campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

“We believe that [Bragg] should come explain to us exactly what he’s investigating because at the end of the day, this is a presidential candidate. This is the, for better or worse, leading contender for the Republican nomination of the presidential election next year, as well as the former president United States. It’s unprecedented for a local district attorney to investigate things that we believe the statute of limitations expired years ago,” Comer said.

The Kentucky lawmaker repeatedly stressed his stance that the matter should be looked at at the federal level, not on a local level given Trump’s candidacy.

“This is a local investigation. It’s not a sincere argument to say it’s a local investigation when you’re investigating a presidential candidate and the former president United States. Again, we believe that this should be done on the on the federal level,” Comer said.