Manhattan DA agrees to testify before House GOP over Trump hush money trial

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has agreed to testify before a House Judiciary Committee panel over former President Trump’s recent hush-money trial which resulted in the first conviction of a former president.

Bragg’s response comes after House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanded in a letter last month that Bragg and Matthew Colangelo, another prosecutor in the case, testify at a June 13 hearing on “the unprecedented political prosecution of President Trump.” Now, the prosecutors responded Friday saying the office was “committed to voluntary cooperation,” the district attorney’s counsel Leslie Dubeck said in a letter obtained by The Hill. 

Dubeck told Jordan in a letter that Bragg would be available to testify “at an agreed-upon date,” but said the proposed time presented “various scheduling conflicts.” 

“Everything is on the table as to what is next.” Stefanie Farrell, Jordan’s spokesperson, said in a statement to The Hill.

The former president was convicted by a New York jury last week on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 White House campaign to buy her silence over an alleged past affair, which he denies. Trump’s sentencing was set for July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention takes place in Milwaukee and he is expected to be named the official GOP nominee.

In their reply, the prosecutors noted that the case was not yet over. The office still had to provide the judge their recommended repercussions for the former president, per the letter.

“The trial court and reviewing appellate courts have issued numerous orders for the purpose of protecting the fair administration of justice in People v. Trump, and to participate in a public hearing at this time would be potentially detrimental to those efforts,” they wrote in the letter. 

Dubeck also asked Jordan’s office for more information about “the scope and purpose of the proposed hearing” and a chance to negotiate a different date.

In the letter, they also said Colangelo’s testimony was not out of the picture, but they wanted to “evaluate the propriety” considering the active status of the prosecution. 

The agreement comes as Jordan, who called the outcome of the case a “travesty of justice,” has threatened to hold back funding from the Justice Department that had been designated for Trump investigations.