Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has agreed to testify before a House Judiciary Committee panel about the recent trial of former President Trump, which resulted in the first conviction of a former president.
Bragg’s response comes after House Judiciary Chairman 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 about “the President Trump’s unprecedented political process.” Now, prosecutors responded Friday by saying the office was “committed to voluntary cooperation,” the Associated Press reported.
The district attorney’s attorney, Leslie Dubeck, told Jordan in a letter that Bragg would be available to testify “on an agreed-upon date” but said the proposed time presented “several scheduling conflicts,” according to the AP.
The Hill has reached out to the prosecutor and Jordan’s office for comment.
The former president was convicted by a New York jury last week of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal secret payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 White House campaign to buy her silence about a alleged past affair, which he denies. Trump’s sentencing has been 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 Republican Party nominee.
In their response, prosecutors noted that the case was not yet over. The office still needed to provide the judge with the recommended repercussions for the former president, according to the letter.
“The trial court and appellate courts have issued numerous orders intended to protect the fair administration of justice in People v. Trump, and participating in a public hearing at this time would be potentially detrimental to those efforts,” they wrote, according to AP.
Dubeck also asked Jordan’s office for more information about “the scope and purpose of the proposed hearing” and for an opportunity to negotiate a different date.
In the letter, they also said that Colangelo’s testimony was not out of the question, but they wanted to “evaluate the appropriateness” considering the active status of the prosecution.
The agreement comes as Jordan, which called the outcome of the case a “travesty of justice,” threatened to withhold Justice Department funding that had been designated for Trump investigations.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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