NEW YORK — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed Friday to allow Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to question a former prosecutor about the criminal case against former President Donald Trump.
Under the agreement, members of the commission could question Mark Pomerantz under oath next month in Washington. The settlement settles a lawsuit in which Bragg had tried to prevent Pomerantz from testifying, and ends a legal dispute that escalated to a federal appeals court just weeks after Trump’s historic arraignment.
Pomeranz will be accompanied by an attorney from Bragg’s office, an arrangement the commission said would have allowed even without Friday’s agreement.
Bragg’s office and the Judiciary Committee reached the agreement after the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit issued a stay Thursday that temporarily canceled the enforcement of a House subpoena requiring Pomeranz to testify.
The appeals court was scheduled to hear oral arguments on the dispute on Tuesday.
Bragg’s office said the agreement, which postpones Pomeranz’s testimony until May 12, preserves the district attorney’s “privileges and interests” in his ongoing proceeding against Trump.
“Our successful stay of this subpoena blocked immediate deposition and gave us time to coordinate with the House Judiciary Committee regarding an agreement that protects the privileges and interests of the district attorney,” Bragg’s office said. it’s a statement.
“We are pleased with the resolution, which ensures that any questioning of our former employee will take place in the presence of our general counsel within a reasonable agreed time frame. We are pleased that the Second Circuit’s ruling provided us with the opportunity to successfully resolve this dispute,” Bragg’s office said.
Bragg had appealed to the 2nd Circuit after a lower court judge ruled Wednesday that there was no legal basis to block the Judiciary Commission’s subpoena and that Pomeranz should depose as scheduled.
Under the settlement, Bragg withdrew his appeal.
Russell Dye, spokesman for Republican Jim Jordan, the commission’s chairman, said in a statement: “Mr. Pomerantz’s deposition will take place on May 12, and we look forward to his filing.”
Pomerantz came to oversee the years-long investigation of Trump, but left after clashing with Bragg over the direction the case was taking. He recently wrote a book about his work prosecuting Trump and spoke about the investigation in interviews on “60 Minutes” and elsewhere.
Democrat Bragg sued Jordan and the Judiciary Committee last week in an attempt to block the subpoena. His lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, argued that trying to obtain testimony from Pomeranz was part of a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” Bragg, and that Congress was “invading a state” to investigate a local prosecutor when he lacks authority. to do that.
Trump was indicted last month on 34 felony counts of falsifying accounting records related to payments made during the 2016 election campaign to quell allegations of extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty.
