Before any potential indictment against former President Donald Trump could even be released by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Republicans in the House went on the offensive, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) blasting the investigation as "political," and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and others demanding Bragg testify in their committees without even knowing what his charges are or the evidence behind them. The move has led Democrats and legal experts to accuse the GOP of intimidation tactics against prosecutors.
But if that is their intent, they are unlikely to succeed, said former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" on Tuesday.
"Joyce, you probably know this better than any one of us, if you take Kevin McCarthy's statement, if you look at Rand Paul saying the D.A. should be in jail, if you take a look at some of the other comments, the former president's own comments to protesters, would that reach the threshold of intimidation?" asked anchor Ayman Mohyeldin. "How do you think Alvin Bragg has been handling this? It would seem to me, as an outsider, that this does feel like they are trying to intimidate him."
"Well, they're trying, but I doubt that Alvin Bragg, who has a lot of prosecutorial experience under his belt, feels particularly intimidated," said Vance. "And the reality is that if Jim Jordan or Kevin McCarthy or Rand Paul want to set prosecutorial priorities for the Manhattan's D.A.'s office, they should move to Manhattan and run for office, and when they're the district attorney, they can decide what cases get indicted."
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Unless that ever happens, Vance continued, "it's up for voters in Manhattan to decide whether they think Bragg is doing a good job," and not Republican members of Congress.
"Congress has no business and ... this violates federalism principles," said Vance. "Congress has no reason to try to engage in oversight of the duly elected district attorney in a state. They have no authority. Bragg knows that, and I suspect that he will, you know, just let this one roll off his back and watch them make constitutional fools of themselves."
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Joyce Vance says GOP efforts to "intimidate" Alvin Bragg will fail www.youtube.com
