The idea of compelling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to testify before Congress sounded great in theory.
But not so much as a practical matter, and that reality is starting to set in for Republicans, The New York Times reports.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has been relentless in his attacks on the Manhattan prosecutor who on Tuesday charged former President Donald Trump with 34 felony counts over alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.
On Wednesday afternoon the far-right congressman tweeted “Was the Biden White House in communication with Bragg’s office about a possible indictment? And if so, is that why President Biden is refusing to comment on the matter?”
On Tuesday he tweeted: “When you drain the Swamp, the Swamp fights back.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) on Tuesday vowed to hold Bragg accountable.
“Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump, admittedly using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that the peoples’ representatives in Congress lack jurisdiction to investigate this farce,” McCarthy tweeted.
“Not so. Bragg’s weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress.”
But so far, the GOP bluster has been confined to social media and strongly worded letters and press releases.
The Times’ Luke Broadwater and Jonathan Swan write: “For weeks, top House Republicans and their lawyers have been grappling with how to move forward in their investigation of Mr. Bragg amid legal and institutional concerns about overreach and how to enforce a subpoena in court.”
“The situation is a reminder for the new majority, which has promised aggressive inquiries into the Biden administration, that its gavels do not guarantee easy investigative breakthroughs.”
Republican leaders including Jordan and McCarthy plan to discuss the prospects of investigating Bragg’s prosecution later this week, the report said, noting that Jordan said “everything is on the table.”
Christopher Armstrong, an attorney who served as a counsel to Senate Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee said legal arguments would likely run out the two-year clock Republicans would have to compel Bragg’s testimony.
“A subpoena is not a magic wand,” Armstrong told The Times.
“It’s the start of a process, and more often than not, the most powerful subpoena is the one that is threatened but never issued. More often than not, the legal process to enforce a subpoena takes longer than the political relevance of the issue that makes it worthwhile in the first place.”
