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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has agreed to give testimony before a House Judiciary Committee panel regarding Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying documents in 2016 to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels over an alleged 2006 affair.
The former president has maintained his innocence despite his convictions. He is expected to appeal the court’s ruling, and has also sought refuge by arguing he has “presidential immunity” — even though the crimes in question took place before he became the president — which will be argued before the US Supreme Court.
Bragg’s testimony comes at the demand of House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, who sent a letter last month stating that the DA and Matthew Colangelo, a prosecutor on the case, participate in a House panel on 13 June.
Jordan, long a Trump loyalist, described the trial as an act of “unprecedented political prosecution” against the former president, according to The Hill.
Leslie Dubeck, an attorney representing Bragg, responded on Friday, saying the DA’s office was “committed to voluntary cooperation,” and that he would participate, though potentially not on 13 June due to scheduling conflicts.
The prosecutors also noted that Trump’s trial is still ongoing, as they have yet to give the court their recommended sentencing for the former president.
Trump’s sentencing hearing is set for 11 July, which is four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he is expected to be named at the party’s presidential nominee for the upcoming general election in November.
“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 to provide more information about the “scope and purpose” of the hearing, and for a chance to discuss a different date.
While the letter specifically stated that Bragg would participate, it also said Colangelo might attend, though only after the prosecutors examined the “propriety” of the hearing, noting that the trial was still ongoing.
Jordan has threatened to withhold funding from the US Justice Department for investigation into Trump, and kept to the party line by calling the trial a “travesty of justice.”
Source: independent.co.uk
