Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s restraining order against Jim Jordan declined by judge, will go to hearing

The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s plea for a restraining order against Republican Congressman Jim Jordan was declined by a judge on Tuesday. The decision was announced alongside a directive for Bragg to forward relevant material to Jordan before 9 p.m the same day in preparation for a hearing on April 19.

Bragg is attempting to prevent the House Judiciary Committee from interfering in the Stormy Daniels hush money case that former President Donald Trump has been indicted for last week. Jordan had previously subpoenaed a former investigator who had been involved in the case.

The lawsuit against Jordan was filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. The hearing to determine whether the restraining order against Jordan takes effect is scheduled for April 19 at 2 p.m. in Courtroom 18C of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse.

Bragg filed for the restraining order to stop the enforcement of a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee which would compel Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor in the Trump hush money case, to testify. Bragg said he filed the order “in response to an unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress.”

Lawyers for Bragg are seeking to block the subpoena of Pomerantz who led the investigation into Trump for the district attorney before he resigned over disagreements with Bragg. The lawsuit said that “Congress has no power to supervise state criminal prosecution” and Jordan is intervening in matters outside his scope for oversight.

The lawsuit also seeks to prevent Jordan from issuing future subpoenas against Bragg or “any of his current or former employees or officials.”

Jordan and other House Republicans have been conducting an investigation into Bragg’s office and have sent requests and subpoenas for documents and testimony from people connected to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The investigation was sparked by the indictment of Trump last month by a Manhattan grand jury.

The Ohio Republican reacted to the lawsuit in a tweet, saying Bragg was blocking congressional oversight of federal funds used to investigate Trump.

“First, they indict a president for no crime,” Jordan tweeted. “Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it.”

“Why’s Alvin Bragg scared of congressional oversight?” House Judiciary GOP tweet read. “Really makes you wonder.”

Jordan has stated that he would not rule out subpoenaing Bragg in the committee’s investigation. He has also said the committee had oversight jurisdiction as federal funds were used and the allegations in the indictment occurred during a federal election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the 34 criminal charges against him in the Manhattan courthouse last week. The indictment was made following an investigation by Bragg’s office into hush money payments Trump made to two women in 2016 before the presidential election.

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