‘Top Priority’: House GOP Leadership Puts Alvin Bragg in Crosshairs

House Republican leadership has stated that they will use all available means to compel Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg to testify before Congress. The Republicans claim that the indictment of former president Donald Trump, which they expect will come on Tuesday, is the epitome of political weaponization of power.

The chair of the Republican conference, Rep. Elise Stefanik, has called getting Bragg on the witness stand the “top priority” for House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee’s weaponization subcommittee. She argues that this epitomizes the political weaponization of government power against Trump, aimed at influencing the presidential elections.

Stefanik’s comments were made as three House committee chairmen sent a letter to Bragg on Monday morning, demanding that he testify and provide all communications related to the alleged decision to arrest Trump. House majority leader Steve Scalise echoed these demands, emphasising that subpoenas are one of the tools that House Republicans are ready to use.

Republicans see Bragg’s tenure as district attorney as evidence that his office’s treatment of Trump is nakedly political, as felony indictments have plummeted in New York City since he took office in 2022. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has said that the House will investigate whether any federal funds were used in Bragg’s investigation of Trump, while several Republican lawmakers have claimed that Bragg’s far-left radicalism, and his funding by George Soros, are reasons for New York’s crime crisis.

While Stefanik has said that “every tool” is available to get information from Bragg, the decision on whether to issue subpoenas will be made by Jim Jordan, who chairs both the Judiciary and Weaponization Committee. A spokesman for Jordan has confirmed that everything is on the table when it comes to Bragg.

McCarthy has stated that Bragg’s actions will not affect how Republicans conduct their investigations, such as those of the Biden family.