Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg discussing the arraignment of President Donald Trump on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a few weeks ago went to court demanding judges protect him from a congressional review of his case against President Trump.
He lost the fight over an injunction.
But newly obtained documents show he was spending taxpayer money, at the rate of $900 per hour, to keep his work secret.
Bragg, in fact, campaigned for office boasting that he would get President Trump.
He's now accused Trump of business-related situations that ordinarily would be misdemeanors for which the statute of limitations expired. But Bragg claims they're felonies, and still can be prosecuted, because they somehow contributed to the furtherance of other crimes, which he has not specified.
When the case was developing, Congress wanted oversight, and subpoenaed a former Bragg deputy, Mark Pomerantz, who was so angered that Trump wasn't charged a long time ago that he quit his job and then wrote a book outlining his demands that Trump be charged.
Bragg's lawsuit against Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, claimed that Jordan's promise of a congressional investigation is "interference" in Bragg's case, that got its start in claims of hush money being paid to Stormy Daniels over an affair that both Trump and Daniels deny happened.
But then evidence showed Bragg apparently admitted spending $5,000 federal money on the Trump investigation, which automatically gives Congress oversight authority.
Now a report from government watchdog Judicial Watch says it has obtained some documents from Bragg's case, including one showing Bragg was paying $900 per hour for partners of a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to fight the congressional oversight.
The pay was only $500 per hour for associates.
Judicial Watch said it obtained the agreement "as the result of an April 11, 2023, Freedom of Information Law request followed by an appeal for records of agreements between Alvin L. Bragg or the New York County District Attorney’s Office and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP for work related to Bragg v. Jordan, Case No. 23-3032 filed in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York on or about April 11, 2023."
The House Judiciary Committee charged that Bragg had been "investigating President Trump since at least 2018, looking for some legal theory on which to bring charges."
One of the problems the committee pointed out was that the claims against Trump are based on testimony from Michael Cohen, Trump’s disgraced former lawyer, who pleaded guilty years ago to charges stemming from the case's circumstances. But that was when prosecutors said no one else would be charged.
The House accused Bragg of "resurrecting a so-called 'zombie' case against President Trump."
Congress pointed out the "credibility" issues with Cohen, "a convicted perjurer with a demonstrable prejudice against President Trump."
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Bragg’s requested temporary restraining order.
"Bragg’s unjustified, malicious prosecution is not only corrupt but also a waste of taxpayer funds as he tries to thwart a legitimate House investigation into his attempt to interfere in the 2024 election," aid Judicial Watch chief Tom Fitton. "Rather than spending $900 per hour on lawyers to defend his abuse of office and political jihad against Trump, Bragg should focus on taking dangerous criminals off the streets of New York."
https://www.wnd.com/2023/07/bragg-agreed-spend-tax-money-900-per-hour-fight-congressional-oversight/
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