The Department of Justice told House Republicans it conducted an exhaustive search for contacts between its lawyers in Washington and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and “found none.”
In a three-page letter, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte on Monday rebuked House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan for pushing the “conspiracy theory” that the Biden administration’s Justice Department orchestrated former President Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York.
Mr. Uriarte said the department, per Mr. Jordan’s request, looked for email communication between the DOJ and Mr. Bragg’s office from the date of President Biden’s inauguration to the jury verdict that convicted Mr. Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“We found none. This is unsurprising,” Mr. Uriarte wrote. “The district attorney’s office is a separate entity from the department. The department does not supervise the work of the district attorney’s office, does not approve its charging decisions and does not try its cases. The department has no control over the district attorney, just as the district attorney has no control over the department. The committee knows this.”
Mr. Jordan appeared undeterred by the letter. His committee scheduled a hearing for Thursday to examine the “novel and untested legal theory” Mr. Bragg used to go after Mr. Trump and whether it will find politically motivated prosecutions.
Mr. Bragg said he would testify before the committee but not until after Mr. Trump’s July sentencing, so this week’s hearing will feature three other witnesses.
The DOJ’s letter responded to GOP inquiries about possible connections between Mr. Biden, the Democratic incumbent for president, and the series of prosecutions that are coming to a head as Mr. Trump runs as the presumptive GOP nominee.
Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, brought two indictments against Mr. Trump in federal court, though both cases have been delayed by pre-trial issues.
Mr. Jordan previously pointed to meetings between White House officials and persons involved in the prosecution of Mr. Trump in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The back and forth over the New York case stems from Mr. Bragg’s decision to pursue Mr. Trump after federal prosecutors declined to take up the case.
Mr. Jordan sent a letter in April requesting communications between the DOJ and Mr. Bragg, citing in part the role of former DOJ official Matthew Colangelo on the prosecution’s trial team.
“Bragg’s politicized prosecution of President Trump has serious consequences for federal interests. That a former senior Biden Justice Department official is now leading the prosecution of President Biden’s chief political rival only adds to the perception that the Biden Justice Department is politicized and weaponized,” Mr. Jordan wrote to Mr. Garland.
During his six-week trial, Mr. Trump repeatedly cast his New York plight as part of a Biden-orchestrated plot to upend his campaign.
Mr. Trump claimed Mr. Biden’s team played a role in Mr. Bragg’s decision to bring New York charges on the cusp of the election.
The charges stemmed from efforts to cover up a supposed hush-money payment Mr. Trump made through his lawyer Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels near the 2016 election.
“Everybody turned it down, including federal elections turned it down,” Mr. Trump said outside the courtroom during the trial. “Southern District turned it down. Bragg turned it down, then he rejuvenated it when I was running for office. It’s a terrible thing. At the request of Biden.”
Mr. Trump, who will be sentenced on July 11, says he did nothing wrong.
Like Mr. Jordan, the former president singled out Mr. Colangelo, a key member of Mr. Bragg’s trial team, as an emissary from the DOJ. Yet Mr. Uriarte said Mr. Colangelo worked on civil litigation at his department in 2022.
“Department leadership did not dispatch Mr. Colangelo to the district attorney’s office, and department leadership was unaware of his work on the investigation and prosecution involving the former president until it was reported in the news,” he wrote to Mr. Jordan.
“The conspiracy theory that the recent jury verdict in New York state court was somehow controlled by the department is not only false, it is irresponsible,” he added. “Indeed, accusations of wrongdoing made without — and in fact contrary to — evidence undermine confidence in the justice system and have contributed to increased threats of violence and attacks on career law enforcement officials and prosecutors.”
The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Jordan for comment.
The battle between Mr. Jordan and Mr. Bragg isn’t over.
The district attorney agreed to testify before the judiciary panel at an “agreed-upon date” but signaled he would not appear before Mr. Trump’s sentencing. He also demanded more information about the scope of Mr. Jordan’s hearing.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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