Rep. Jim Jordan demands info on ex-fed prosecutor helping Alvin Bragg with Trump trial
The head of the House Judiciary Committee wants the Justice Department to hand over records about its former No. 3 official who is heading up the Manhattan prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) fired off a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday requesting details about the work of former DOJ official Matthew Colangelo.
Colangelo, who served as acting and later principal deputy associate attorney general during the first two years of the Biden administration, joined Bragg’s team for the Trump “hush money” case in December 2022.
“Since last year, popularly elected prosecutors — who campaigned for office on the promise of prosecuting President Trump — engaged in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current leading candidate for that office,” Jordan wrote in the letter, obtained by The Post.
“New York County District Attorney (DANY) Alvin Bragg is engaged in one such politicized prosecution, which is being led in part by Matthew B. Colangelo.”
The Judiciary chairman noted that the New York state attorney general’s office previously employed Colangelo for other lawsuits against the former president’s administration — before he was hired by the DOJ when Biden took office.
Bragg’s office tapped Colangelo to “jump start” the investigation of Trump that resulted in 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records about payments to the then-presidential candidate’s legal fixer Michael Cohen during the 2016 election cycle.
Cohen later funneled the payments to ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to bury stories about affairs Trump allegedly had with ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels.
The $130,000 and $150,000 payments to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, and McDougal, respectively, occurred after the 2016 election, but Trump allegedly told Cohen to buy their silence beforehand.
In court last week, Colangelo described the so-called “hush money” as “election fraud. Clear and simple.”
“We’ll never know — and it doesn’t matter — whether this conspiracy was the difference-maker in a close election,” he said, referring to Trump’s upset win over Hillary Clinton.
Jordan expressed other concerns about the prosecution, given that the Justice Department previously declined to take up the case and Cohen — Bragg’s “star witness” — has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and served time in prison himself.
“As the Committee has previously explained, Bragg’s politicized prosecution of President Trump has serious consequences for federal interests,” he said.
“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.”
Jordan’s panel has requested all relevant internal records involving Colangelo, Cohen, and coordination between the DOJ and Bragg’s office on the Trump case by May 14.
The Post has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
