Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticised Republican House Oversight & Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer’s attempts to interfere with the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into former president Donald Trump.
Mr Comer, along with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, sent a letter to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to compel him to testify before Congress.
The three chairmen sent the letter to Mr Bragg after Mr Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this month that he would be indicted within a few days.
Mr Bragg’s office is currently investigating Mr Trump allegedly paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a supposed sexual liaison, which Mr Trump denies.
“Your decision to pursue such a politically motivated prosecution—while adopting progressive criminal justice policies that allow career ‘criminals [to] run[ ] the streets’ of Manhattan—requires congressional scrutiny about how public safety funds appropriated by Congress are implemented by local law-enforcement agencies. In addition, your apparent decision to pursue criminal charges where federal authorities declined to do so requires oversight to inform potential legislative reforms about the delineation of prosecutorial authority between federal and local officials,” they wrote in their letter.
But Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who sits on the Oversight & Accountability Committee, criticised Mr Comer’s attempts to interfere with the investigation.
“I think what the chairman is attempting to do is completely inappropriate,” she told The Independent. “It breaks total precedent and then, frankly, isn't really grounded in much logical or historical precedent and I think hammering that home is going to be ... a matter of continued importance.”
Ms Ocasio-Cortez is the second-ranking Democratic member of the committee, behind ranking member Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who led the second impeachment trial of Mr Trump.
Mr Bragg’s office also criticised the letter last week, noting “there has been no notification, other than illegal leaks from the Justice Dept. and the DA’s office.”
