Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office revealed to House Republicans on Friday in a letter obtained by Breitbart News that roughly $5,000 in federal funds has gone toward Bragg’s office’s investigation of former President Donald Trump or the Trump Organization.
The funds, Bragg’s general counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote to three powerful GOP chairmen, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), James Comer (R-KY), and Bryan Steil (R-WI), came from the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Fund and were used to investigate Trump and his organization between October 2019 and August 2021, before Bragg took office.
Dubeck also noted that the district attorney’s office was enrolled in three federal grant programs, which allocate more than $2 million total to the Manhattan office for its casework, though she stated that no grant money has been used to pay Trump investigation expenses.
The letter served as a response to the Republicans as they continue a tense back and forth with Bragg, whose office indicted Trump on Thursday in an unprecedented move that elicited nationwide reactions.
The three chairmen initially contacted Bragg when Trump first announced he expected to be arrested this month, and they asked Bragg to testify before Congress through a transcribed interview, as well as provide numerous documents and communications related to the Trump investigation.
Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer talk during a hearing on Capitol Hill on June 22, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Bragg rejected most of their requests but offered to “meet and confer” with congressional staff to better understand their needs. The Republicans last weekend, however, doubled down and reiterated to Bragg that they wanted him to testify and provide all of the requested documentation.
Examining the use of federal funds, which Dubeck confirmed Bragg’s office uses, is well within Congress’s jurisdiction and helps the Republicans’ contention that they are within their right to investigate the office. The chairmen have also argued that they require Bragg’s cooperation to inform future legislation, which Bragg disputes.
In Dubeck’s most recent correspondence to the chairmen, she blasted them for also suggesting in their previous letters that the Trump investigation — Bragg when he took office last year zeroed in on a years-old hush money scheme involving porn star Stormy Daniels — was politically motivated.
Such an allegation was “baseless and inflammatory,” Dubeck wrote.
“That conclusion is misleading and meritless,” she continued. “We did not engage in a point-by-point rebuttal of your letter because our Office is legally constrained in how it publicly discusses pending criminal proceedings, as prosecutorial offices are across the country and as you well know.”
Dubeck also accused the Republicans of “acting more like criminal defense counsel trying to gather evidence for a client than a legislative body seeking to achieve a legitimate legislative objective” based on their “close collaboration” with Trump, citing a recent CNN story. The CNN story, however, does not at any point confirm that any of the three chairmen have been speaking to Trump about Bragg’s probe and only notes that Jordan received a letter from a Trump attorney about it.
While the chairmen have not made their plans to respond to Bragg public at this stage, the Judiciary Committee objected to a claim made by Fox News on social media Friday that they were planning to “take a step back” from their work while awaiting Trump’s arraignment.
A source familiar told Breitbart News Fox’s report was false and that the chairmen are in fact weighing next steps and not held up by the forthcoming arraignment, which is set for next Tuesday.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.