(Photo
by
Spencer
Platt/Getty
Images)
As
of
this
writing,
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
has
not
yet
indicted
Donald
Trump
in
connection
with
the
2016
hush
money
payment
to
Stormy
Daniels.
But
that
hasn’t
stopped
the
former
president’s
pals
in
Congress
from
riding
to
the
rescue
like
a
pack
of
howler
monkeys.
On
Monday,
the
chairs
of
the
House
Judiciary,
Oversight,
and
Administration
Committees
sent
the
New
York
prosecutor
a
letter
demanding
that
he
account
for
himself.
“You
are
reportedly
about
to
engage
in
an
unprecedented
abuse
of
prosecutorial
authority,”
they
inveighed,
demanding
that
Bragg
“testify
about
what
plainly
appears
to
be
a
politically
motivated
prosecutorial
decision.”
Then
they
quoted
a
“legal
scholar”
accusing
the
New
York
DA
of
“attempting
to
‘shoehorn[]’
the
same
case
with
identical
facts
into
a
new
prosecution,
resurrecting
a
so-called
‘zombie’
case
against
President
Trump.”
And
if
you’re
guessing
that
this
“scholar”
is
one Jonathan
Turley,
then
you
are
correct,
of
course.
“The
legal
theory
underlying
your
reported
prosecution
appears
to
be
tenuous
and
untested,”
write
the
politicians,
despite
having
zero
visibility
on
the
inner
workings
of
the
grand
jury.
They
end
with
a
token
effort
to
connect
the
prosecutorial
decisions
of
a
local
elected
official
to
Congress’s
oversight
role
of
the
executive
branch
“Congressional
scrutiny
about
how
public
safety
funds
appropriated
by
Congress
are
implemented
by
local
law-enforcement
agencies”
entitles
them
to
subpoena
every
piece
of
paper
in
the
DA’s
office
with
the
word
“Trump”
on
it,
they
harrumph.
Because
local
control
is
a
core
GOP
value,
except
when
local
officials
do
stuff
Republicans
don’t
like.
DA
Bragg
pulled
no
punches
in
his
response.
A
letter
from
the
desk
of
his
general
counsel
Leslie
Dubeck
chided
the
politicians
for
“an
unprecedented
inquiry
into
a
pending
local
prosecution,”
and
noted
that
the
apparent
impetus
for
their
demands
was
Trump’s
false
prediction
that
he
would
be
arrested
Tuesday
and
urging
by
his
lawyer
Joseph
Tacopina
that congressional
Republicans do
…
something.
The
DA
rebuked
the
committee
chairs
for
intruding
on
“quintessential
police
powers
belonging
to
the
State”
and
attempting
“an
unlawful
incursion
into
New
York’s
sovereignty.”
The
letter
cites
decades
of
Supreme
Court
cases
holding
that
the
federal
legislative
branch
really
does
not
get
to
interfere
in
local
prosecutorial
decisions.
See
also:
Tenth
Amendment.
“While
the
DA’s
Office
will
not
allow
a
Congressional
investigation
to
impede
the
exercise
of
New
York’s
sovereign
police
power,
this
Office
will
always
treat
a
fellow
government
entity
with
due
respect,”
the
letter
concludes,
offering
to
meet
with
the
legislators
to
figure
out
exactly
what
legitimate
legislative
purpose
they
are
advancing
by
harassing
local
law
enforcement
officials.
Over
in
the
Senate,
the
response
was
marginally
more
measured.
When
asked
by
Axios
about
his
Republican
House
colleagues’
demands
of
Bragg,
Senator
John
Cornyn
sighed
that
he
would
“personally
prefer
to
see
them
work
on
the
agenda
they
ran
on
and
that
got
them
the
majority.”
“I
think
you’ve
got
to
fall
short
of
getting
involved
in
the
legal
process,”
said
Senator
Thom
Tillis
agreed.
But
the
usual
suspects
were
up
to
their
regularly
scheduled
murder
of
irony.
Meanwhile
Trump
himself
is
over
on
Truth
Social
calling
Bragg,
who
is
Black,
an
“animal”
being
controlled
by
Jewish
philanthropist
George
Soros.
He
also
reposted
a
graphic
which
depicts
him
appearing
to
swing
a
baseball
bat
at
Bragg’s
head.
“EVERYBODY
KNOWS
I’M
100%
INNOCENT,
INCLUDING
BRAGG,
BUT
HE
DOESN’T
CARE.
HE
IS
JUST
CARRYING
OUT
THE
PLANS
OF
THE
RADICAL
LEFT
LUNATICS.
OUR
COUNTRY
IS
BEING
DESTROYED,
AS
THEY
TELL
US
TO
BE
PEACEFUL!”
he
screeched
into
the
ether
this
morning.
Luckily
Trump’s
supporters
would
never
take
his
calls
for
violence
seriously
…
oh,
wait.
Senate
Republicans
cool
on
House
plans
to
question
Manhattan
DA
[Axios]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
writes
about
law
and
politics
and
appears
on
the Opening
Arguments podcast.