Appeals Court Handles House Interview, Halts Ex-Trump Prosecutor Interview

A judge in New York just stopped House Republicans from asking questions to an ex-Manhattan prosecutor about Donald Trump’s criminal case. This decision was the result of a disagreement between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office and the House Judiciary Committee.

On Wednesday, a higher court ruled that Jim Jordan, the chairman of The Judiciary Committee in the US and an Ohio Republican, could ask former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz some questions. This happened just after a lower court said there was no reason to stop this from happening on Thursday.

Judge Beth Robinson, appointed by Biden, has put a stop on the case without expressing any opinion regarding it. A 3-judge committee will decide if the lower court’s decision should be kept or changed. Judge Robinson set dates for both sides to send documents which explain their case in more detail: Friday for the appointee and Saturday for the Judiciary Committee.

After a judge said that the leader who issued a subpoena had a good reason to do it, Bragg’s office tried to stop them by making an appeal to a higher court.

A judge wrote in a long report that it’s not the job of the federal court system to decide what laws Congress can think about or how they should deal with those issues. He said that Mr. Pomerantz still has to show up for the meeting at Congress and that everyone is expected to follow the rules of law.

Vyskocil, a person chosen by President Trump, made some decisions after asking the lawyers questions about difficult topics such as who has control and right to oversee the case concerning Trump.

The judge said she was not on anyone’s side and that both sides should try their best to reach an agreement or compromise in relation to what Pomerantz’ deposition will be like.

Jordan’s spokesperson, Russell Dye, was very happy with Vyskocil’s decision saying it showed that the Congress has the right to subpoena people such as Mark Pomerantz.

But Bragg’s office did not agree and tried appealing the ruling by asking Vyskocil for a stay, which she rejected, before finally succeeding in the appeals court.

Pomerantz was in charge of a Trump investigation that took a long time, but left his role after disagreeing with Bragg about what should be done. He wrote a book about it and also talked about the case on programs like “60 Minutes”.

Bragg, who is a Democrat, sued Jordan and the Judiciary Committee last week because he does not want them to give him a subpoena. His lawyer argued that this behavior was unfair and it was like Congress was trying to intimidate Bragg. He claimed that Congress has no permission to investigate local prosecutors when there is an ongoing case in the state. His lawyer labeled House Republicans’ interest in Bragg as ‘haranguing’.

The Judiciary Committee started looking into the former president’s case before he was charged. Jordan wrote letters to ask Bragg questions and get documents, then he ordered Pomerantz to give them the information. Judge Vyskocil said she will take care of any arguments that may come up in the investigation of Bragg.

Matthew Berry, a lawyer on the committee, said that Congress has good reasons to ask questions and look into the ways Trump was prosecuted by Bragg. He said this was because federal funds worth $5,000 were used to investigate Trump.

Congress is thinking about new laws because of President Trump’s trouble with the law. One bill would stop prosecutors from using money from the government to investigate presidents, and another bill wants any cases against former presidents to be dealt with in federal courts instead of state ones.

House Republicans think that the President should be allowed to make decisions without worrying about being charged with a crime by local prosecutors. According to the U.S. Constitution, Congress should not be interfered with by the court system.

Vyskocil was the judge in a court room located in Manhattan which had a really nice view of New York City. Donald Trump, who used to be a real estate developer, visited this courthouse for his arraignment on April 3rd. Jordan held a hearing on Monday to discuss how violent crime is being handled by prosecutors.

As he left the hearing, Pomerantz held a pile of documents, with his book titled “People vs. Donald Trump” on top. He didn’t say anything during the hearing but according to a written statement in court, he agreed with something that Bragg said and believed that he shouldn’t be asked questions by the committee.

Berry, the lawyer for the committee said that Pomerantz has already given a lot of details to people about his investigation into President Trump and that it’s fair for the Judiciary Committee to ask him questions about it too.

Berry also said that it doesn’t make sense for the House Judiciary Committee to have less knowledge than something like ’60 Minutes.’

The lawyer, Pomerantz, can choose not to answer certain questions. In that case, Judge Jordan will decide whether he is allowed to do so or not. But he still has to show up in court regardless. If Jordan decides that he should answer the questions but he still refuses to do so, then he might need to face a criminal consequence which would be referred to the Justice Department for breaking the law and being disobedient in court.

Recently, President Trump was accused of breaking the law by falsifying records that had to do with hiding money from his 2016 campaign. He said he didn’t do anything wrong and has denied the accusations.