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Rep. Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, has requested Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and another top state prosecutor to testify regarding Donald Trump’s prosecution.
In letters sent on Friday to Bragg and Matthew Colangelo, senior counsel to the DA’s office, Jordan called on the prosecutors to testify before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on June 13. Colangelo was a high-ranking official at President Joe Biden’s Justice Department before leaving to help Bragg prosecute Trump.
“This hearing will examine actions by state and local prosecutors to engage politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials, in particular the recent political prosecution of President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office,” Jordan wrote, as reported by NBC News.
Trump said in an interview over the weekend following his 34-count felony conviction in Manhattan last week that he won’t “beg” the court for mercy and is “okay” with going to jail.
“The legal maze that you’re still facing, and they could, a judge could decide to say, hey, house arrest or even jail. It could be faced,” Fox News host Pete Hegseth said to the former president.
“I saw one of my lawyers the other day on television saying, oh, no, you don’t want to do that to the press. I said don’t, you don’t beg for anything,” he said.
“That could happen,” the former president said of the prospect of him being sent to jail.
“I don’t know that the public would stand it, you know, I don’t. I’m not sure the public would stand for it. I think I think it would be tough for the public to take, you know, at a certain point, there’s a breaking point,” he predicted.
“I’m okay with it,” Trump said when asked about the potential of house arrest or even jail during a “Fox & Friends Weekend” interview that aired on Sunday. “I saw one of my lawyers the other day on television saying, ‘Oh, no, you don’t want to do that to the president.’ I said, don’t, you know, beg for anything. It’s just the way it is.”
A jury found Trump guilty Thursday on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments intended to conceal a tryst with adult film star Stormy Daniels as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election. While jail time is possible, legal experts doubt that Trump will end up behind bars; sentencing is set for July 11.
“People get it. It’s a scam,” Trump added.
Three other state and federal criminal matters loom over Trump as he seeks re-election this year, leading him to claim he is the target of a politically motivated “witch hunt.” It remains uncertain whether any of these cases will go to trial before the November election, but Trump can still run for office despite a conviction.
During the interview, Trump criticized the presiding judge’s gag order and said it was unfair.
He also responded to President Joe Biden’s reaction when a reporter asked Biden about Trump calling himself a “political prisoner” and blaming Biden for his treatment. Trump said it was “terrible” that Biden smirked at the question.
Trump went on to label Biden “the worst president in the history of this country, and he’s a danger to the country.” He added, “They have misinformation. ‘Donald Trump is a threat to democracy.’ It’s just words. He doesn’t even know what it means. But it’s like their slogan: I’m a threat to democracy. I’m the opposite. They’re the threat to democracy.”
He also talked about how he thought the trial went.
“It’s weaponization, and it’s a very dangerous thing. We’ve never had that in this country,” the former president said. “And the Republican Party… they’ve stuck together in this. They see it’s a weaponization of the Justice Department of the FBI, and that’s all coming out of Washington.”
