Alvin Bragg refuses to testify before House on Trump trial until after July 11 sentencing, calls it 'detrimental' to 'fair administration of justice'

On Friday, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg signaled that he would be willing to testify about his prosecution of Donald Trump in his falsified business records document, but not until after Trump is sentenced in July. 

Bragg’s general counsel Leslie Dubeck wrote in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Friday that Bragg’s office is "committed to voluntary cooperation" after Jordan requested that Bragg testify before the Weaponization of the Government subcommittee on June 13. This comes after Trump was found guilty in late May on 34 felony counts of falsified business records brought forth by Bragg’s office. 

"That cooperation includes making the District Attorney available to provide testimony on behalf of the Office at an agreed-upon date, and evaluating the propriety of allowing an Assistant District Attorney to testify publicly about an active prosecution to which he is assigned," the letter, obtained by Politico, stated. 

"However, the proposed date that the Subcommittee selected without consulting the Office presents various scheduling conflicts. In addition, the Committee’s invitation has not made clear the scope of the proposed testimony; and trial court proceedings in People v. Trump are currently scheduled to continue through July 11, 2024." 

The letter added that participating in such a public hearing would be "potentially detrimental" to "protecting the fair administration of justice," adding that Bragg would be willing to testify at a hearing at a later date. 

Jordan has said that he was willing to subpoena Bragg if he refused to testify before the subcommittee, and questioned in an interview last week why Bragg would need to wait until after Trump’s sentencing. 

In a May 31 letter, Jordan wrote that Bragg was summoned to testify in front of the lawmakers for his involvement in engaging in "politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials, in particular the recent political prosecution of President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office."  

Additionally, Jim Jordan penned a letter for Matthew Colangelo, a former top-ranking official in President Biden's DOJ and prosecutor in the Trump case. Bragg had previously stopped working on the probe into Trump with the Stormy Daniels case before Colangelo was hired at the Manhattan DA’s office in December 2022.