Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan on Wednesday tore into Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for criminally charging former President Donald Trump the previous day.
Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts related to allegedly falsifying business records, to which he pleaded not guilty. The former president was hit with the charges after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him over allegations that his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 in hush money to former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged affair.
Jordan said Bragg is weaponizing the justice system by indicting the former president for a campaign finance violation despite Trump not having violated campaign finance rules.
“My big takeaway is just how relentless they’ve been after President Trump,” Jordan told “Fox & Friends” Wednesday. “I mean, they spy on his campaign, they raid his home, now they indict him for a campaign finance violation when he didn’t even use campaign funds. It’s ridiculous, but I think even more importantly than all that, is this is about all of us.”
Jordan suggested the indictment intentionally happened within the same month that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) knocked on the door of journalist Matt Taibbi who disclosed the FBI’s communications in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story in the Twitter Files. (RELATED: McCarthy Vows Congress Will Hold Bragg ‘Accountable’ For Trump Indictment)
“I don’t think it’s an accident that in the same month we learn that the FTC went to a private company and said, ‘Who are the journalists that you are talking to?’ We have two of those journalists testify in front of Congress and the Democrats ask them who their sources are, while the Democrats are asking one of those journalists those questions, the IRS is knocking on his door,” Jordan added, referring to independent journalist Matt Taibbi.
“This is about intimidation, this is about chilling everyone’s speech, making everyone stand in line,” Jordan continued.
The Ohio representative called for Trump’s case to be dismissed and suggested that Bragg intentionally waited to bring the case forward until after Trump announced his presidential candidacy. Jordan also said the main witness, Cohen, “lied” to Congress six times, making him an unreliable source in the case.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress about his efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia. He admitted to knowingly telling Congress false information about the real estate comments in 2017.
Jordan then said House Republicans want to call Bragg before Congress to learn if he coordinated with the federal government, including the Department of Justice or the White House, prior to the Trump indictment.
“We want to talk to him. He’s asked what questions we have so I think he’s almost conceding the point that we should be able to talk to him. Everything’s on the table, we’re gonna figure out how we proceed next,” Jordan said. “But we do want to get some answers to some key questions.”