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‘Obstructive’: Darrell Issa Lambasts Ex-Trump Investigator For Refusing To Answer Questions During Deposition

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Trevor Schakohl Legal Reporter
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Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa chided former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz on Friday after he declined to answer questions under deposition about Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s probe into former President Donald Trump.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan tried to subpoena Pomerantz shortly after Bragg indicted Trump on April 4 for allegedly falsifying business records, and Bragg sued Jordan and the committee over the subpoena before ultimately agreeing to allow Pomerantz’s deposition. The committee deposed Pomerantz Friday, but he refused to answer members’ questions about the Manhattan District Attorney Office’s Trump investigation or the indictment, saying the deposition was “for show” and represented “cynical histrionics,” CNN’ reported.

“He has answered no questions, he has asserted on behalf of the DA’s Office and himself, what I would characterize as taking the Fifth [Amendment], effectively taking the Fifth, every single time,”  Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa said Friday, according to C-SPAN. “I’ve never had a more obstructive and less cooperative witness in my over 20 years in Congress.” (RELATED: ‘He Consistently Loses’: GOP Senator Goes Off On Trump)

Pomerantz claimed in his recent book “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account,” that he resigned from Bragg’s office in February 2022 when he came to believe Trump would not be indicted and told Bragg he was responsible for a “grave failure of justice.” Pomerantz nevertheless refused on Friday to answer questions related to the book, saying a Manhattan District Attorney Office’s lawyer had claimed the publication “exposed me to criminal liability.”

“We are gathered here because Donald Trump’s supporters would like to use these proceedings to attempt to obstruct and undermine the criminal case against him, and to harass, intimidate, and discredit anyone who investigates or charges him,” Pomerantz said in his opening statement, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights, according to CNN.

Jordan has argued that Pomerantz politicized the investigation into Trump and encouraged District Attorney Alvin Bragg to charge Trump. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony charges in Bragg’s indictment relating to allegations that he reimbursed his former lawyer Michael Cohen for hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, and model Karen McDougal. 

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