(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DA who convicted Trump draws ire for daring to defend himself from GOP attacks [1] [] Date: 2024-06-12 The far-right Heritage Foundation is expressing its outrage over the money Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was forced to spend to protect his Trump election interference case from … other far-right conservatives. According to a laughably dubbed “exclusive” from Fox News, the Oversight Project, which Fox describes as a “good-government transparency arm of the Heritage Foundation,” discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request that Bragg announced a $1 million appropriation in April 2023 for outside counsel “to respond to congressional oversight of his prosecution.” In other words, because states’ rights-touting Republicans in Washington were inappropriately interfering in a state case, Bragg decided he needed to hire the Los Angeles-based Gibson Dunn law firm to keep his prosecution on track instead of caving to congressional pressure, and this has conservatives—who are certain Donald Trump can do no wrong because just look how innocent he acts all the time—incensed. From the Fox News “exclusive”: Another piece of the document tranche said Bragg indicated it would be in the best interests of the office to hire outside counsel to respond to congressional inquiry from Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and others at the time. […] The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has approved the use of funds received as part of the 2019 UniCredit settlement to be used toward retaining outside counsel tied to a congressional inquiry into the investigation and prosecution of a confidential investigation division case. The email then references an attached engagement letter signed by Bragg with Gibson Dunn and documents referenced Bragg's office's awareness of the trio of House committees looking into his investigation of former President Trump. Judging by Fox’s framing of the story, we’re supposed to be outraged that Bragg was spending such gaudy sums in his pursuit of Trump as New York City faced budget cuts and while other crimes that somehow didn’t involve Trump were being committed. Fox spoke with Oversight Project Executive Director Mike Howell, who is apparently very concerned about New York’s budget and the city’s devolution into a “third-world urban area.” “It shows the highest focus of this unique kind of ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach as applied to President Trump, while they have just degeneracy, deviancy and crime in their streets,” said Howell. Deviancy? Has there been a spike in street crime involving presidential candidates who get spanked by adult film stars with Forbes magazines and then illegally cook their businesses’ books to cover it up? Because that would be the worst episode of “The Wire” ever. “You have [Mayor Eric Adams] telling folks to cut back and focus on crime problems, and then you have a DA spending more and focusing on political persecution as New York City goes to hell,” Howell whined. Of course, convincing rural Americans that New York City is a crime-ridden hellhole that’s getting progressively worse is a pretty easy lift, but it’s not remotely true. All the latest numbers show that crime in New York City remains near historic lows and is currently falling. In fact, following a spike that began under Trump, crime is once again trending down nationally—meaning Republicans will either need to find a new talking point or, more likely, lie harder. And claiming that no white-collar criminals should be prosecuted in New York, the financial capital of the world, until every last shoplifter and loose cigarette-seller is brought to justice is a pretty silly argument, is especially wrongheaded in light of New York’s rapidly improving crime picture. Now, to be fair, there is a scandal here. It’s just not what Fox News and its viewers think it is. In April 2023, shortly after a grand jury indicted Trump on 34 felony counts, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan decided he needed to stop Bragg from doing his job, because Bragg had not yet sexually assaulted any Ohio State wrestlers. Jordan’s interference in the case represented an egregious overreach and prompted Bragg to sue Jordan less than a week after Jordan hit the DA with a subpoena demanding “confidential documents and testimony from the district attorney himself as well as his current and former employees and officials.” Bragg’s lawsuit stated, “Congress lacks any valid legislative purpose to engage in a free-ranging campaign of harassment in retaliation for the District Attorney’s investigation and prosecution of Mr. Trump under the laws of New York” and “that campaign is a direct threat to federalism and the sovereign interests of the State of New York. This Court should enjoin the subpoena and put an end to this constitutionally destructive fishing expedition.” In other words: Psst, Shrieky Fromme—stop interfering in state sovereignty just because they arrested your cult leader. It’s a really shitty look. Meanwhile, Jordan and his Bullshit Brigade are still trying to torpedo Bragg’s prosecution, helping to drive home the point that Bragg’s outlays to protect his case from congressional meddling were money well spent. Bragg will now testify before Jordan’s House Judiciary Committee on July 12, the day after Trump’s sentencing, to publicly answer a bunch of goofy and irrelevant questions that could have easily been addressed in an email. NBC News: The hearings come as Trump and his GOP allies on Capitol Hill, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wage war on the justice system. They’ve claimed that Bragg, local Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis, as well as special counsel Jack Smith and other federal prosecutors, are politically targeting Trump ahead of the presidential election. Jordan announced the upcoming hearing with Bragg on Tuesday morning, just as President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was found guilty of three federal charges tied to the possession of a gun while using narcotics. On May 31, Jordan, a conservative firebrand and close Trump ally, formally requested that Bragg and [Matthew] Colangelo — a member of the Trump trial team and a former Justice Department official — testify before the Judiciary subcommittee on the weaponization of the government, which is also led by Jordan. Wait—You mean the all-powerful and corrupt Joe Biden couldn’t even get the feds to stop prosecuting his son? And yet he single-handedly rigged a New York case against Trump? Maybe Trump’s conviction was legit after all. That’s what most Americans think, anyway. So what we have here is yet another example of extreme GOP chutzpah. Let’s break it down: Conservatives forced Bragg to defend his case—which he eventually won with a unanimous verdict—against their interference. They then attacked him for successfully defending his case with the help of a $1 million appropriation, which he wouldn’t have had to make had it not been for their meddling. Their chief rationale for exempting Trump from any and all state prosecutions involves the outright lie that crime is spiraling out of control in New York. Finally—and this is the coup de grâce—their solution for addressing what they claim is rising crime but is actually falling crime is to elect a convicted felon president. So that’s your modern Republican Party in a nutshell. Nice, huh? No doubt Abraham Lincoln would be rolling over in his grave right now if he hadn’t already pulled a hamstring from overuse. Daily Kos’ Postcards to Swing States campaign is back, and I just signed up to help. 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