Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) led a group of Republicans on Thursday introducing legislation that would defund Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, flatly accusing him of “lawlessness” and leading a “political prosecution of former U.S. President Donald Trump.”
Biggs filed a pair of bills that take direct aim at Bragg’s office in a retaliatory move for indicting Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to alleged hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
The first piece of legislation is named the “Accountability for Lawless Violence In Our Neighborhoods Act,” or “ALVIN Act.” If passed, it would prohibit Bragg’s office from receiving federal funding and would mandate that he repay any funds received after Jan. 1, 2022. The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Mary Miller (R-IL), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Bob Good (R-VA).
The second bill is called the “No Federal Funds for Political Prosecutions Act.” It would stop any state or local law enforcement agency from using resources seized through asset forfeiture to prosecute a president, vice president, or candidate for president in a criminal case.
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) April 13, 2023
Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump, admittedly using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that the peoples’ representatives in Congress lack jurisdiction to…
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) April 4, 2023
“District Attorney Alvin Bragg ran on a campaign pledge to indict President Trump. Bragg took the unprecedented action of converting alleged minor business misdemeanors to 34 individual felonies in an attempt to put President Trump behind bars and humiliate him and his supporters,” Biggs declared in a statement.
“This weaponized prosecutor’s office has spent thousands of federal taxpayer dollars to subsidize this political indictment and is demanding millions more in federal grants,” he added.
More than 170,000 felony crimes were reported in New York City last year — the most since 2006.
Alvin Bragg’s plan? Indict a political opponent to distract you from those numbers.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 31, 2023
“It’s disturbing to see District Attorney Bragg waste federal resources for political purposes rather than addressing the serious crime in his city. As a member of the House Judiciary and Oversight & Accountability Committees, and with an almost insurmountable national debt that exceeds $31 trillion, the nation simply cannot afford to support Mr. Bragg’s politicization of the criminal justice system,” Biggs concluded.
House Republicans contend that the Manhattan DA is politically motivated. They have issued subpoenas for his work on the matter. Bragg has countered by suing House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). He accused Republicans of “an unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack” on law enforcement.
BREAKING: Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg just filed a LAWSUIT against Jim Jordan to block his interference and obstruction of the DA's criminal case against Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/98IWqozoWN
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) April 11, 2023
Republicans claim that lawmakers have a duty to conduct oversight over Bragg because he receives federal funding.
Attorneys for Bragg’s office have contended that the DA’s office has contributed more than $1 billion to the federal government through forfeited assets in the past 15 years and that only a “small fraction” of those funds are received by the district attorney. Republicans aren’t buying that claim.
According to Fox News, “DA records indicate that approximately $5,000 was spent on expenses incurred relating to the Trump or Trump Organization investigations and that none of those expenses were paid for with funds received through federal grant programs, general counsel Leslie B. Dubeck wrote in a letter to House Republicans last month.”
Bragg’s office insists the $5,000 came from “federal forfeiture money that the Office helped collect” before he took over his position in January of 2022.
“These expenses were incurred between October 2019 and August 2021. Most of those costs are attributed to the Supreme Court case, Trump v. Vance—subpoena-related litigation in which the DA’s Office prevailed and which led to the indictment and conviction of Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and two Trump organizations,” Bragg’s office asserted. “No expenses incurred relating to this matter have been paid from funds that the Office receives through federal grant programs.”
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