Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy questioned the timing and motives behind Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg investigating former President Donald Trump, Monday, telling "America's Newsroom" that the campaign finance case is "clearly a misdemeanor" that does not rise to the level of criminal prosecution.
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ANDY MCCARTHY: Well, I think it's clearly a misdemeanor. It's one that shouldn't be brought. And the attack on Bragg here, it shouldn't be a defense of Trump, because it looks like this is a falsification of records. But the attack on Bragg ought to be that no one who was not Donald Trump would conceivably be charged with this. And then with respect to Bragg, the second part, where he's being super aggressive, even though he's incredibly not aggressive when it comes to like real crime in New York. This idea of trying to sort of bootstrap campaign finance violations on this, I mean, it's first of all, most campaign finance laws are federal, which is not what the New York penal code is talking about, he's apparently going to try to say, well, it could have been a violation of New York's election law. Did Trump lose New York by like 30 points?
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The House Judiciary Committee is demanding Bragg testify before Congress in the wake of his "unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority," as he reportedly considers indicting Trump in charges related to alleged hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter, exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, to Bragg Monday morning demanding his testimony. The letter was also signed by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and House Committee on Administration Chairman Brian Steil, R-Wis.
Jordan warned Bragg that if news reports of a possible Trump indictment are accurate, Bragg’s actions "will erode confidence in the evenhanded application of justice and unalterably interfere in the court of the 2024 presidential election."
"In light of the serious consequences of your actions, we expect that you will testify about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision," Jordan wrote.
The potential charges stem from the $130,000 hush money payment then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
Federal prosecutors in the U.S. attorneys office for the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Stormy Daniels payment in 2019, even as Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
