Appeals court presses pause on House GOP subpoena to former Trump prosecutor

NEW YORK — An appeals court temporarily halted a planned Thursday deposition of former Trump prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, delaying an effort by House Republicans to investigate the office of the Manhattan district attorney.

The brief pause gives the court time to consider arguments from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that a subpoena for Pomerantz’s testimony is unconstitutional.

The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), issued the subpoena to Pomerantz, who previously worked for the district attorney’s office, in the wake of Bragg filing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump late last month.

Bragg then sued Jordan and the Judiciary panel, seeking a court order preventing the House from enforcing the subpoena.

While the Judiciary committee has contended that it wants to study the potential effects that the threat of a future prosecution could have on a president while he is in office, Bragg argued that the House had no legitimate legislative purpose in issuing the subpoena and instead intends to examine the district attorney’s internal deliberations regarding the Trump indictment.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Manhattan declined to block the subpoena to Pomerantz. “The subpoena was issued with a ‘valid legislative purpose’ in connection with the ‘broad’ and ‘indispensable’ congressional power to ‘conduct investigations,’” U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wrote.

Bragg’s legal team appealed immediately to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which ordered that Pomerantz’s deposition be put on hold. Jordan and the committee must file briefing to the appeals court by Friday, with Bragg’s response due Saturday.