Republican Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James demanding that her office turn over documents related to former Justice Department official Matthew Colangelo, who is now serves as lead prosecutor for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in the New York v. Trump case.
“Mr. Colangelo's recent employment history demonstrates his obsession with investigating an individual rather than prosecuting a crime,” Jordan wrote in his letter to James on Wednesday.
“At the New York Attorney General's office, Mr. Colangelo – who for a time held the title of Chief Counsel for Federal Initiatives – conducted investigations into President Trump, leading to 'a wave of lawsuits against the Administration's policies -Trump,” Jordan said. continued. “On January 20, 2021, the first day of the Biden administration, Mr. Colangelo began serving as Acting Assistant Attorney General – the third-ranking official at the Department of Justice. Following the confirmation of Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, Mr. Colangelo was subsequently served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General.”
But Colangelo left his senior position at the Justice Department to join New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation into Trump months before the former president's indictment.
“In December 2022, District Attorney Bragg was reinforced [his] office” by hiring Mr. Colangelo to fill the void left by the departure of politicized prosecutors Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne. District Attorney Bragg has hired Mr. Colangelo to jump-start his office's investigation into President Trump, reportedly because of Mr. Colangelo's “history of going after Donald J. Trump and his family business.” Mr. Colangelo is now the lead prosecutor in the trial of President Trump,” Jordan continued.
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Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo speaks in DOJ video. (Ministry of Justice/YouTube)
Colangelo has a lengthy government resume and has held several legal positions dating back to the Obama administration, Fox News Digital previously reported. He almost served recently two years in Biden's DOJincluding as Acting Assistant Attorney General overseeing the Antitrust, Civil Rights, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions.
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Former President Trump walks around at the end of the day to speak to the press during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 7, 2024.
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Colangelo has also previously prosecuted cases involving Trump.
Colangelo was assisting a case 2018 that Trump's former disbanded The New York-based charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, after prosecutors alleged it illegally coordinated with Trump's 2016 campaign. The charity was dissolved after a judge ruled that Trump had “breached his fiduciary duty.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, file)
That same year, Colangelo worked as lead prosecutor in a case in which the Trump administration pushed to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census. The Ministry of Justice ultimately decided to print the 2020 census without the citizenship question due to protracted litigation, including the Supreme Court's ruling that the question could not be added for the time being.
Experts who previously spoke to Fox News Digital described Colangelo's career move from a top position at the DOJ to a prosecutor as “very strange.”
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“It's very strange. Usually it's the other way around… And honestly, that strikes me as someone who thought, 'Ah, here's an opportunity to go get Donald Trump,'” says Hans von Spakovsky, a lawyer and former member of the committee. the Federal Election Commission told Fox News Digital in a telephone interview last month before the process began in earnest.
According to public comments, Trump is not a fan of Colangelo. He labeled the lawyer as 'radical left' [prosecutor] who was placed in the state to work for Letitia James and then placed in the district attorney's office to preside over the trial of Trump.” The comment came before the president of the NY v. Trump case, Juan Merchan, imposed a silence order that prevents Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses or the prosecution team.
The Department of Justice in Washington, DC (iStock)
“District Attorney Bragg's politicized prosecution of President Trump has serious consequences for federal interests,” Jordan continued in his letter to James on Wednesday. “The fact that a former senior Biden Justice Department official — whose previous job included leading 'a wave of lawsuits against Trump administration policies' — is now leading the prosecution of the country's top political rival from President Biden, only adds to the perception that the Biden Justice Department has been politicized and weaponized.”
Chairman Jim Jordan listens as Attorney General Merrick Garland appears before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on September 20, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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The NY v. Trump case focuses on the prosecution team trying to prove that Trump falsified company records 34 times to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election to cover up her claims of an affair with Trump to hide.
Former President Trump leaves Trump Tower to attend his trial in New York on April 22, 2024. (Charly Tribelleau/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case and maintained his innocence.
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Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, considered the prosecution's star witness, has provided continued testimony this week, including a description that he used his personal money to pay Daniels in 2016 through a home equity line of credit. Cohen testified that he did this because Trump told him to “address it” because the story could be damaging to the campaign.
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Cohen said he received “$420,000” back for the payment, an amount he said was “grossed up” to avoid losing money on taxes, and argued that Trump was aware of the details of the payments. The checks themselves were described as a “retainer,” which Cohen said was a false description.
James' office, as well as the Manhattan district attorney's office, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment Thursday morning.
