It has been reported that members of the House of Representatives have sent a letter to New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg seeking documents obtained in an investigation and presented to a grand jury in connection with the alleged “payoff” to “silence” and obtain a non-disclosure agreement from a motion picture actress about a sexual relationship she had with former President Donald Trump, and that the nature of the payment was inappropriately reported incident to the 2016 Presidential election. We, of course, take no position whatsoever on the underlying allegations, or comments relating to the investigation or conduct, or its relation to the election. We address only our deep concern about the jurisdiction and role of a Congressional committee, or members of Congress, interfering, or even becoming involved in discussions with a prosecutor about the subject of a state grand jury, criminal investigation or prosecution.
It was established that a grand jury can investigate based even on a rumor of wrongdoing; in fact the purpose of a grand jury is to investigate, so release of documents and information by prosecutors about what they have obtained is inconsistent with the role of the grand jury. In any event, as a grand jury acts in secrecy to protect an alleged offender as well as witnesses until any indictment is filed, we cannot conceive how the House Judiciary or other committee could even suggest there was an “abuse of discretion” in presenting a case to the grand jury. Nor can it be said, as alleged by one congressman, that the investigation is “an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.“
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