U.S. Rep. Darrel Issa, R-Calif., told Newsmax on Friday the indictment against former President Donald Trump issued by a Manhattan grand jury is another example of Trump being tried and convicted before all the facts have come out.
"They tried the president, found him guilty before he was ever elected," Issa told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "They found him guilty of collusion with the Russians. Except it turned out it was the former secretary of state [Hillary Clinton] that actually was involved in that. They found him guilty twice, and impeached him, only to fail when it actually was scrutinized.
"This is just another example of guilty until proven innocent."
Trump became the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges when the grand jury empaneled in January by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg voted to indict him based on a $130,000 payment former Trump attorney Michael Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about an alleged affair in 2006. The indictment is under seal, but multiple media outlets reported there are more than 30 counts in it.
Last week, House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., sent a letter to Bragg demanding communications, documents, and testimony relating to Bragg's "unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority and the potential indictment of former President Donald Trump."
Bragg's office sent a letter back to the congressmen Friday, criticizing them for trying to interfere in the investigation. Issa, a member of the Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, said that although he believes the case is of national interest because Trump might be charged with a federal campaign crime by a state court, and the case involves a former president, he doesn't think Congress will intervene.
"I don't believe Congress is going to directly interfere," Issa said.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Election Commission passed on prosecuting Trump for the payment to Daniels. Bragg said during his 2021 election campaign, which was backed by Color of Change, a George Soros-funded left-wing criminal justice group, that he will go after Trump if elected.
"I don't want to disregard the district attorney, but if you run for office saying you're going to indict somebody, and it's a campaign pledge, that's a little bit further than any law enforcement person [should go]," Issa said. "It's one thing to say I'm going to enforce the law, it is another thing to say, I'm going to indict somebody and then take a long time to get to do it, long enough that there's a real debate about whether the statute [of limitations] has run out on this this alleged crime to begin with."
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