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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had already made up his mind about Donald Trump’s indictment before he’d even seen it. Last week, unaware of what the former president would even be charged with, the California Republican condemned the charges as an “injustice.”
Yesterday, the GOP leader pried himself away from working on his party’s budget plan long enough to comment anew in the wake of Trump’s arraignment. My MSNBC colleague Shawn Cox noted:
[A]fter Trump was arraigned in wake of an actual indictment, the California Republican took to Twitter to suggest that his House “weaponization” subcommittee would be taking a look at the case, declaring that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s “weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress.”
McCarthy’s message stood out for a few reasons. Right off the bat, there was the curious reference to “the federal justice process,” which seemed odd given that the local prosecutor is relying on New York’s justice process.
What’s more, this was a serious allegation of wrongdoing from McCarthy, and as Shawn added, it’s baseless: There’s “zero evidence the Trump indictment amounts to the ‘weaponization’ of the Manhattan DA’s office.”
I also can’t wait to see if McCarthy tries to put the House Republicans’ “weaponization” to use against the Manhattan prosecutor, given that the panel has proven to be such a hapless fiasco.
While we’re at it, let’s also not forget that McCarthy — who famously said he'd "had it with this guy" in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot, only to kiss Trump’s ring at Mar-a-Lago soon after — has long opposed accountability for the former president. The fact that the House speaker instead supports accountability for the Manhattan district attorney is precisely backward.
But even if we put all of that aside, there’s another angle to this that’s worth keeping in mind: As Congress takes steps to interfere with a state criminal prosecution, lawmakers need to tread carefully.
It was just last week, for example, when the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office traded the latest in a series of unpleasant messages with three powerful House GOP chairs — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, and House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil of Wisconsin — who’ve collectively sought information and testimony about the ongoing case against Trump.
Bragg and his team were unsubtle about asking federal lawmakers to back off.
“Like any other defendant, Mr. Trump is entitled to challenge these charges in court and avail himself of all processes and protections that New York State’s robust criminal procedure affords,” the office’s general counsel, Leslie Dubeck, wrote about the Trump indictment. “What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State.”
After reminding the congressmen that they still don’t have the authority to interfere in a criminal prosecution at the state level, and noting that they could use their positions to encourage Americans to trust the integrity of the judicial system, Dubeck added a rather pointed paragraph.
“Instead, you and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump’s efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges and made unfounded allegations that the Office’s investigation ... is politically motivated,” she wrote. “We urge you to refrain from these inflammatory accusations, withdraw your demand for information, and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference.”
As I noted soon after, this was the first time Bragg’s office had raised the prospect of pro-Trump partisans on Capitol Hill possibly engaging in “unlawful political interference.”
As McCarthy raises the prospect of Congress holding the local prosecutor “accountable,” it’s a message the House speaker — and his legal advisers — might want to consider.