House Judiciary Committee urges court to reverse verdict in Trump New York case, claiming it was ‘riddled with defects’

The House Judiciary Committee recently released a report obtained by Fox News Digital claiming that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan "violated" former President Donald Trump's "constitutional and legal rights" in the New York criminal trial.

In May, a Manhattan jury found the former president guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records, charges filed by Bragg.

'Never had a real shot at a fair trial.'

Before the guilty verdict, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland questioning Bragg's appointment of former Department of Justice senior official Matthew Colangelo as one of the lead prosecutors in the case. Jordan claimed that it gave "the perception that the Justice Department is assisting in" the "politicized prosecution" of the former president.

While the House Judiciary Committee's investigation into the New York case against Trump is still ongoing, it released a Tuesday report, "Lawfare: How the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and a New York State Judge Violated the Constitutional and Legal Rights of President Donald J. Trump," which examined the "lawfare tactics" and the "two-tiered justice system."

"Bragg's prosecution of President Trump was politically motivated, unethically and likely unlawfully focused solely on one person, and 'opened the door for future prosecutions of a former president—or current candidate—that would be widely perceived as politically motivated,'" the report stated.

In June, the committee listened to testimony demonstrating that Bragg's case was "riddled with defects," both legal and procedural, the report read.

"A fundamental principle of the American system of justice is that no individual is above the law. But just as important is the precept that prosecutors prosecute conduct, not individuals. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, however, ran for office on a platform of investigating and prosecuting President Trump, bragging about his extensive experience suing President Trump," the report continued. "Although Bragg was initially hesitant to bring charges once he became district attorney, he faced intense political pressure to do so, including a leaked resignation letter from a special assistant district attorney who attacked Bragg for being too timid."

The committee accused Bragg of using an "unconstitutional and unprecedented Russian-nesting-doll theory of criminal liability, in which the jury never had to reach unanimity beyond a reasonable doubt as to each element of the criminal offenses."

They further claimed that Trump "never had a real shot at a fair trial in Manhattan," adding that the area is "anything but a neutral jurisdiction."

"The Committee's and Select Subcommittee's oversight work is not done, but this interim report presents the facts about how the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and a Manhattan judge worked together to deprive President Donald J. Trump of his constitutional and legal rights," the report added.

The case's many defects, the committee stated, "should prompt the New York appellate courts to reverse the verdict."

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