Jim Jordan’s subpoena of former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz may not be what it looks like
Jim Jordan is a clown but he’s not stupid. He knew he couldn’t issue a subpoena to Manhattan DA Bragg without creating legal problems for himself. So instead he’s subpoenaing former Manhattan DA’s office prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who worked on the Trump probe before quitting last year and publicly attacking Bragg.
Jordan’s subpoena of Pomerantz is an obvious move: if you can’t get Bragg, get as close as you can to Bragg. But this may not be what it looks like.
Pomerantz’s position all along has been that Trump is guilty of even more crimes than the ones Bragg has charged Trump with. So Pomerantz would not exactly be a good witness for the Republicans. In fact House Democrats like Dan Goldman are saying that they’re looking forward to it if Pomerantz does testify.
Since Pomerantz’s public testimony would likely hurt Trump not help him, you have to think Jim Jordan has a different motive with this subpoena. Rather than trying to force Pomerantz to testify, this may be about trying to get specific information out of him.
Trump has been charged with corporate fraud, bumped up to felony status by an underlying crime that hasn’t been charged yet. In other words, Trump may still be charged with tax fraud in Manhattan. Bragg has famously stated, time and again, that the tax fraud part of his Trump probe is ongoing. Pomerantz was working on those specific charges against Trump before he quit.
So Jordan may be attempting to learn more about the other shoe that could still drop against Trump in Manhattan. Rather than making Pomerantz testify in a public hearing, he may be looking to just grill him for information in a closed door interview, or try to get specific internal documents out of him.
Of course this would still be obstruction of justice on Jordan’s part. He’d have to tread very lightly to be able to get any useful information out of Pomerantz, without opening the door to get himself charged with obstruction in Manhattan in the process. So this may not even be about trying to get to Pomerantz.
For that matter, Pomerantz can tie up a congressional subpoena as controversial as this one in court for as long as he likes (remember, you really can’t drag out grand jury subpoenas for long in court, but you can absolutely drag out congressional subpoenas in court for a long time). And Jordan knows that.
So this may be as simple as Jordan wanting to subpoena someone so he can look powerful for having done so, and deciding that subpoenaing Bragg was too risky, so he subpoenaed Pomerantz instead. This could all just be so Jordan can yell “what are they trying to hide” when Pomerantz fights the subpoena in court.
Is any of this really going to help Trump? No. Did Pomerantz create a liability when he went public with his gripes about Bragg last year? Yes, as I said at the time. Is it going to end up mattering? No. Jordan can’t help Trump. He can only create the appearance of it.
Jordan is every negative thing you can say about him. But he’s not stupid. How do you think he’s survived for so long as a scandal plagued creepy weirdo that nobody likes? He knows how to play the game. He’s scoring points with right wing voters by pretending his bluster is somehow helping Trump.
Nor does Jordan have some magic wand for making things happen. He can’t use Pomerantz to get Trump off the hook. He can’t defund the DOJ. These aren’t real things. But he can shore up his popularity with right wingers by making it look like he’s trying* to save Trump.
As much of an outrage as Jim Jordan is, he’s kind of powerless right now. His hearings are a joke. The far bigger threat is coming from republican state legislatures in Tennessee, North Carolina, Kansas, and so on. Let’s go win some state legislature seats and stop this madness!
