8-13-2023 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) sued the New York District Attorney’s Office for refusing to provide documents as requested under the New York Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) regarding District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s partisan persecution of President Trump.
In March of 2023, AFL opened an investigation into the New York County District Attorney’s Office to obtain internal and external communications from its key leaders regarding former President Trump. For example, Democrat political operative Lanny Davis bragged to Politico that he triggered the District Attorney’s investigation of President Trump. Davis’s claims might be puffery, but they provide an additional reason to believe that the District Attorney’s unusual interest in President Trump has been based on improper partisan considerations from the start.
Then, following the partisan conviction of President Trump in New York on June 2, 2024, AFL launched new investigations responding to credible allegations of improper collusion between District Attorney Bragg’s office and allied leftist dark money groups.
On June 3, 2024, after more than a year of extension after extension, the District Attorney’s Office granted access to “one single-page record.”
Additionally, its search identified “36 responsive records” to AFL’s request for all emails or other communications “mentioning or regarding Donald J. Trump” with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), but the request was “denied on grand jury secrecy grounds.”
Bragg’s office’s statement appears inconsistent with DOJ’s June 10, 2024, response to Chairman Jim Jordan, stating that DOJ found nothing from its “comprehensive search for email communications since January 20, 2021, through the date of the verdict, between any officials in Department leadership, including all political appointees in those offices, and the District Attorney’s office regarding any investigation or prosecution of the former President.”
After AFL fully exhausted all appeals of the District Attorney’s denials of AFL’s FOIL requests at the administrative level, AFL is now suing before the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the release of the following records:
- All records of communications between Alvin Bragg and his staff with the Biden-Harris Administration (including DOJ), the New York Times, the Free and Fair Litigation Group, or Lanny Davis’s law firm or PR firm;
- All records of Alvin Bragg and his staff discussing Judge Merchan or Donald J. Trump.
As part of its ongoing investigation, AFL already sued DOJ to compel the immediate release of records requested under FOIA regarding Matthew Colangelo, a key figure in the partisan and politically motivated prosecution against President Trump in Manhattan.
Statement from Dan Epstein, America First Legal Vice President:
“When justice operates in the shadows, abuse is often the intent. America First Legal is at the forefront of getting the facts and informing the American people. There should be nothing to hide. If improper ex parte communications influenced what is supposed to be nonpartisan prosecutorial conduct, all Americans are at risk. America First Legal is suing because it is committed to ensuring our justice system is free from partisan politics.” said Dan Epstein.
Read the lawsuit here.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are posted without moderation. Use caution when following links, and beware of SPAM and fake links. Please keep discussions civil and on-topic.