A House Judiciary Committee hearing was derailed when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) brought up a motion to require the attendance of NY DA Alvin Bragg at a House Judiciary Committee hearing in July.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The gentleman from Florida is recognized for five minutes.
00:02We are here at the hearing on the Manhattan District Attorney's
00:07Office, and the essential ingredient
00:10we seem to be missing is the Manhattan District
00:13Attorney, which I guess, Mr. Roy,
00:16would be a lot like going to the Salt Lick BBQ
00:18and not getting the moist brisket.
00:21To Mr. Jordan's credit, great credit,
00:23he sent a letter to Mr. Bragg on May 31st,
00:26inviting him to come participate.
00:28And we got sort of a nasty gram back from Mr. Bragg on June 7th.
00:33Mr. Chairman, I seek unanimous consent
00:34to enter into the record the June 7th response from AG Bragg.
00:38Objection.
00:39And I'm sorry, DA Bragg.
00:40And in this letter, I'm going to quote from it, Ms. Foley.
00:46Bragg says, this office is committed
00:47to voluntary cooperation.
00:50Do you believe that?
00:52No.
00:53The letter continues, that cooperation
00:55includes making the district attorney available
00:57to provide testimony on behalf of the office
00:59at an agreed upon date.
01:01Do you believe that?
01:02I'll believe it when I see it.
01:04It goes on to say that they're evaluating
01:05the propriety of allowing an assistant district attorney
01:09to testify publicly about the matter.
01:11Now, that assistant district attorney
01:13is the one who downstreamed from DOJ, right?
01:16So you think they're going to provide Mr. Colangelo
01:19here to answer our questions?
01:21I would not expect Mr. Colangelo to show up.
01:23And do you base that opinion on the lawsuit
01:26that Alvin Bragg filed against Jim Jordan
01:30in his official capacity in the Committee on the Judiciary?
01:34I saw some of that, yeah.
01:35I mean, look, you have a legitimate legislative purpose
01:37to be inquiring as to what you're doing.
01:40So they have no leg to stand on.
01:42But they're not going to come because we ask.
01:45And they're not going to come because they say so.
01:48And we learned that by observing our dear friends
01:51at the Oversight Committee.
01:53Because this will surprise a lot of Americans
01:54after hearing the enthusiasm around oversight
01:59of the Biden crime family,
02:02we never sent a subpoena to Hunter Biden
02:07to give live testimony before Congress.
02:10Let that sink in.
02:11The Republican House majority has never subpoenaed
02:16Hunter Biden for live testimony in public.
02:19We've never done it.
02:21And I worry that we're going about
02:23the same kind of process here.
02:25And we may end up there in July, right after sentencing,
02:30with an empty Alvin Bragg nameplate
02:33and an empty Matthew Colangelo nameplate.
02:35And then we'll start the process again
02:37on letters and subpoenas and accommodation.
02:39And I've just grown tired of it.
02:42And I think you're right, Ms. Foley,
02:44that this is all professional wrestling.
02:47There's no real effort to bring these people to bear.
02:53So-
02:54Will the gentleman yield for-
02:54No, one second, I got a motion.
02:56Mr. Chairman, I move under Committee Rule 4
02:59and Clause 2M of House Rule 11
03:01to require the attendance and testimony
03:03of Alvin Bragg and Matthew Colangelo on July 12th
03:06to discuss their involvement in the Trump prosecution,
03:09including their offices' coordination
03:10with the Department of Justice.
03:11Mr. Chairman.
03:13Mr. Chairman.
03:15Gentlemen, ranking members recognize.
03:18It's a little absurd
03:20because Mr. Bragg and Mr. Colangelo
03:23have already agreed to appear before the committee
03:27on July 12th.
03:28We have a letter to that effect.
03:29So there's no point requiring them
03:31to do what they've already said they're gonna do.
03:33The committee asked them for a, to appear.
03:37They asked them to appear today.
03:39They made the point that they,
03:40or Mr. Bragg, I should say,
03:42made the point that he didn't think he should appear
03:45before the sentencing on July 11th,
03:47but he'd be available thereafter.
03:49And he's agreed to come on July 12th.
03:51Mr. Chairman, this debate's out of order.
03:53You made a motion.
03:54It's not out of order.
03:55No, you have to seek recognition
03:57pursuant to debate on the motion.
03:58You can't just inject.
03:59Recognizing.
04:00I'm still on my time.
04:01I'm still controlling two additional minutes of time.
04:03You'll get your time, man.
04:05I have a letter here.
04:08No, my point is simple.
04:10They've, the committee requested them to appear,
04:13Mr. Bragg and Mr. Colangelo.
04:14They've agreed to appear.
04:16They plan to appear on July, sorry, on July 12th.
04:20I don't know what this debate is about.
04:21I yield back.
04:24Oh, and I looked into,
04:26I'd like unanimous consent to,
04:29Mr. Chairman.
04:32Ask unanimous consent to introduce into the record
04:37a report from Fox News headlined-
04:40That objection.
04:40Object pending consideration of my-
04:43Bragg, Colangelo-
04:43I wanna deal with, I wanna deal with-
04:45I wanna deal with Mr. Gates' motion,
04:47then we'll take your unanimous consent.
04:50Mr. Bragg and Mr. Colangelo have agreed to come on the 12th.
04:54If they don't show up on the 12th, they will be subpoenaed.
04:57So I would ask the gentleman if he could,
05:00if he could withdraw the motion.
05:02They're coming.
05:03We worked hard over the weekend to make sure they're coming.
05:07And if they change their mind,
05:09they will get a subpoena from the committee
05:11requiring them, compelling them to be here.
05:13And then if they choose to go to court on that,
05:16I think we'll beat them in court like we did the first time
05:18when we got Mr. Pomerantz to come testify in front of the-
05:22But Mr. Chairman, time then becomes determinative.
05:26The problem is if we're gonna bring these people in,
05:28let's go, I've made a motion to subpoena these people now
05:32pursuant to the rules, and I wanna vote on my motion,
05:35or I want someone to move to table it.
05:37You made the motion to subpoena them for the 12th?
05:40I made, I moved under Committee Rule 4,
05:43Clause 2M of House Rule 11-
05:45I moved to table. To require the attendance.
05:47I moved to table the-
05:49I second that.
05:51It's not debatable.
05:58Gentlemen's made a motion.
05:58The motion to table is not debatable.
06:01Those in favor of...
06:10Raise your hand.
06:17This is crazy.
07:10Committee will stand at recess.