A former New York City prosecutor refused to answer questions about President Trump’s indictment during a deposition before Congress.
On Friday, Mark Pomerantz, who previously investigated Trump, pleaded the Fifth Amendment for much of his deposition while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, calling the GOP-led panel’s investigation “political theater.”
According to a copy of his opening statement, Pomerantz bragged that he would invoke his right not to have to answer the Republican’s inquiries regarding Trump.
“It gives me no joy to invoke my legal rights, but I am glad that the law allows me not to cooperate with this performance of political theater,” Pomerantz said during his testimony, which ran for five hours.
The former left-wing prosecutor said that he was appearing before Congress because it is “required” and that he “respects the rule of law” but does not respect the GOP’s power to make him cooperate.
“What I do not respect is the use of the Committee’s subpoena power to compel me to participate in an act of political theater,” Pomerantz’s statement read. “This deposition is for show. I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative ‘oversight.’”
Pomerantz served several years as a special assistant on the Trump probe at Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office. However, he resigned in February 2022 because he claimed Bragg initially hesitated to pursue the case further.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters that in his 20 years of work, he has never seen such an obstructive witness who continually refused to cooperate with the panel.
Pomerantz was subpoenaed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) due to his involvement with a case about hush money payments from Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
Jordan said he was “surprised” at some of Pomerantz’s answers, “but committee rules don’t allow us to get into details.”