After a semi-recent House deposition of former Manhattan investigator Mark Pomerantz didn’t go super great for Republicans, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced a proposal to hold the lawyer in contempt… and got zero Congressional cosponsors.
To be clear, that low level of support isn’t fatal to an initiative in Congress. However, it’s a useful — even if imprecise — metric, as it’s not as though new proposals ordinarily get just no support from any other member of the same legislative chamber. Recently, a proposal to rename a post office in Mount Vernon, Georgia, which is arguably only relevant to nearby lawmakers, got over a dozen signed on!
Pomerantz is relevant to House investigators because of his past involvement in investigating Donald Trump. He was on the team at the Manhattan district attorney’s office in the time before its latest occupant, Alvin Bragg, eventually brought charges against Trump that alleged a falsification of business records. Pomerantz and another top member of the team left amid evident frustration with the initially slower pace of Bragg actually pursuing action against Trump, and in general, House Republicans have sought to characterize essentially all of the legal scrutiny Trump has been facing as based in politics, putting Pomerantz in place as a somewhat key player in these alleged schemes.
Appearing for questioning, Pomerantz mostly refused to actually answer inquiries from members of Congress, though a couple Republicans evidently argued he’d waived his right against self-incrimination by the limited responses he did provide. Going forward, it’s unclear that holding Pomerantz in contempt would actually mean much of anything substantial. Remember the multiple close allies to Trump who were held in contempt under Democratic control and never faced any meaningful consequence? Gaetz, who reports recently revealed is back under potentially serious investigation from the House Ethics Committee, is posturing. (To be clear, the House Ethics probe was reported as refreshed but still in early stages, without much solidly established.)
