During a recent discussion on MSNBC with host Jen Psaki, Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) condemned recent actions by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the latter of whom has been targeting Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis amid her criminal case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others.
Replying to a demand from Jordan for insider information from her investigation, including potential communications with federal personnel related to the case’s targets, Willis rebuked Jordan as trying to do something basically illegal and violative of the principles ordinarily governing local criminal prosecutions. In short, she contended that the standard is for local and state authorities to maintain protected control over prosecutions within their jurisdictions and, more specifically, for prosecutors to receive deference in bringing charges at all. Willis directly attacked the idea that there was any circumstance warranting what would amount to special treatment for Trump because of his status in politics.
“I thought she did a very good job of laying out why this is an abuse of power, an abuse of authority by the House Republicans, to do the bidding of Donald Trump — purely to use their power to defend Donald Trump,” Goldman said, later adding: “It’s a gross abuse of power. It is far outside their jurisdiction. It is against the law based on recent Supreme Court decisions, and it really needs to stop.” The decisions he may have been referencing involved the protection of grand jury investigations at the state level that target someone elected to be president. The local district attorney’s office in Manhattan repeatedly received from the U.S. Supreme Court itself what amounted to support for its investigative work targeting Trump.
Jordan tried something similar after that New York prosecutor’s office eventually brought charges against Trump, an effort to run interference that didn’t amount to much. A former member of the local prosecutor’s team who was questioned by a House committee repeatedly invoked Fifth Amendment rights.
“It is a gross abuse of power. It is far outside their jurisdiction. It is against the law…and it really needs to stop.” @RepDanGoldman on Rep. Jim Jordan and House Republicans running cover for Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/5nwQ1T9XaL
— Inside with Jen Psaki (@InsideWithPsaki) September 10, 2023
