Former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who assisted with Manhattan's investigation into hush money payments by former president Donald Trump, stayed mostly quiet in an appearance before Congress on Friday.
The House Judiciary Committee took deposition from Pomerantz in a closed-door session. The committee is performing an oversight probe of the Manhattan DA's investigation, which eventually led to Trump's indictment on 34 felony counts.
Pomerantz quit the investigation more than a year before Trump's indictment, citing frustrations with the way the investigation had been executed. He later wrote a book on the experience.
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In his opening statement, Pomerantz called the GOP-led committee inquiry "an act of political theater." California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said Pomerantz repeatedly exercised his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.
Pomerantz stated he took that step to avoid revealing grand jury information or misusing confidential information, which could have left him open to criminal prosecution.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg initially sued to keep the committee from subpoenaing Ponerantz, but the District Attorney's office later agreed to allow the deposition to go on as long as lawyers were present while it happened.
In a statement on Friday's hearing, Bragg's office said "the District Attorney’s Office is participating in today’s deposition and asserting our rights to oppose disclosure of confidential information protected by law."
