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A Manhattan jury last month convicted Trump on charges, brought
by Bragg's office, of falsifying business records to hide a
$130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence
before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says they
had, which he denies.
Trump has vowed to appeal following his July 11 sentencing
before Justice Juan Merchan in New York state criminal court in
Manhattan.
The hearing before a Republican-led subcommittee will give
Trump's congressional allies a chance to rail against the
first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president, which they call a
politically-motivated effort by Bragg - an elected Democrat - to
interfere in the Nov. 5 election. Bragg has said ensuring
companies keep accurate books is a top priority in Manhattan,
which he calls the business capital of the world.
Trump's allies have pointed to Colangelo's role as evidence that
President Joe Biden's administration was involved in the
prosecution - a claim that Justice Department officials have
dismissed as baseless.
"It undermines the rule of law to spread dangerous
misinformation," a spokesperson for Bragg's office said in a
statement. "Nonetheless, we respect our government institutions
and plan to appear voluntarily before the subcommittee."
Local prosecutors such as Bragg operate independently of the
Justice Department.
In a letter to U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, the committee's
chair, Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte said the
Justice Department had searched its officials' email
communications for correspondence with the Manhattan District
Attorney's office about the Trump case and found none.
"The conspiracy theory that the recent jury verdict in New York
state court was somehow controlled by the Department is not only
false, it is irresponsible," Uriarte wrote in a letter seen by
Reuters on Tuesday.
In testimony before the committee last week, Attorney General
Merrick Garland said suggestions he had dispatched Colangelo to
Bragg's office were false.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Luc Cohen in New
York; additional reporting by Makini Brice in Washington;
editing by David Ljunggren and Alistair Bell)
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