WASHINGTON (CN) - House Democrats are demanding answers from the Justice Department after federal prosecutors moved to criminally charge a member of Congress in what lawmakers are calling a "politically motivated abuse of prosecutorial power."
And Democrats are asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to show receipts proving that acting U.S. attorney Alina Habba did not violate Justice Department policy by moving ahead with the prosecution without approval from the agency's public integrity division.
Habba, a former Trump attorney now serving as the Garden State's interim federal prosecutor, announced last month that she was charging Rep. LaMonica McIver with assault after a clash with law enforcement at an ICE facility near Newark. Video from the incident, which occurred during a congressional tour, appeared to show McIver pushing officers as she entered with colleagues.
Democrats have vowed to fight back against the charges and have rallied around McIver, who pointed out that she was at the ICE facility as part of her oversight responsibilities as a member of Congress. On Tuesday, lawmakers rolled out their formal response, demanding that Bondi explain why the Justice Department chose to prosecute their colleague.
"The decision to charge Congresswoman McIver appears to be part of a concerted strategy to deter congressional oversight and relentlessly pursue Donald Trump's extreme immigration policy with complete disregard for the rule of law and the lawmaking branch of the government," Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin told the attorney general in a letter.
Raskin slammed Habba as a political operative, writing that she had "aligned herself completely" with Trump and pointing out that she has already threatened federal investigations into other Justice Department officials. New Jersey's federal prosecutor, he added, has abandoned "any pretense of legal independence or official neutrality."
And the Maryland Democrat, citing media reports, raised concerns that Habba may have violated Justice Department policy when she moved ahead with charges against McIver.
According to agency standards, federal prosecutors must consult with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section and receive approval before bringing charges against members of Congress. The Public Integrity Office exists to review Justice Department actions and ensure that investigations and prosecutions are not carried out for political purposes.
The Trump administration has already expressed interest in stepping away from such practices - the White House in March significantly cut down the public integrity section's staff and is reportedly considering doing away with the division altogether.
Raskin demanded that Bondi tell lawmakers whether Habba followed Justice Department procedure and if she consulted with the public integrity division before prosecuting McIver. He specifically requested the timeframe of the consultation, the names of the agency officials involved, and whether the Public Integrity Section had approved the charges.
The Maryland congressman also demanded to know whether anyone in the White House had asked the Justice Department to charge McIver, or if the agency had sought the administration's blessing to do so.
In addition to details about Habba's prosecution, Raskin urged Bondi to turn over information related to the Justice Department's separate, ill-fated charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was also present at the ICE facility scuffle last month.
Baraka was initially arrested at the scene and charged with trespassing, but federal prosecutors later dropped the case. The Newark mayor, a Democrat, sued Habba on Tuesday, saying that he had been subjected to wrongful arrest and defamation.
Raskin demanded to know how the Justice Department arrived at the decision to charge Baraka, and why it ultimately decided to dismiss its prosecution based on "the facts and the law."
McIver, for her part, has said that the Justice Department mischaracterized her actions during the fracas at the detention center and has decried the charges as "purely political."
During a news conference last month, House Democratic Caucus chairman Pete Aguilar called the charges "ridiculous" and reiterated that his colleague from New Jersey was merely doing her job as a member of Congress.
"Anybody saying otherwise is telling a lie," he added.
Source: Courthouse News Service
