Photo: Alamy | Originally published by Jason Cohen at Daily Caller News Foundation
The lead prosecutor for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump received thousands of dollars from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2018, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.
Matthew Colangelo, who was President Joe Biden’s acting associate attorney general and spent two years in the current president’s Department of Justice (DOJ), joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s office as senior counsel in December 2022. The lawyer received $12,000 from the DNC in 2018 for “political consulting” in two payments of $6,000 on Jan. 31 of that year, FEC records show.
Fox News Digital first reported the payments to Colangelo from the DNC.
Trump is unable to speak about Colangelo as Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on him that prevents the former president from speaking about prosecutors on the case besides Bragg.
Colangelo was appointed in 2022 while Bragg was still investigating Trump in relation to a $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her silent regarding an alleged affair. He delivered opening statements for the prosecution in April, arguing that Trump falsified business documents corresponding to the payment as part of a broader initiative to “corrupt the 2016 election.”
“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” Colangelo said.
Trump has consistently characterized the case as “election interference,” referencing it as a “Biden witch hunt” and the “Biden Case.”
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan sent a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding Colangelo, requesting documents and communications from his tenure at the DOJ. Jordan demanded personnel files pertaining to Colangelo’s hiring, employment and termination at the DOJ, as well as records and correspondences related to Trump or his organization.
“Bragg is engaged in one such politicized prosecution, which is being led in part by Matthew B. Colangelo, a former senior Justice Department official. Accordingly, given the perception that the Justice Department is assisting in Bragg’s politicized prosecution, we write to request information and documents related to Mr. Colangelo’s employment,” Jordan wrote.
While at the New York District Attorney’s office, Colangelo led the probe into the Trump Foundation, which resulted in its dissolution, as well as leading the investigation that eventually became Trump’s civil fraud case, according to The New York Times.
The DNC and Bragg did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.