A conservative watchdog group is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) for emails that could shed light on the DOJ’s role in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal prosecution of Donald Trump.
Matthew Colangelo left his plum job near the top of President Joe Biden’s DOJ to work for Bragg on the Trump case in December 2022, a highly unusual move that likely would have involved discussions with other DOJ brass about his departure. That case ultimately led to the conviction of Trump, Biden’s election opponent, of 34 felonies over a minor financial matter.
The DOJ did not turn over records for Colangelo’s emails and calendar entries mentioning Trump during his time at the department, so America First Legal (AFL), a nonprofit helmed by former Trump official Stephen Miller, sued on Monday.
“No one leaves being the #3 at the Department of Justice to go work in a district attorney’s office–no matter which one it is. There is no plausible explanation other than engagement in a coordinated campaign to target one man – President Trump. The American people deserve to see these records,” Gene Hamilton, AFL’s executive director, said in a statement.
Before serving as Acting Associate Attorney General, Colangelo worked for the New York Attorney General’s office, which also investigated Trump, the lawsuit said.
A Freedom of Information Act request filed last year requested all of Colangelo’s records containing the terms Trump or FPOTUS, as well as his calendar at the DOJ.
In August, the DOJ asked AFL to narrow the request, which it did, but the DOJ still did not provide the records.
“The Defendant has violated the FOIA by failing to reasonably search for records,” the lawsuit said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland praised Colangelo in announcing his departure from the federal government, saying he relied on his “wise counsel.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in a statement that the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has asked Bragg and Colangelo to testify before Congress about the prosecution of Trump, adding that “it will take more than hearings — the GOP must radically constrain the power of government — by cutting spending used to fund this tyranny, firing bureaucrats, and legally holding people accountable.”
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) called Colangelo a “plausible coconspirator” in illegally depriving Trump of rights.
AFL recently represented The Daily Wire in a similar lawsuit against the DOJ, in which the department initially declined to release records that, it turned out, showed that the Department was lumping in the center-right parents group Moms for Liberty with the KKK, the Oath Keepers, and hate crimes.
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