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By Michael Katz From Newsmax

The Heritage Foundation is suing Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over records related to his investigation of former President Donald Trump, which resulted in a 34-count indictment that Trump pleaded not guilty to in April.

The conservative think tank filed two lawsuits Thursday in New York State Supreme Court to compel Bragg to comply with its requests for the documents under the state’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Trump’s indictment involves felony charges of falsifying business records in the first degree regarding alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

In one lawsuit, the Heritage Foundation claims Bragg and his office coordinated with U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman, D-N.Y., the White House, and the Department of Justice about the prosecution targeting Trump.

“Regrettably, these questions have not been met with answers,” the lawsuit states. “These reports have raised concerns in many circles based in large part upon the longstanding history of President Trump’s political opponents coordinating their activities to systematically weaponize the criminal justice system against him and thereby pervert the course of justice.”

The second lawsuit centers on how Bragg and his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., obtained “potentially millions of dollars in free legal services from Davis, Polk & Wardwell LLP and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. These firms are involved in many different endeavors best characterized as ‘political’ and as major international law firms with robust white collar defense practices, clearly have an ‘interest’ in how the District Attorney of the County of New York conducts his affairs.”

A centerpiece of Bragg’s election campaign in 2021 was getting Trump indicted. Mike Howell, director of Heritage’s Oversight Project, the group’s government watchdog division, is a party to both lawsuits and said Bragg was “coordinating, or otherwise communicating” with Trump’s political opposition, and that “there’s reason to believe” Bragg was a “prolific communicator” by cellphone.

“The fact we have to file a lawsuit against Bragg who says he can’t produce these records and says he doesn’t have the systems to do so, is proof-positive of another dual standard of justice at play in this country,” Howell told Fox News Digital. “You have a weaponized actor who’s going after the former president on a loony theory about his document retention, whereas the DA can’t even keep his own documents, and it’s in violation of the information laws he is bound by.

“[Bragg’s] a hypocrite,” Howell added. “He’s wasting an exorbitant amount of New York’s taxpayer’s dollars to defend this now and delay it and obstruct it when he could’ve just turned it over.”

Related Stories:

• Rep. Jordan Demands Documents on Scope of Trump Probe
• Issa: Former Trump Prosecutor Repeatedly Pleads the Fifth

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