America First Legal Sues Department of Justice

America First Legal sues the DOJ

following Motivated Involvement in the Conviction of President Trump

America First Legal (AFL) sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to compel the immediate release of records requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding Matthew Colangelo, a key figure in the partisan and political-motivated prosecution against President Trump in Manhattan.

In December 2022, New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg hired Matthew Colangelo to reportedly “jump-start” his office’s investigation of President Trump, reportedly due to Mr. Colangelo’s “history of taking on Donald J. Trump and his family business.”

Mr. Colangelo previously held senior positions at the DOJ and the New York Attorney General’s Office, both of which had competing investigations related to President Trump.

It is not every day that the number three ranking DOJ official — the Acting Associate Attorney General — leaves his post to join a district attorney's office. Yet, that is exactly what Mr. Colangelo did. This calculated move reeks of partisanship.

On May 30, 2024, District Attorney Bragg’s office obtained a guilty verdict on 34 charges against former president Donald Trump but “contorted the law in an unprecedented manner in their quest to snare their prey.”

On May 31, 2024, Chairman Jim Jordan called Mr. Colangelo to testify before the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government for a hearing on June 13, 2024, to “examine actions by state and local prosecutors to engage politically motivated prosecutions of federal officials, in particular the recent political prosecution of President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.”

As part of AFL’s investigation into the influence of the lawfare against Biden’s chief political opponent, in 2023, AFL filed a FOIA request to DOJ for all of Mr. Colangelo’s calendars and records discussing President Trump to uncover the extent that his jump from DOJ to the Manhattan DA’s Office was part of the politically-targeted persecution of President Trump.

The DOJ has failed to turn over these records, and today, AFL is suing to demand answers.

Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Executive Director, Executive Vice President, and General Counsel:

“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,” said Gene Hamilton.