In 2018, the Democratic National Committee paid Matthew Colangelo thousands of dollars for “political consulting.” Colangelo, who currently serves as a lead prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office under Alvin Bragg, delivered the opening statements in former President Trump’s historic criminal trial.
e joined Bragg’s team in December 2022 after the resignations of Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, who departed due to Bragg’s initial hesitancy to indict Trump. Before joining Bragg’s office, Colangelo held a senior position in the Biden Justice Department. In April 2023, Bragg filed charges against the former president, prompting concerns among some Republicans regarding the potential politicization of the case, reports have noted.
According to Federal Election Commission records examined by Fox News Digital, in January 2018, the DNC made two payments to Colangelo, totaling $12,000, with the purpose listed as “Political Consulting.” During that period, Colangelo served as the deputy attorney general for social justice under then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, taking over the role from Alvin Bragg, who held the position of chief deputy attorney general at the time.
In June 2018, shortly after receiving the $12,000 from the DNC, Colangelo, serving as the executive deputy attorney general, aided Attorney General Barbara Underwood in filing a lawsuit against the Trump Foundation. The lawsuit alleged that Trump had misused the foundation’s charitable assets to resolve personal legal obligations.
The legal pressure led to the dissolution of the Trump Foundation in December 2018. Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) launched an investigation into the Justice Department’s collaboration with Bragg regarding the “politicized prosecution” of Trump. Rep. Jordan sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, seeking documents pertaining to Colangelo’s involvement.
Jordan condemned Colangelo and Bragg’s participation, stating, “Popularly elected prosecutors—who campaigned for office on the promise of prosecuting President Trump—engaged in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.” He also accused Colangelo of being “obsessed with investigating a person rather than prosecuting a crime” due to his history of investigations against Trump during his tenure in the New York Attorney General’s Office.
In the letter, Jordan relayed concerns regarding Colangelo’s hiring by Bragg in December 2022, pointing out that Colangelo was brought on specifically to “jump-start” the investigation into Trump because of his “history of taking on Donald J. Trump and his family business.” He additionally criticized Bragg’s dependence on Michael Cohen, a convicted felon with a history of animosity toward Trump who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. Jordan remarked that Colangelo’s involvement in this prosecution “only adds to the perception that the Biden Justice Department is politicized and weaponized.”
According to Fox News, Colangelo stayed on at the New York Attorney General’s Office after Underwood’s tenure, continuing his involvement in Trump-related lawsuits and investigations under current Attorney General Letitia James, who took office in 2018. On January 20, 2021, the inaugural day of Biden’s administration, Colangelo assumed the position of acting associate attorney general in the Justice Department before later becoming the principal deputy associate attorney general. In this role, he supervised various divisions, including Civil, Civil Rights, Antitrust, and Tax.
Colangelo joined Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in December 2022. Prior to his roles in New York and the Biden Justice Department, he held various positions within the Obama administration. Colangelo worked in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and served as chief of staff to then-Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who subsequently assumed the role of DNC chair in 2017.
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