The Democratic National Committee paid ‘hush money’ prosecutor Matthew Colangelo thousands of dollars for “political consulting” in 2018.
Colangelo currently holds a key prosecutorial role with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s Office that brought Trump’s New York case, and delivered opening statements in the unprecedented criminal trial of President Trump.
Colangelo joined Bragg’s office in December 2022, following the resignations of Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, who were prosecutors investigating Trump and stepped down in objection to Bragg’s initial reluctance to indict him.
Colangelo departed from a senior position at the Biden Justice Department to join Bragg’s team. Subsequently, Bragg brought charges against Trump in April 2023, prompting valid concerns from some within the GOP regarding potential politicization of the case.
According to records from the Federal Election Commission, DNC Services Corp/Democratic National Committee made two payments to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo on January 31, 2018. Colangelo received two payments of $6,000 each, totaling $12,000. The purpose of these payments, as described, is labeled “Political Consulting.”
Colangelo was serving in then-New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office at the time, as the deputy attorney general for ‘social justice’, taking over the position from Bragg. Meanwhile, Bragg had been appointed as the chief deputy attorney general.
Schneiderman resigned in May 2018 following allegations of sexual assault, and Barbara Underwood took over as New York attorney general.
Just a few months after Colangelo received payments from the DNC, in June 2018, Underwood, with Colangelo serving as executive deputy attorney general, filed a lawsuit against the Trump Foundation. The lawsuit alleged that Trump had utilized the foundation’s charitable assets to settle his legal obligations.
Colangelo stayed in the New York Attorney General’s Office after Underwood’s tenure, and under the leadership of current AG Letitia James, who took over in 2018, where he continued to work on Trump lawsuits and investigations. But on Jan. 20, 2021, the first day of the Biden administration, Colangelo began serving as acting associate attorney general in the Justice Department.
Colangelo then became the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Biden Justice Department
Before his positions in New York and at the Biden Justice Department, Colangelo held various roles in the Obama administration.
House Republicans are conducting an investigation into Colangelo and his prior work as he continues to prosecute Trump.
