A Republican-led US House panel slammed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for allegedly soft-on-crime policies, while Democrats dismissed the field hearing as a GOP stunt conducted only as retribution for Bragg’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
(Bloomberg) — A Republican-led US House panel slammed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for allegedly soft-on-crime policies, while Democrats dismissed the field hearing as a GOP stunt conducted only as retribution for Bragg’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio highlighted increasing violent crime in New York and asserted that Bragg is using his office to serve a “radical political agenda.”
“In this country, justice is supposed to be blind regardless of race, religion, or creed,” Jordan said. “However, here in Manhattan the scales of justice are weighed down by politics.”
But Democrats said the often-contentious hearing was designed solely to damage the first prosecutor to bring criminal charges against Trump, noting the crime rates are higher in many other cities.
New York Representative Daniel Goldman, who is also a former federal prosecutor, slammed it as a “charade to cover up for the abuse of power” of Republicans who are bashing Bragg’s record.
“The purpose of this hearing is to cover up for what they know to be an inappropriate investigation,” he said.
Both sides cited statistics to prove their point with Republicans noting that crime was up in the city in 2022, while Democrats insisted New York is safe compared to other parts of the country.
But one of the witnesses at the hearing, Madeline Brame, whose son was murdered, rejected that assessment. Brame complained that Bragg failed to pursue the most serious charges against several of her son’s attackers.
“We don’t care nothing about your statistics,” she shouted. “We see it with our very eyes, day in and day out. Especially in the poor, Black and brown communities where none of you in this room would even step foot in.”
She also rejected Democrats’ focus on Trump.
“Victims can care less about anyone’s political ideology or party, neither do criminals,” she said. “They don’t go up to a person and ask them if they are a Democrat or a Republican before they bust them in the head.”
But Trump’s indictment loomed over the “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan” hearing, which was being held at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building — not far from Bragg’s offices in lower Manhattan.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records after making “hush money” payments to an adult-film actress in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election, allegedly to hide an extramarital affair.
Trump’s congressional allies, including Jordan and other committee chairs, jumped to the former president’s defense. The Judiciary Committee subpoenaed an attorney who worked on the investigation in Bragg’s office, and Republicans say they have oversight authority to evaluate Bragg’s use of federal funding and even possibly block future funds.
Bragg is suing Jordan and the committee to block the subpoena of the former investigator.
Elise Stefanik, the highest-ranking Republican New Yorker in Congress as the House Conference Chair, is also attending the hearing. Although not a member of the Judiciary panel, she was granted a waiver to participate.
(Updates throughout)
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