[ad_1]
NEW YORK—Donald Trump’s congressional allies are taking the fight to Manhattan, where they’re hosting field hearings to attack Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a crime-vulnerable former president.
The powerful House Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Jim Jordan, is scheduled to hear from victims of violent crimes Monday. It points out new data showing that
The high-profile hearing represents a further escalation in the ongoing battle between Bragg and Trump and his key allies on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Bragg announced earlier this month that a grand jury in Manhattan had indicted Mr. Trump for hush money for silencing adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who ran in the successful 2016 presidential election. On April 4, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying New York business records.
Trump and other Republicans have denounced the Manhattan investigation and indictment as a politically motivated witch hunt designed to undermine the 2024 Republican presidential front-runner.
Jordan, the Ohio Republican, and other House GOP committee chairs have launched their own investigations into Bragg’s investigation of Trump and asked the DA to testify before Congress, but Bragg declined the request. Jordan also subpoenaed former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz, who led the Attorney’s Office investigation into Trump’s finances before resigning last year.
After receiving multiple death threats, Bragg sued Jordan last week to get the subpoenas blocked in court, and the congressional probe was an “unconstitutional attempt to undermine the ongoing New York felony criminal prosecution and investigation” against Trump. called.
Now, Jordan and the Republican Party are holding Bragg-focused congressional hearings in his backyard, the Javits Federal Building.
Protesters outside the hearing held placards calling Jordan a “traitor” and a “rioter” and chanted “Let the public in!”
House Republican Conference Speaker Ellis Stefanik, a New York Republican and key ally of Trump, who is not on the Judiciary Commission and does not represent the New York City area, attended the hearing.
“New Yorkers continue to feel unsafe, with record numbers leaving the city and state,” Stefanik said before the hearing, adding, “Hold Democrats accountable for not prosecuting crimes.” , looking forward to engaging in an illegal political witch hunt for their political crimes instead…opponents.”
Among those testifying is that after jumping behind a counter last July and fatally stabbing a man who attacked Aruba, Bragg’s office charged him with second-degree murder and sent him to prison on Rikers Island. There is Jose Alba, a former Harlem bodega clerk who sent. Bragg dropped the murder charges after protests from New York City Mayor Eric Adams and others, according to NBC New York.
Others to testify include Madeline Blame, chair of the Victims’ Rights Reform Council founded in honor of her murdered son. Harrison’s group’s website includes a petition urging Governor Kathy Hochul to use her powers to “fire Alvin Bragg.”
“The dangerous and pro-criminal agenda of far-left prosecutors like Alvin Bragg is destroying lives and communities in this country,” said Republican leadership and the Judiciary Committee at a hearing on Monday. said Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson, a member of the
Bragg’s office rallied, calling New York City “America’s safest big city,” highlighting NYPD data that in the first quarter of 2023 there will be more people in Manhattan than a year ago. It showed a decrease in violent crime.
According to the New York Police Department, homicides are down 14%, shootings are down 17%, and robberies are down 21%.
Bragg’s office said, “In Bragg’s first year in office, New York City had the lowest homicide rate of any major U.S. city (5.2) and about one-third that of Columbus, Ohio (15.4). ‘ said.
“If Chairman Jordan really cares about public safety, instead of spending taxpayers’ money to move hundreds of miles away, he would return to his hometown of Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron, Or you can drive to Toledo.”
[ad_2]
Source link