Judiciary Committee field hearing on violent crime in Alvin Bragg’s backyard
Ryan King
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Members of the House Judiciary Committee announced a field hearing in Manhattan about “victims of violent crime” on April 17.
Republicans on the committee roundly condemned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his indictment of former President Donald Trump and are set to use the hearing to turn up the heat on his record of prosecuting crime.
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“The hearing, ‘Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan,’ will examine how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents,” the committee announced.
Witnesses for the hearing have not yet been named, and the hearing will begin at 9 a.m. Eastern time. April 17 marks the end of Congress’s two-week recess. Since Bragg took over the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2022, he has been dogged by criticism from Republicans that he was soft on crime.
“Alvin Bragg’s radical pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime in New York City. Next week, the Judiciary Committee will examine these policies during a field hearing in Manhattan,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) tweeted.
https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1645424458906083330?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Last week, the GOP-led panel subpoenaed Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor on Bragg’s team who resigned in protest and released a book critical of the office for going soft on Trump. Bragg blasted the move in response.
“The House GOP continues to attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation,” Bragg tweeted. “Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law.”
https://twitter.com/ManhattanDA/status/1644044363427905537
Top Republicans have been privately conferring over how to respond to the indictment of Trump.
Last week, Trump was arraigned in a Manhattan court and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts related to what prosecutors described as a “catch and kill” scheme that flouted election laws during the 2016 cycle.
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Most of the charges pertain to the falsification of business records. Although generally a misdemeanor, prosecutors allege that the record falsification transpired to conceal criminal activity. The unsealed indictment didn’t explicitly state the exact crime, but Bragg hinted at a press conference it was about a breach of campaign finance laws.
Trump was accused of participating in a ploy to shovel hush money payments to a Trump Tower doorman, porn star Stormy Daniels, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep them mum about information that could’ve been detrimental to his 2016 campaign.