GOP scrutinizing how district attorneys spend federal funds, Jim Jordan says
Julia Johnson
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said lawmakers want to tighten reporting on how district attorneys spend federal funds ahead of the “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan” hearing being held next week in New York City.
Jordan told the Washington Examiner that one of his Republican colleagues in the House is preparing to introduce legislation specifically targeting the reporting standards of federal money used by district attorneys in the wake of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s high-profile indictment of former President Donald Trump.
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Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) has already introduced two pieces of legislation in response to the historic indictment. One of the bills, titled the Accountability for Lawless Violence In Our Neighborhoods, or ALVIN, Act, aims to halt federal funding to Bragg’s office altogether. In fact, the bill would require his office to repay any funds that were granted after Jan. 1, 2022.
The other bill introduced by Biggs would address the protocol for investigating a sitting president, vice president, or presidential candidate in a criminal case. Specifically, state or local law enforcement agencies would be barred from using funds or property seized through asset forfeiture in order to investigate them.
According to Jordan, part of why the Monday hearing is important is because “we see this happening in so many urban areas with these left-wing district attorneys. We think it’s important for the country to understand what’s going on here.”
“Alvin Bragg did this memorandum when he first gets in office, basically saying that we’re going to, you know, go light on all kinds of bad guys and not put them behind bars. And as a result, you’ve seen an increase in crime, which harms families, harms communities, harms business owners, harms the economic environment in the whole community,” he explained.
The committee announced this week that it will hear from former Manhattan bodega clerk Jose Alba, the chairwoman of the Victims Rights Reform Council and the mother of a homicide victim, Madeline Brame, and the founder of Victims Rights NY, Jennifer Harrison, at the hearing.
Jordan added that the committee is speaking with other witnesses that are yet to be finalized.
The Ohio congressman hopes the hearing will help uncover what is happening in the city, particularly regarding federal money. “There’s federal funds involved, all kinds of grant money that goes here; what’s happening there?” he asked.
He then described a forthcoming bill that would “require better reporting on how these district attorney’s offices are using federal funds.”
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“We have some other bills that members are talking about that I think are related as well,” he said.
In a March letter from Bragg’s office’s general counsel, Leslie B. Dubeck, she told Jordan that “approximately $5,000 was spent on expenses incurred relating to the investigation of Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization.” This was overseen by his predecessor, Cyrus Vance. The letter further claimed that “no expenses incurred relating to this matter have been paid from funds that the Office receives through federal grant programs.”