Trump allies take fight to Bragg's backyard with hearing on NYC crime

Donald Trump's congressional allies took the fight to Manhattan Monday, hosting a field hearing to attack District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, as weak on crime — all part of the Republican strategy to undermine the historic prosecution of the former president.

Led by Chairman Jim Jordan, the powerful House Judiciary Committee heard from victims of violent crime, as Republicans argue that Bragg has dropped the ball on keeping the public safe in order to focus on prosecuting Trump. Bragg's office has defended the Trump probe and points to new data showing that crime has significantly fallen in Manhattan.

The high-profile hearing represented yet another escalation in the ongoing battle between Bragg and Trump and his top allies on Capitol Hill.

Bragg announced this month that a Manhattan grand jury had indicted Trump in a hush money scheme to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels during his successful 2016 presidential campaign. On April 4, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying New York business records.

Trump and other Republicans have blasted the Manhattan investigation and indictment as a politically motivated witch hunt designed to damage the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner.

Jordan, R-Ohio, and other House GOP committee chairs have launched their own investigations into Bragg's probe of Trump and have called on the DA to testify before Congress, a request Bragg rejected. Jordan has also subpoenaed former New York County Special Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz, who had led the DA’s office probe into Trump’s finances before he resigned last year.

Bragg, who has received multiple death threats, responded last week by suing Jordan to have the courts block the subpoenas, calling the congressional inquiry an "unconstitutional attempt to undermine an ongoing New York felony criminal prosecution and investigation" into Trump.

On Monday, Jordan and Republicans hosted a congressional hearing focused on Bragg right in his backyard, at the Javits Federal Building.

“For outside politicians to now appear in New York City on the taxpayer dime for a political stunt is a slap in the face to the dedicated NYPD officers, prosecutors and other public servants who work tirelessly every day,” Bragg said in a statement.

Democrats, led by Ranking Member, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., used the hearing to push back, calling it “a political stunt” designed to “protect Donald Trump."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said it was no coincidence that Republicans focused their crime hearing on New York. "Apparently, Manhattan is just lovely this time of year. What a remarkable coincidence. ... Of course, this is not a coincidence at all. Instead, it is the GOP leadership and Congress doing what it has done best for the last six years. And that is to act as the criminal defense counsel for Donald J. Trump.”

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told reporters she thought the hearing "would be happening regardless" of Trump "because this is an issue that I’ve been highlighting and pressing my colleagues [about] over and over.”

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., said part of the reason Republicans wanted to hold the hearing in Manhattan is because their constituents are seeing reports of New York City crime on the news and asking them about it.

Bragg’s office pushed back on Republicans, calling New York City “the safest big city in America” and highlighting New York Police Department data that showed violent crime had dropped in the first quarter of 2023 compared with a year ago in Manhattan. Murders are down 14%, shootings dropped 17% and burglaries fell 21% in the borough, per the NYPD.

“In D.A. Bragg’s first year in office, New York City had one of the lowest murder rates of major cities in the United States (5.2) nearly three times lower than Columbus, Ohio (15.4),” Bragg’s office said.

Witnesses downplayed the statistics, saying a feeling of unsafeness in New York permeated the citizenry, with residents fearful of taking the city’s expansive subway system or walk its streets.

“You cannot convince us not to believe our lying eyes with your numbers because we see it with our eyes day in and day out," said Madeline Brame, chair of the Victims Rights Reform Council, which was formed in honor of her son who was slain in Harlem in 2018.

Brame claimed the case against her son's alleged assailant fell apart when Bragg took office last year and called for Congress to withhold federal funding for the DA’s office.

“I’m not the only one, there are hundreds and thousands of us, we don’t give a damn about the politics,” she said. “We don’t care. It could be the man on the moon who’s running for president, OK, as long as whoever’s in the job [can bring] some civility and sanity to our city.”

Protesters, meanwhile, shouted outside the hearing room, with some yelling “We love Trump,” and others calling Jordan a “traitor” and an “insurrectionist.”

Jim Kessler, co-founder and senior vice president for policy of Third Way, a centrist Democratic think thank, noted in his opening statement that the murder rate in New York City is lower than that of Republican-led states such as Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. During questioning, Kessler noted that crime rates for a series of violent crimes were higher in Ohio, Jordan’s home state, than in New York City.

“We live in a violent country like no other advanced nation,” Kessler said. “And the fact is that New York City is not only safer than most large cities in America, it is safer than most cities any size and on a per capita basis. New York City is safer than most of the states of the members sitting on the dais on the majority.”

But as Democrats sought to highlight New York's tougher gun laws in comparison to Republican-led states, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., noted that the crimes being highlighted by panel members were committed with knives rather than guns.

“The criminals will get guns, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Barry Borgen, a committee witness and father of the victim of an antisemitic hate crime, said, responding to Democratic arguments that tougher gun laws across the country would limit violent crime.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and other Democrats suggested that the witnesses were being taken advantage of and used as props. "I fear that you are being used for a political purpose despite your sincerity," she said, drawing boos from the crowd.

Firing back, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said the committee is "here not to use anyone but to uplift the voices of brave people who are here to tell their story."

"Ms. Brame, do you feel used in this hearing?" Gaetz asked.

"I'm a willing participant," Brame responded.

Gaetz asked a similar question of Jennifer Harrison, founder of Victims Rights NY whose boyfriend was fatally stabbed outside a New Jersey club in 2005. Harrison’s group’s website includes a petition urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to exercise her power to “Fire Alvin Bragg.”

"Let me ask you this way: Do you feel more used by this committee hearing or do you feel more used by a criminal justice system that allowed people to kill people that you love and care about with no consequence?" Gaetz said.

"The latter," Harrison responded. "And I’m beyond grateful for the opportunity to testify here on behalf of victims because the Democrat Party, including Mr. Nadler and everybody here today has ignored us in this city.”

The committee also heard from Jose Alba, a former Harlem bodega clerk whom Bragg’s office charged with second-degree murder and sent to Riker’s Island jail after he fatally stabbed a man who jumped behind the counter and attacked Alba last July. Alba had claimed self-defense. And after an outcry from New York Mayor Eric Adams and others, Bragg dropped the murder charge, according to NBC New York.

Others testifying included Paul DiGiacomo, president of the New York City's Detectives' Endowment Association, and Democratic New York City Councilman Robert F. Holden, who called during the hearing for Bragg to prioritize arresting and jailing more people alleged to have committed crimes.

Adams, a Democrat who has rankled some on the left with his approach to handling crime, called out the GOP for holding up gun safety laws and an appointment to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

"We need to focus on how do we deal with the gun violence that is suffocating America and let the DA do his job," Adams said in a press conference Monday morning.

Allan Smith reported from Manhattan, Scott Wong reported from Washington.

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