House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, announced Monday that his panel will hold a field hearing next week in New York City to address “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan.”
The hearing, scheduled for next Monday, is expected to scrutinize Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor who brought felony charges recently against former President Donald Trump, and whether Mr. Bragg’s social justice reform measures are linked to increased violent crime in the city.
According to a GOP spokesman for the committee, House Republicans hope to schedule a series of similar hearings across the country in cities with liberal district attorneys, often elected with the help of well-funded campaign PACs that include large donations from billionaire leftist activist George Soros.
Other district attorneys that may face similar scrutiny include Los Angeles DA George Gascon, St. Louis DA Kim Gardner, Chicago DA Kim Foxx, Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner and Austin, Texas, DA Jose Garza.
Republicans conducted similar field hearings this year on the border in a bid to spotlight illegal immigration issues and invited their Democratic counterparts on the committees to attend. However, Democratic lawmakers declined to attend these remote hearings, dismissing them as partisan grandstanding for the majority.
Mr. Bragg has become a leading focus of Mr. Jordan and the committee’s new Republican majority after he released a hush money indictment of Mr. Trump, the first indictment of its kind against a former president in the history of the country.
Mr. Jordan sent a letter last week to Matthew Colangelo, senior counsel to the New York County District Attorney’s Office, requesting testimony and documents on Mr. Bragg’s prosecutorial record.
Mr. Colangelo, a former Biden Department of Justice official and senior attorney at the New York Attorney General’s Office has previously taken part in multiple investigations into Mr. Trump and was reportedly hired to “jump-start” Mr. Bragg’s stalled investigation into Mr. Trump, GOP lawmakers on the committee said.
Mr. Bragg, who has ignored the Republicans’ subpoena to provide testimony and materials related to the case against Mr. Trump, has criticized what he said is congressional interference in a state court procedure. He defended the decision to indict Mr. Trump, telling reporters, “We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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