NEW YORK — Crime victims and their families blamed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his refusal to prosecute serious offenses as the root of the violent crime problem in New York City as House Republicans turned the spotlight Monday on the Democrat who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump.
The witnesses testified before the House Judiciary Committee during a remote hearing in downtown Manhattan to scrutinize the city’s soaring crime rate. Republican lawmakers say Mr. Bragg is guilty of misplaced priorities for charging Mr. Trump with business fraud while going soft on violent crime that is out of control.
According to city statistics released in February, more than 170,000 felony crimes were reported in New York City last year, the most since 2006, when the New York Police Department began making the numbers publicly available.
Madeline Brame, chairwoman of the Victims Rights Reform Council and the mother of a homicide victim, told the committee that four people assaulted her son but only two were charged with and convicted of murder.
“Me, my family and my grandchildren, we were treated like garbage [by Mr. Bragg] … and I’m not the only one,” she said. “There are hundreds and thousands of us. We don’t give a damn about your politics. We don’t care. It could be the man on the moon who’s running for president.”
Ms. Brame erupted at Rep. Daniel Goldman, New York Democrat, when he said Republicans were using the hearing to defend Mr. Trump despite their reluctance to bring up the former president’s name.
“You’re trying to insult me like I don’t know what’s going on here,” she told Mr. Goldman. “I’m fully aware of what’s going on here.”
The hearing was spearheaded by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican and a staunch ally of Mr. Trump. He accused Mr. Bragg of having partisan motives for prosecuting the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“In this country, justice is supposed to be blind, regardless of race, religion or creed. However, here in Manhattan, scales of justice are weighed down by politics,” Mr. Jordan said. “For the district attorney, justice isn’t blind. It’s about looking for opportunities to advance a political agenda, a radical political agenda.
“Rather than enforcing the law, the DA is using his office to do the bidding of left-wing campaign funders. He has taken his soft-on-crime approach to the real criminals.”
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, New York Democrat, said Mr. Jordan was defending Mr. Trump, who faces 34 felony charges from Mr. Bragg’s office related to a hush-money indictment.
“The chairman is doing the bidding of Donald Trump to smear and intimidate the duly elected district attorney in Manhattan from doing the work his constituents elected him to do,” said Mr. Nadler, the top Democrat on the committee. “They have demanded access to the inner workings of an ongoing criminal case for information to which they know they are not entitled.”
Mr. Bragg’s spokesman defended the district attorney’s record.
“Ending violence, stopping crime and supporting victims and their families are the most sacred duties of the Manhattan DA’s office,” the spokesman said. “DA Bragg is reducing crime in Manhattan, reversing a tough spike that began before he even took office.
“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 with facts and data to keep our homes safe,” he said.
Felonies such as rape, robbery and burglary soared last year, Mr. Bragg’s first year in office, leading to an overall rise in felonies of more than 20%. Mr. Bragg’s office said crime in Manhattan is decreasing. Citing police department statistics for the first quarter of this year, he said homicides have fallen 14%, shootings have dropped 17% and burglaries are down 21%.
Barry Borgen, the father of a victim of an antisemitic assault in Times Square two years ago, told the committee that Mr. Bragg’s office offered a cushy plea deal to one of the attackers.
Mr. Borgen excoriated Mr. Nadler and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.
“You’re a Jewish New Yorker. I called your office. There was no response,” he said to Mr. Nadler. “I called Mr. Schumer’s office, another Jewish New Yorker. No response. No one called us back. … You have Jewish roots here, and behavior like this enables DA Bragg to do whatever he wants to do.”
Mr. Borgen later told The Washington Times that the hearing, unfortunately, went “along party lines.”
“The Democrats are busy with Trump, but Trump is not the problem in New York,” Mr. Borgen said. “The problem is street crime. Bragg is a big problem. I just hope the guys who beat up my son go to jail.”
Republicans on the committee also excoriated Mr. Bragg for refusing to prosecute some of the most violent crimes since he was elected and issued his “Day One” memo that instructed his staff attorneys that they would not be prosecuting a slew of crimes because Manhattan “has over-incarcerated relative to every other borough in NYC and has [a] higher crime rate.”
The policy included prosecutions in five sections of New York law covering armed robberies.
Democrats invited witnesses who blamed the crime issue on Republican-controlled states with looser gun laws. They said Republicans have allowed guns to be trafficked to Democratic-led cities.
The Democratic lawmakers and their witnesses also pounded Republican lawmakers for attacking New York City’s crime rate and compared the numbers with Republican-controlled states.
“What we found when we looked at between 2000 and 2020 is the murder rate in red states, as defined by the 25 states that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 versus 25 states [for] Joe Biden. The murder rate in red states was higher than the murder rate in blue states in all 21 of those years,” said Jim Kessler, co-founder and senior vice president for policy of Third Way.
Democrats called the committee hearing a “sham” and accused the witnesses of being “props” of the Republican lawmakers.
Responding to Democrats’ accusations, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, New York Republican, told reporters, “I believe this hearing would be happening regardless, whether it [was] today or later on in the year because this is an issue that I’ve been highlighting and pressing my colleagues [about] over and over.”
Democrats also accused Republican lawmakers of starting an investigation into Mr. Bragg that incited racist and antisemitic tropes because he is Black and his campaign was given a hefty donation through a leftist political PAC from billionaire George Soros.
The hearing became raucous occasionally with protesters.
Visitors in the gallery, most of whom were victims’ advocates, heckled the Democratic lawmakers during their remarks. One visitor stood up and called the Democratic members “scumbags.”
Gun control protesters and supporters of Mr. Bragg attempted to break into the committee room and accused Mr. Jordan of being a traitor.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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