New York Congressman Jerry Nadler slammed House Republicans on Monday for holding a House Judiciary Committee hearing on violent crime in Manhattan to "protect their political patron Donald Trump," who was recently indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 counts of falsifying business records
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th April, 2023) New York Congressman Jerry Nadler slammed House Republicans on Monday for holding a House Judiciary Committee hearing on violent crime in Manhattan to "protect their political patron Donald Trump," who was recently indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
"Committee Republicans designed this hearing to intimidate and deter the duly-elected district attorney of Manhattan from doing the work his constituents elected him to do," Nadler said in opening remarks during the hearing. "They are using their public offices and the resources of this committee to protect their political patron Donald Trump. It is an outrageous abuse of power."
On the other hand, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan accused Bragg of being soft on crime and "using his office to do the bidding of left-wing campaign funders." He noted the police reported that a third of all shoplifting arrests in New York City last year involved the same 327 people.
The committee organized eight witnesses to testify about Bragg's alleged ineptitude in prosecuting crime in Manhattan, some of whom insisted that they did not care about politics. For example, Jose Alba, a former clerk at a bodega, complained of being charged with murder and held without medical treatment in Rikers Island after stabbing a customer who attacked him in self-defense. He said he suffered physical and mental trauma from his "unlawful arrest and incarceration" although the charges were ultimately dropped. Madeline Brame, chairwoman of the Victims Rights Reform Council, complained that charges against two defendants who participated in the gang murder of her son were downgraded after Bragg came into office in 2022.
Nadler insisted the evidence indicated that "New York remains one of the safest big cities in America," despite Republican talking points to the contrary.
