周一，众议院共和党人将他们对曼哈顿地区检察官阿尔文·布拉格的攻击带到纽约市，就他们所说的当地犯罪危机举行听证会，这是民主党的一项举措痛打作为旨在保护前总统唐纳德·特朗普的“政治噱头”。
共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹周一早上在曼哈顿的雅各布·贾维茨联邦大楼召开了众议院司法委员会会议——就在布拉格办公室附近的街区。
“在这个国家，正义应该是盲目的，不分种族、宗教或信仰。然而，在曼哈顿这里，正义的天平被政治压得沉甸甸的，”乔丹说。“对地方检察官来说，正义不是盲目的;这是为了寻找机会推进一项政治议程，一项激进的政治议程。”
听证会前，在市长埃里克·亚当斯的办公室，委员会的最高民主党人，纽约州的杰里·纳德勒抨击了乔丹，说他“应该知道不应该把他疲惫的行为带到百老汇。”他在开场白中继续告诫他的同事要参加实地听证会。
众议员杰里·纳德勒、吉姆·乔丹和达雷尔·伊萨在2023年4月17日星期一在纽约举行的众议院司法委员会实地听证会上听取证人的证词。
约翰·明奇洛/美联社
纳德勒说:“我们今天来到曼哈顿下城，只有一个原因:主席正在执行唐纳德·特朗普的命令。”“共和党委员会设计了这次听证会，以恐吓和阻止正式当选的曼哈顿地区检察官做选民选举他做的工作。”
“他们正在利用他们的公职和这个委员会的资源来保护他们的政治庇护人唐纳德·特朗普。这是对权力的公然滥用。用主席最喜欢的术语来说，这是众议院司法委员会的武器化，”他补充说，指的是约旦也担任主席的联邦政府武器化特设小组委员会。
本月早些时候，布拉格提出法宝在34项指控中，共和党人声称他应该专注于城市犯罪。
在一个有时被愤怒的布拉格抗议者打断的喧闹的听证会上，共和党人选择了目击者告诉立法者，检察官的政策使这个城市变得更加危险，而民主党人则用统计数据反驳说其他城市更危险。
证人中有何塞·阿尔巴，一名前酒店店员，在2022年致命刺伤一名袭击者后面临谋杀指控;约瑟夫·博根，一个反犹太攻击在时代广场;以及Madeline Brame和Jennifer Harrison，这两位受暴力犯罪影响的女性已经成为纽约受害者权利的倡导者。哈里森最近告诉福克斯新闻频道，犯罪受害者对布拉格的领导“心烦意乱”。
乔丹说，他们是“司法系统的受害者，这个系统更关心政治正确性，而不是惩罚那些伤害受害者和他们家人的罪犯。”
纽约市民主党议员罗伯特·霍尔登(Robert Holden)和纽约市侦探捐赠协会(the New York City ' s detections ' Endowment Association)主席保罗·迪贾科姆(Paul DiGiacomo)也出席了该委员会，对布拉格的政策提出了批评。
布拉格作为地区检察官的记录经常成为共和党人的目标，但最近几周，这个问题因他起诉特朗普而加剧。尤其是乔丹，他已成为布拉格在国会山的最大敌人之一，因为他领导了国会对布拉格调查特朗普的调查。
上周，当布拉格要求他称之为“国会议员前所未有的厚颜无耻和违宪的攻击”
乔丹和共和党控制的司法委员会周一对诉讼做出回应，称布拉格试图阻止一名证人遵守国会传票的行为“非常规且违宪”。
布拉格已经提起诉讼，要求停止执行对前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)刑事调查的前负责人马克·波梅兰茨(Mark Pomerantz)的传票，称传票和调查是党派试图“恐吓和攻击”地区检察官的结果。
在周一的一份文件中，众议院共和党人的律师辩称，调查是合法的，因为“出于政治动机起诉前总统的前景可能会引起联邦政府的重大关切。”
周一的委员会听证会在民主党和共和党地区引发了关于犯罪的激烈辩论，双方都引用了各种统计数据来证明自己的观点。
亚当斯在最近的一次新闻发布会上表示，众议院共和党的实地听证会“毫无意义”。
“我有点失望，他们来这里抱怨这里的人均犯罪，他们的犯罪是通过屋顶，”亚当斯说。
“不要被愚弄了，众议院共和党来到美国最安全的大城市进行政治表演，”布拉格办公室的发言人迅速说道开火还击听证会宣布后。
布拉格办公室强调，数据显示，与一年前相比，2023年第一季度曼哈顿的暴力犯罪有所下降。该区的谋杀案下降了14%，枪击案下降了17%，盗窃案下降了21%，根据NYPD的数据。
他们还特别针对约旦，指出一项分析其中发现纽约市的谋杀率低于俄亥俄州的哥伦布市。
“在地方检察官布拉格任职的第一年，纽约市是美国主要城市中谋杀率最低的城市之一(5.2)，比俄亥俄州的哥伦布市(15.4)低近三倍，”布拉格的办公室说。
乔丹在推特上回应说，“如果纽约市是‘美国最安全的大城市’，那为什么这么多人要离开?”
根据的数据，虽然纽约县2021年人口减少了98，505人，主要是因为国内净移民，但该县-曼哈顿的所在地-2022年人口增长了17，472人数据上个月由美国人口普查局发布。
众议院司法委员会的共和党核心小组指向一个名为NeighborhoodScout.com的提供社区统计数据的网站显示，曼哈顿的暴力犯罪率为每1000名居民中有5.21人，而曼斯菲尔德为4.26人——尽管这两个城市的犯罪率都高于美国大多数城市。
Jordan, House Republicans hold New York City hearing to focus on crime, attack Bragg
House Republicans took their attack on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to New York City on Monday, holding a hearing on what they say is a local crime crisis, a move Democratslambastedas a "political stunt" aimed at protecting former President Donald Trump.
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan convened the House Judiciary Committee Monday morning at the Jacob Javits Federal Building in Manhattan -- just around the block from the Bragg's office.
"In this country, justice is supposed to be blind, regardless of race, religion or creed. However, here in Manhattan, the scales of justice are weighed down by politics," 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."
Before the hearing, at Mayor Eric Adams' office, the top Democrat on the committee, Jerry Nadler of New York, swiped at Jordan, saying he "should know better than to take his tired act to Broadway." He continued to admonish his colleague for the field hearing in his opening remarks.
"We are here today in lower Manhattan for one reason and one reason only: the chairman is doing the bidding of Donald Trump," Nadler said. "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."
"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. It is, to use the chairman's favorite term, a weaponization of the House Judiciary Committee," he added, referring to the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which Jordan also chairs.
Earlier this month, Bragg brought upTrumpon a 34-count indictment, drawing fire from Republicans who claimed he should be focused on city crime instead.
At a sometimes raucous hearing interrupted by protesters angry at Bragg, Republican-picked, witnesses told lawmakers that the prosecutor's policies had made the city more dangerous while Democrats pushed back with statistics to claim other cities were much more so.
Among the witnesses were Jose Alba, a former bodega clerk who faced a murder charge after fatally stabbing an attacker in 2022; Joseph Borgen, the victim of anantisemitic attackin Times Square; as well as Madeline Brame and Jennifer Harrison, two women affected by violent crime who've become advocates for victims'rights in New York. Harrison recently told Fox News that crime victims are "distraught" over Bragg's leadership.
Jordan said they were "victimized by a justice system that cares more about political correctness than punishing the criminals who've harmed victims and harmed their family."
Robert Holden, a Democratic New York City councilman, and Paul DiGiacomo, the president of the New York City's Detectives' Endowment Association, also appeared before the committee, critical of Bragg's policies.
Bragg's record as district attorney is a frequent target of Republicans, but the issue intensified in recent weeks over his prosecution of Trump. Jordan in particular has emerged as one of Bragg's biggest foes on Capitol Hill as he leads a congressional probe into Bragg's investigation of Trump.
Tensions boiled over last week when BraggsuedJordan for what he called an "unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress."
Jordan and the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee responded Monday to the lawsuit, calling it "extraordinary and unconstitutional" for Bragg to attempt to prevent a witness from complying with a congressional subpoena.
Bragg has sued to stop enforcement of a subpoena to Mark Pomerantz, a one-time leader of the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump, calling the subpoena and the investigation it resulted from a partisan attempt to "intimidate and attack" the district attorney.
In a filing Monday, lawyers for the House Republicans argued the investigation is legitimate because "the prospect of a politically motivated prosecution of a former President could give rise to issues of substantial federal concern."
The Monday committee hearing has prompted fierce debate over crime in Democratic and Republican areas, with each side pointing to various statistics to make its case.
Adams, during a recent news conference, said the House GOP's field hearing made "no sense."
"I'm a little disappointed that they're coming here complaining about crime here when per capita, their crime is through the roof," Adamssaid.
"Don't be fooled, the House GOP is coming to the safest big city in America for a political stunt," a spokesperson for Bragg's office quicklyfired backafter the hearing was announced.
Bragg's office has highlighted data that showed violent crime in Manhattan has dropped in the first quarter of 2023 compared with a year ago. Murders are down 14%, shootings fell 17% and burglaries dropped 21% in the borough,per data from the NYPD.
They have also taken aim at Jordan specifically, pointing toone analysiswhich found the murder rate in New York City is lower than that of Columbus, Ohio.
"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.
Jordan responded on Twitter, "If New York City is the 'safest big city in America,' then why are so many people leaving?"
While New York County had a population decline of 98,505 in 2021 mostly attributable to net domestic outmigration, the county -- home to Manhattan -- had population growth of 17,472 in 2022, according todatareleased last month by the United States Census Bureau.
The GOP caucus of the House Judiciary Committeepointed toa website that provides neighborhood statistics called NeighborhoodScout.com, which showed that the violent crime rate for Manhattan was 5.21 per 1,000 residents, compared to 4.26 for Mansfield -- though both cities had higher rates than most U.S. cities.
