Chaos erupted at the Manhattan Judiciary Committee crime hearing when protesters demanded entry and Chairman Jim Jordan had to tell the witness department to be quiet several times over bursts of applause during testimony.
Pro- and anti-Jordan protesters clashed with police trying to keep them out of the hearing room while the chairman scuttled Manhattan Attorney Alvin Bragg’s crime policy.
Meanwhile, in the committee room, Jordan had to have several people removed from the witness department after chaotic outbursts that included a protester shouting, “Jim Jordan, I love you!” and “Ralph Nadler, you’re a disgrace!”, in reference to senior member Jerry Nadler.
“In this country the judiciary is supposed to be blind, regardless of race, religion or creed. Here in Manhattan, however, the scales of justice are weighed down by politics,” said Jordan, R-Ohio, in his opening remarks.
Nadler, himself a New Yorker, said in his opening remarks that the hearing was just a way for Republicans to bring former President Trump water.
Pro- and anti-Jordan protesters clashed with police trying to keep them out of the hearing room while the chairman scuttled Manhattan Attorney Alvin Bragg’s crime policy
“In this country the judiciary is supposed to be blind, regardless of race, religion or creed. Here in Manhattan, however, the scales of justice are weighed down by politics,” said Jordan, R-Ohio, in his opening remarks
The demonstrators are demanding admission to the hearing room
Bragg arrives at his office with tight security as Jordan holds a hearing on his policy
“Let me be very clear, we are here for a reason and for a reason, only the Chairman is doing Donald Trump’s bidding,” the Democrat said.
He called Jordan’s political plays since Bragg’s indictment of Trump an “outrageous abuse of power” used to “perpetuate anti-Semitic and racist tropes” used by Trump against Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who also investigates Trump’s finances .
“It is – to use the chairman’s favorite expression – an arming of the federal government.”
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., told GOP witnesses who had loved ones who were victims of crime, “I’m so sorry for the impact this has had on you and your families. Anyone listening must be moved by what you have experienced…but I fear that you will be the victim of this hearing because this hearing will not bring about that change. It is not a serious attempt to make our communities safer.”
“My colleagues are here to protect someone accused of fraud,” she added, referring to Trump.
Before the hearing, Justice Democrats, along with Mayor Eric Adams, held a press conference to dismiss the narrative that New York City is unsafe.
“Welcome to the safest city in America,” the mayor said.
“We need to focus on how we deal with the gun violence that is choking America and let the prosecutor do the job that he does.”
But Democratic City Councilman Robert Holden spoke out against Bragg’s policies.
Holden said he was living through the high crime era in New York in the 1980s, but “I’ve never seen that lawlessness in my entire life.”
“All pharmacies are under lock and key,” Holden said. ‘It’s so bad – these petty crimes that Mr Bragg said he wouldn’t pursue. My loyalty is not to the party but to my voters.’
Other Democrats used the hearing to highlight Republican opposition to gun control.
“Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children in America today,” said Rep. David Cicilline, DR.I.
“Manhattan has the sixth lowest homicide count of the top 50 cities in this country. So we all know why you’re here. So don’t play political games,” Cicilline added. “This is about a desire to earn the admiration of the former president.”
Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., noted that 5,000 people have died from gun violence so far this year.
Madeline Brame, chair of the Victims Rights Reform Council and herself the mother of a murder victim, told the committee that under Bragg, “all kinds of criminal elements are free to do what they want, when they want, how they want, who they want, without.” Consequences, without deterrence.’
She said federal funds should be withdrawn from the Manhattan DA’s office.
“They do absolutely nothing. And I propose pumping another, not another, cent of our federal tax dollars into these organizations until they can get some measurable results on the effectiveness of what they’re doing with our taxes to protect the public.
Brame’s son, Army veteran Hason Correa, was fatally stabbed in Harlem in 2018.
Correa, a 35-year-old married father of three, was allegedly beaten and stabbed to death by a group of attackers during an altercation outside an apartment building. Two of Correa’s attackers struck plea deals with Manhattan prosecutors, and one has already been paroled.
Pro-Trump protester demands hearing
“Jim Jordan does a lot of political theater in Washington. He should know better than to go to Broadway with his tired show,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler
The man who stabbed Correa was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“If you take a life, you do life,” Brame said, arguing that even the knifeman had not been adequately sentenced. “There should be no pleas for murder.”
“They treated us like garbage,” Brame said of Bragg’s office, adding the office did not tell her it would offer pleas to those involved in the murder.
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, whose district includes the Javitz federal building where the hearing took place, told Republican crime-fighting witnesses, “We don’t have authority to do anything about what you’re concerned about.”
Jose Alba also testified about the “horrific experience” he had when Bragg originally accused him of murder when he stabbed a man who attacked him at the bodega where he worked.
“I’m not here because I support the Republicans. I’m not here to criticize the Democrats. I just want to tell the public about the horrific experience I’ve had to go through because of crime in this city,” he said.
“Although the charges were ultimately dropped, they should not have been brought against me in the first place,” Alba said through his attorney. “I am now traumatized by the incident. I don’t work because I’m afraid for my life.”
Democrats brought in witnesses to point out that many crimes are less common in New York City than elsewhere in the country.
When asked by Nadler, Jim Kessler, vice president of Progressive Think Than Third Way, found that New York’s homicide rate is 18 percent below the national average.
“What we found when we looked at the data between 2000 and 2020 is the homicide rate in the red states as defined by the 25 states that voted for Donald Trump in 2020…the homicide rate in the red states was higher than the homicide rate in blue states, and all these 21 years.’
“If Republicans really wanted to stop violent crime, they would be working with Democrats in DC now to pass a common sense gun law,” said Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia.
Crime in New York City rose in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic (before Bragg took office) after a decade-long downward trend. Major crime rose about 22 percent in 2022 – with Bragg taking office on the first day of that year.
New York recorded 438 homicides in 2022 – up from 319 the year before the pandemic.
From April 2022 to April 2023, the number of felonies remained about the same, although homicides, shootings and burglaries have decreased.
The city was far safer even in 2022 than it was during a dangerous period in the ’80s and ’90s — homicides and robberies were down 80 percent in 2022 compared to 1990, and rape was down 50 percent.
The Judiciary Committee, along with oversight and administration, has launched an all-out political war against Bragg over the indictment, most recently firing a subpoena on District Attorney Mark Pomerantz, who formerly worked in Bragg’s office and wrote a book on the need to prosecute Trump.
Madeline Brame, above, will testify at the NYC Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday. Her son was fatally stabbed in 2018
Hason Correa, a US Army veteran, was fatally stabbed in Harlem in 2018 and two of his attackers received a plea deal with a light conviction of 10993537
Alba shows the wounds he received in the attack
On Tuesday, Bragg sued Jordan in an extraordinary move to keep him from interfering in the criminal case against Trump.
The lawsuit accused Jordan of a “brazen and unconstitutional assault” on Trump’s law enforcement after the committee subpoenaed Bragg’s former associates, requested documents and scheduled an on-site hearing in New York.
Bragg’s attorneys are trying to prevent Jordan’s subpoena from Pomerantz.
Pomerantz tried to convince prosecutors to prosecute Trump – but gave up when Bragg dismissed his legal theories.
Bragg has refused to accommodate requests for documents from chairmen of the three committees regarding Bragg’s communications with the Justice Department. Bragg has described Republican interference as improper interference in a criminal process.
The charges against Trump were uncovered last week and included 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels and “catch and kill” payments by the National Enquirer to Playboy model Karen McDougal and a bouncer who pretended to have a story about Trump’s alleged love child with a housekeeper.