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In GOP-led House Judiciary panel hearing, Republicans focus on crime while Democrats zero in on gun violence

Brigid Bergin

Samantha Max

Giulia Heyward

and

Elizabeth Kim

Published Apr 17, 2023

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Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Brigid Bergin

Samantha Max

Giulia Heyward

and

Elizabeth Kim

Published Apr 17, 2023

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The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee hearing on the state of crime under Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg showcased how deeply partisan divides foster completely alternate views of reality.

For nearly four hours, House members questioned witnesses at what felt like two entirely different hearings: Republicans sought to spotlight the experiences of crime victims in New York City as evidence of a lawless prosecutor and a reformed state bail system that’s triggered a rise in crime.

By comparison, Democrats offered their sympathies to the crime victims, but aimed to force a conversation about the need for gun control, casting the proceedings as political theater with another agenda.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary kicked off a Republican-led field hearing inside a federal office building in lower Manhattan by describing crime and violence as rampant in the streets of the city, and a justice system that ignores it.

“Our witnesses today have felt the effects of crime up close and personal,” Jordan said during his opening statement. “They've been victimized by a system that cares more about political correctness than punishing the criminals who have harmed victims and harmed their family.”

The highly politicized hearing, which began just after 9 a.m., comes on the heels of a criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump is currently facing felony fraud charges for his alleged involvement in hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

NYPD data shows decreases in shootings, homicides and other criminal activity in January, February and March.

“The chairman says this hearing is about violent crime in Manhattan,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the committee who represents Manhattan. “But New York remains one of the safest big cities in America.”

The list of witnesses called by Republicans included Jose Alba, a bodega clerk who fatally stabbed a man after an altercation over an attempted theft of a bag of chips at a Harlem bodega; Jennifer Harrison, who leads a group called Victims Rights NY; Madeline Brame, the mother of a homicide victim and chairwoman of the Victims Rights Reform Council; New York City Councilmember Robert F. Holden (D-District 30) and Barry Borgen, father of a victim of an anti-Semitic hate crime.

In his testimony, Alba prefaced his remarks by saying he was not siding with either party. He recounted being taken to Rikers Island by police after his arraignment. Alba was initially charged with second-degree murder.

“I believe that law enforcement and the D.A.’s office didn’t investigate the case fully,” Alba said through an interpreter. “They rushed to judgment, and I suffered because of it. Even though the charges were ultimately dropped, they should not have been brought against me to begin with.”

Testifying at the request of Democrats were Rebecca Fischer, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, and Jim Kessler, co-founder and Senior Vice President for Policy of Third Way, a Washington, D.C. think tank. Both addressed a need to shift focus toward policies that could reduce gun violence.

For Republicans, questions focused on the state’s change to bail reform in 2019 and a directive from Bragg’s office that altered the city's approach to prosecuting certain low-level offenses. Democrats repeatedly noted that the hearing was dealing with matters that fell beyond congressional jurisdiction and was motivated by the Trump prosecution.

Before the hearing began, Nadler and Mayor Eric Adams delivered scathing criticism of the hearing during a press conference on the second floor of the federal building.

“Don’t be fooled, this is not a serious exercise,” said Nadler, who was also joined by Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Dan Goldman and half a dozen members of the gun-control advocacy group Moms Demand Action.

“This is a political stunt,” Nadler added. He called the hearing an effort by Republican congressional allies of Trump to interfere with Bragg’s investigation.

Adams similarly derided the hearing as a political spectacle.

The mayor spoke about the need for lawmakers to share ideas on decreasing the proliferation of guns, and pointed to another mass shooting that took place over the weekend, at a 16-year-old’s birthday party in Alabama.

The hearing is the latest blowback Bragg faces from some Republicans as he continues to lead an investigation into Trump.

Within days of Trump’s formal arrest in Manhattan on April. 4, the committee announced it would be investigating a purported spike in violent crime in the borough because of Bragg’s “pro-crime, anti-victim” policies.

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik chastised Democrats — including Bragg — “for their failure to prosecute crimes and instead engage in illegal political witch-hunts against their political opponents,” in a statement issued on Thursday ahead of the hearing.

Bragg’s office refuted the committee’s investigation, stating that homicides and shootings were down for the first quarter of the year. A spokesperson from his office referred to the hearing as “a political stunt.”

Bragg is also suing the committee’s chairman for his alleged interference in the investigation on Trump.

“First, they indict a president for no crime,” Jordan tweeted on Tuesday, in response to the lawsuit. “Then, they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it.”

During the first quarter of the year, the NYPD reported steep declines in five of its seven crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, burglary and larceny. Of the five boroughs, Manhattan had the second-highest reduction in shooting incidents for the first three months of this year, after the Bronx, according to the NYPD’s March report.

“The continuing drop in shootings, homicides and other violence in New York City is a direct result of the hard work performed each day and night by the women and men of the NYPD,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said.

However, the report also said that major crime arrests during this same period are now at a 24-year high. Arrests rose in every borough during each of the first three months of 2023.

In the report, Sewell commended the progress, but added that “felony assaults and grand larceny autos remain persistent issues.”

Outside one entrance to the federal building, it looked like a typical Monday morning as a crowd of people filled the sidewalk, waiting to be let in for their appointments. Around the corner, protesters shouted for the lawmakers inside to go back to D.C. and pass laws that limit access to guns, including a ban on assault weapons. They called Jordan a “fraud,” holding a “sham hearing” and repeatedly chanted the word “shame.”

“Talking about violence in our town when the rates of violence in his congressional district in Ohio are way higher than ours, it’s just ludicrous — ludicrous and beyond wasteful to bring this dog and pony show to New York City,” said Julie DeLaurier of Brooklyn in an interview.

DeLaurier said she showed up early, hoping to attend the hearing, but wasn’t allowed inside. She and a group of activists shouted from the hallway to “let the public in” and were forced outside.

“It’s open to the public. Where was the public?” she said. “They were in the hall. We were in the hall.”

A few counter-protesters also gathered outside the building, each hoping to bring attention to their own cause. One woman held a sign that said she was a victim of sex trafficking who had been failed by the DA and other city officials. A man held a poster with a Jewish star, two dollar signs and the name Soros, alluding to George Soros, a liberal donor who has become a regular punching bag for Republicans and the basis of anti-semitic conspiracy theories. Another group protested the recent federal arrest of a Chinese billionaire and held banners calling on Jordan to intervene.

Several New Yorkers milling around outside took in the scene.

Walter Huggins, who lives in Brooklyn, said he doesn’t feel safe with all the “gun play” in the streets since the pandemic. But he said he doesn’t blame DA Bragg and that he doesn’t think the hearing is a good use of Congress members’ time. He would rather see lawmakers focus on better gun safety measures.

“I don’t really support gun laws,” Huggins said. “But when you see them going into schools, and innocent children and innocent people are being shot and killed, I think [we need] deeper evaluation, mental evaluations, and they have to do something to be stricter in any and all communities.”

Lawrence McGarvey said he does feel safe in the city these days, and he called the Republican-led hearing a “ruse.”

“I would hope they would go back to their own states and do something in their area,” he said.

This story will be updated throughout the day.

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Brigid Bergin

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Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.

Samantha Max

Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.

Giulia Heyward

Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.

Elizabeth Kim

Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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