House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have planned a field hearing in New York to question the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against former President Donald Trump. The Monday hearing, focused on crime in New York, has intensified the legal dispute between Bragg and the House Republicans. Bragg had sued House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan to prevent him from taking investigative steps, arguing that Congress doesn’t have oversight authority over state-level criminal prosecutions.
The Republicans are seeking to prove through their witnesses that Bragg’s focus is solely on going after Trump for political reasons instead of addressing crime in New York City, which Bragg denies. The hearing has been called a “political stunt” by the Manhattan DA’s office in a statement posted on Twitter.
Democrats are not happy about the hearings though, with many stating that the GOP members are acting as Trump protectors. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., called the plans “a political stunt” and added, “Jim Jordan and his Republican accomplices are acting as an extension of the Trump defense team, trying to intimidate and deter the duly elected District Attorney of Manhattan from doing the work his constituents elected him to do.”
According to a source, Monday’s hearing is the first in a series of field hearings that the Republicans plan to conduct, focusing on crime in Democratic-run cities. The move exemplifies the lengths to which the House Republicans are willing to go to discredit Bragg’s criminal case against Trump.
“I look forward to holding Democrats accountable for their failure to prosecute crimes and instead engage in illegal political witch-hunts against their political opponents,” said House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik when remarking on the hearings.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan also stated, “We have a constitutional duty to get to the facts, particularly when you have a district attorney interfering with the most important election we have, the commander-in-chief, the president of the United States.”
No matter what, the back and forth between House GOP members and Bragg all started with the baseless charges against the former president. If Democrats are upset about Monday’s hearings they can only blame Bragg himself for his ridiculous conduct which started it all.
