Manhattan DA Bragg slammed by violent crime victims at House GOP's hearing in NYC

Victims of violent crime in Manhattan on Monday cast much of the blame on District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his policies, during a GOP-led House hearing in New York City on the matter. 

"Repeat offenders are plaguing New York City," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan. "Our plan this Congress, has been to include field hearings in some of our greatest cities to analyze and highlight how soft on crime policies hurt families, hurt communities, hurt small business owners. ... What better place to start than New York City where videos of violent, senseless attacks appear almost daily." 

Democrats on the committee, as the have since the hearing was announced, continued to try to portray it as politically motivated, particularly since Bragg earlier this month filed a 34-count federal indictment against former President Trump.  

"I am a willing participant," Madeline Brame, whose son was murdered roughly five years ago, said loudly in response to such accusations.

She also testified Bragg has left "all types of criminal elements free to do what they want, when they want, however they want, to whomever they want with no consequences, no deterrence."

Her son, Army Sgt. Hason Correa, was killed in a 2018 stabbing in New York City, and Brame argues Bragg botched the prosecution of his attackers.

"When Alvin Bragg came into office, he was handed a strong, trial-ready murder case and gang assault case against all four of the [accused], where this brutal savage homicide was captured on video.

"As soon as he took office, the case immediately began to unravel. He dismissed – completely dismissed – gang assault and murder indictments against two of the defendants clearly [seen] on video."

New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the committee's top Democrat, was among those who accused Jordan of "doing the bidding of Donald Trump."

He also said committee Republicans "designed this hearing to intimidate and deter the duly elected district attorney of Manhattan, who has been doing the work his constituents elected him to do."

Committee member Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, argued that district attorneys with progress polices, particularly in major U.S. cites, and whose election campaigns were at least in part funded by progressive billionaire mega-donor George Soros, are too soft on crime, which included lighter punishments for violent offenders.

"Increasingly, George Soros is putting in upwards of $40 million to elect 75 DAs to be able to engage in these downgrades," Gaetz said. "And by the way, not only are they downgrading the violent things, they can't even win the cases they try." 

He also said Bragg has "earned a reputation for caring more about the perpetrators of crime than the victims."

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