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U.S. Politics

After Trump circus, GOP lawmakers descend on NYC to attack

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg
By Molly Crane-Newman
New York Daily News • Apr 17, 2023 at 6:45 am

After former President Donald Trump’s historic arraignment recently filled lower Manhattan
with fervent demonstrators, hordes of media and a crazed carnival atmosphere , GOP
lawmakers are bringing a circus of their own to town.

House Republicans are set to descend on the city Monday morning in their offensive against
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as the Trump-backing lawmakers continue to wage
war on his case against the former president.

At a field hearing at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan, the House Judiciary Committee led
by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) plans to make the case that Bragg’s prosecution of Trump over
payments to porn star Stormy Daniels has drained the office’s crimefighting resources and
endangered New Yorkers.

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Rep. Jim Jordan, left, and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. (AP)
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Jordan, whom Bragg is suing in federal court for the unprecedented inquiry into a state-level your favor’
criminal prosecution, plans to call two witnesses connected to a pair of Manhattan cases for 1h

which the DA came under fire last year.

The committee will question Harlem bodega worker Jose Alba, whom the NYPD arrested in
July on murder charges for fatally stabbing a man who attacked him behind the counter in his
store.

Bragg’s office initially chose to prosecute the case, but dropped it after two weeks as viral
footage of the incident prompted a flood of sympathy for Alba. The worker contended he acted
in self-defense. Bragg said prosecutors could not prove he “was not justified in his use of deadly
physical force.”

Harlem bodega worker Jose Alba, 51, stabbed Austin Simon, 35, after Simon stormed behind the counter of the bodega to attack him
Friday, July 1, 2022.

The committee also plans to question Madeline Brame, whose son Hason Correa was brutally
murdered in an apartment vestibule in 2018. Mary Saunders, a woman charged with holding
Correa down while her brothers stabbed him , spent 14 months in jail and received a one-year
sentence in May, which was credited as time served, in a plea deal with Bragg’s office. Correa’s
killers received life sentences. Another man involved in the incident got seven years.

Since Trump announced last month that he expected to be indicted, Bragg has been bombarded
with racist emails and death threats . Suspicious powders discovered in the DA’s mail room have
sparked two scares to date.

Jordan showed no sign of relenting, declaring Friday that he’s “‘100% for ... Trump,” who is

running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Monday’s panel will also hear from Jennifer Harrison, who founded Victims Rights NY and
frequently appears on Fox News to criticize Bragg .

Harrison has said she advocates for victims of violent crime after her boyfriend and best friend
were killed in New Jersey 18 years ago and their killers received lenient sentences. She’s pushed
the debunked conspiracy theory that Bragg is funded by billionaire philanthropist George
Soros.

Front page for July 20, 2022: DA moves to drop murder rap vs. attacked bodega worker. Jose Alba holds knife he used to defend himself
against an attacker at Harlem bodega July 1. (New York Daily News)

The committee’s allegations that Bragg is to blame for violence on Manhattan’s streets come as
the city’s crime statistics are actually dipping.

Murders, shootings, robberies and burglaries are all down in Manhattan, according to the latest
NYPD data. As of April 9, total index crimes had decreased by 2.4% since last year.

A Daily News review shows the Trump case has not pulled resources from bureaus that handle
violent crime.

The seven-person team prosecuting Trump makes up less than 1% of the office’s sprawling
1,600-person staff. The team handles corruption, fraud and other white-collar crimes at the
DA’s office, and none of its members were transferred from cases involving violence to
prosecute Trump.

The committee’s view that the DA is soft on crime starkly contrasts with criticism from those on
Bragg’s left, who have accused him of abandoning the progressive policies he ran on .

Eliza Orlins, a veteran Manhattan public defender, spoke to The News late Thursday after
defending clients in 15 cases in six courtrooms.

Defense lawyer Eliza Orlins. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News) (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

She lamented that the DA’s office under Bragg is just as tough on crime as it ever was in seeking
high bail sums for her clients and requesting jail time wherever possible.

Orlins, who ran against Bragg in his campaign for DA, said she sees little difference between
Bragg and his predecessor Cy Vance Jr. — or even right-of-center prosecutors in other
jurisdictions.

“It’s enraging to hear people calling him soft on crime. And I would implore anyone who
believes that that is what is happening to just come visit us at 100 Centre St. any moment of the
day, any day of the week and see the cases ... the Manhattan district attorney’s office is

prosecuting,” she said.

“See the bail requests they’re making, see the sentences they’re seeking and you will know he is

nowhere near soft on crime,” Orlins added. “They’re exactly the same as any Republican
prosecutor — except for, I guess, the Trump indictment.”

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