The House Judiciary Committee, which will be in New York City Monday for a special field hearing, has "not only a right but a responsibility" to oversee the use of federal funding allocated to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, Rep. Kevin Kiley, a member of the committee, said Saturday on Newsmax.
"As part of that, we're going to be shining a light on what exactly has been happening in Manhattan and, for that matter, and cities in my own state," the California Republican said on Newsmax's "The Count."
He pointed out that in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and many across this country, there are "progressive prosecutors who have been pushing politics-first agendas," but they aren't keeping their constituents safe.
"The problem with these prosecutors like Alvin Bragg or, like [George] Gascon in Los Angeles, or many of these other so-called progressive prosecutors is there's a ton of funding on their side," Kiley added. "And that is why I call it the politics-first agenda because they get elected, and then they institute policies that are just about following an agenda that is promoted by a very narrow band of radical activists who happened to have a lot of funding behind them."
And as a result, he said, "we're seeing these just absolutely reckless policies implemented in major American cities with the victims continuing to grow."
For example, in Manhattan, crime has climbed under Bragg, said Kiley.
"During his first year in office, in 2022, he saw a 23% surge in major crimes," he said. "Rapes are up. Felony assaults, robberies, burglaries, grand larceny, auto thefts, and transit crimes — all up with him as district attorney."
The hearing will spotlight what life has been like in New York City, while Bragg has "refused to do his job," Kiley added.
The committee, led by Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has invited as witnesses Jose Alba, the bodega worker charged with murder after he stabbed a man who attacked him; Madeline Brame, who became the chair of the Victim Rights Reform Council after her son, Army veteran Hason Correa, was fatally stabbed in Harlem in 2018; and Jennifer Harrison, founder of Victim Rights NY, to show how crime has impacted New Yorkers under Bragg, the prosecutor behind the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
Bragg has refused a call to Capitol Hill to testify, but Kiley said the prosecutor has a responsibility to answer the committee's questions, as his office receives federal funds.
"If he feels that he's acting in a way that is consistent with the law, that is consistent with the purposes of that funding, [and] consistent with the responsibilities of his office, then he really shouldn't have any qualms about answering any of these questions. Clearly, that is not the case," said Kiley.
The congressman also on Saturday commented on a report from the American First Legal Foundation and its revelations, based on a Freedom of Information Act request, that the White House appears to have coordinated with the Department of Justice concerning the raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in search of classified documents.
"I don't know the facts, but I think that there are a lot of questions surrounding what happened there," said Kiley. "The fact that now there's another special prosecutor that's having to look into what happened with President [Joe] Biden raises even more questions about why exactly this investigation was started."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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