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Kevin McCarthy Slams Manhattan DA Bragg With Viral NYC Robbery Video

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


House Speaker Kevin McCarthy released a viral video this week to set the record straight on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case that led to former President Donald Trump‘s indictment and arraignment.

McCarthy retweeted a post by House Judiciary GOP mocking Bragg’s claim that New York is the “safest big city in America.” The video, which was posted in response to a tweet from Bragg, shows a stick-up in broad daylight in Manhattan, where a motorist, allegedly armed, smashes another car and takes something from the driver.

The incident occurred in 2022 and went viral at the time. The video shared by the House Judiciary GOP featured a news segment covering the incident.

The video was in response to a statement from Bragg, where he condemned the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee announcing that lawmakers will hold a field hearing on April 17 in New York City to look into how Bragg’s policies have impacted the area and led to an increase in violent crime.

Check out the clip below:

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“The shocking incident occurred in September of 2022, though there is no date or context on the unbranded video McCarthy shared, which misleadingly labels it ‘New Tonight.’ Authorities arrested the robbers that month. The main perpetrator was taken to Rikers Island after he was unable to make $250,000 cash bail,” MSN reported.

The field hearing, which is titled “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan,” will be held at the “Jacob Javits Federal Building just blocks from Bragg’s Lower Manhattan office and the courthouse where Trump, 76, was arraigned on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last week,” the New York Post reported.

“The House Judiciary Committee will hear from ‘victims’ of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s policies during a hearing in New York next week — escalating a confrontation with the progressive prosecutor over his unprecedented criminal case against former President Donald Trump, The Post has learned. Republicans have slammed Bragg as being soft on conventional crime while embracing a novel legal theory to bring the first-ever criminal case against an ex-president,” the Post reported.

“We’ll be hosting this hearing next week from NYC. We’ll be hearing from victims who are suffering under DA Bragg’s pro-crime policies. If Bragg can spend resources indicting President [Donald] Trump, he should be able to address the soaring crime in NYC,” committee member Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona tweeted.

McCarthy declared that Congress will take action after Trump appeared in Manhattan for his arraignment in the case brought against him by Bragg.

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 charges regarding allegations that he falsified business records related to adult film star Stormy Daniels’ hush-money case. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in a case involving his purported role in hush money payments to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, allegedly to keep Daniels quiet about an affair the two of them had in 2006.

McCarthy voiced his frustration and vowed to hold Bragg accountable.

“Alvin Bragg is attempting to interfere in our democratic process by invoking federal law to bring politicized charges against President Trump, admittedly using federal funds, while at the same time arguing that the peoples’ representatives in Congress lack jurisdiction to investigate this farce. Not so. Bragg’s weaponization of the federal justice process will be held accountable by Congress,” McCarthy tweeted.

Many other Republicans issued strong statements in support of Trump.

Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley said: “Tonight’s indictment of Donald Trump isn’t about the law. It’s about power. Raw power. It’s the Democrat Party telling the nation they will stop at nothing to control the outcome of the next presidential election. It is an assault on our democracy, pure and simple.”

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Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and 2024 GOP presidential candidate, tweeted: “From everything I have seen from this New York district attorney is that this would be something he’d be doing for political points. I think what we know is, when you get into political prosecutions like this, it’s more about revenge than it is about justice.”

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz responded: “The Democrat Party’s hatred for Donald Trump knows no bounds. The ‘substance’ of this political persecution is utter garbage. This is completely unprecedented and is a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system.”

The indictment has triggered outrage from many given federal prosecutors in the U.S. attorneys office for the Southern District of New York chose not to charge Trump in 2019 related to the payment to Daniels.

The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

The DA’s reported decision also comes as Trump is running for president in 2024, which has led to some arguing that the investigation and charges are politically motivated.