OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
House Republicans introduced two pieces of legislation on Thursday that directly go after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg after he brought the case that led to former President Donald Trump’s indictment earlier this month.
The Daily Caller obtained both of the bills, titled the “Accountability for Lawless Violence In Our Neighborhoods Act,” or the “ALVIN Act,” and the “No Federal Funds for Political Prosecutions Act.”
The “ALVIN Act” would ban federal funds from being given to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and force the DA’s office to repay federal funds granted after January 1, 2022.
“The ‘No Federal Funds for Political Prosecutions Act,’ prohibits state or local law enforcement agencies from using funds or property attainted pursuant to section 511(e) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 811(e)), section 981 of title 18, United States Code, or section 524 of title 28, United States Code, to investigate or prosecute the President, Vice President, or a candidate for the office of President in a criminal case while lawlessness permeates major American cities,” The Daily Caller’s Henry reported.
“District Attorney Alvin Bragg ran on a campaign pledge to indict President Trump. Bragg took the unprecedented action of converting alleged minor business misdemeanors to 34 individual felonies in an attempt to put President Trump behind bars and humiliate him and his supporters,” Biggs told the Daily Caller.
“This weaponized prosecutor’s office has spent thousands of federal taxpayer dollars to subsidize this political indictment and is demanding millions more in federal grants. It’s disturbing to see District Attorney Bragg waste federal resources for political purposes rather than addressing the serious crime in his city. As a member of the House Judiciary and Oversight & Accountability Committees, and with an almost insurmountable national debt that exceeds $ 1 trillion, the nation simply cannot afford to support Mr. Bragg’s politicization of the criminal justice system,” Biggs added.
Scoop: Rep. Biggs, House Republicans Introduce Legislation To Defund Manhattan DA’s Office, Make Them Repay Federal Funds
Read more here first for @DailyCaller: https://t.co/h6B2C281Ky
— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) April 13, 2023
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan informed Bragg that his lawsuit would not slow down Republicans investigating him.
During an interview on Fox News, the Ohio Republican slammed Bragg for his “pro-crime, anti-victim policies” in New York. Jordan also hit back at Bragg for filing a lawsuit against him, accusing the DA of abusing his power to indict former President Donald Trump for “no crime!”
He said, “We want to talk to someone who left the DA’s office a year ago, who went out and wrote a book on this very subject, did all kinds of interviews, was pushing to go after President Trump before he got there, while he got there when he left.”
Jordan stated, “They’re obstructing our constitutional duty to do oversight.”
Jordan also spoke about the Republican-led Judiciary Committee’s plans to hold a field hearing on April 17 in New York City to look into how Bragg’s policies have impacted the area and increased violent crime.
WATCH:
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 11, 2023
Bragg sued Jordan to demand he stops “interfering” in a local prosecution, but a judge for the Southern District of New York refused to even file a temporary restraining order.
In his suit, Bragg alleged that Jordan and the committee are attempting to wage an intimidation campaign over the indictment.
The D.A. said he’s taking legal action “in response to an unprecedently brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of” Trump, Fox News reported.
Fox News noted further:
Bragg, a Democrat, is asking a judge to invalidate subpoenas that Jordan, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has or plans to issue as part of an investigation of Bragg’s handling of the Trump case.
In recent weeks, the Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena seeking testimony from a former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, who previously oversaw the Trump investigation. The committee has also sought documents and testimony from Bragg and his office about the case. Bragg has rejected those requests.
WATCH:
Earlier, reports said the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a field hearing on April 17 in New York City to look into how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s policies have impacted the area and increased violent crime.
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.
