By:  Hadassa Kalatizadeh

New York’s top Republican in Congress shot back at Democrats who claim the GOP-led hearing by the House Judiciary Committee is only targeting New York as retribution for indicting former President Donald Trump.

As reported by the NY Post, Rep. Elise Stefanik said in an interview that this week’s Judicial Committee hearings are really about the soft on crime policies.  “New York is being targeted because you have radical left-wing Democrats who have put failed bail reform in place,” Stefanik told The Post, denying that the hearing has to do with payback for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution case against Trump. “That includes [Gov.] Kathy Hochul, that includes legislators in Albany, that includes defund-the-police Democrats in New York City, as well as radical, far-left district attorneys like Alvin Bragg.”

Stefanik, the 38-year-old Harvard graduate has served in NY’s 21st congressional district since 2015, and has been chair of the House Republican Conference since 2021.  Her district covers upstate NY, including the cities of Ogdensburg, Glens Falls, Plattsburgh, and Watertown.  She claimed that NY “is the epicenter of the catastrophic crime crisis happening across our country,” adding that her district is being affected as well.  “Not just families in New York City, but broadly, even in my district in upstate New York.”

Per the Post, the Congressional panel probing Bragg’s soft-on-crime policies and crime across NYS began on Monday morning at the Jacob Javits Federal Building in Lower Manhattan.  The “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan” committee hearing, being led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to examine to examine the Democrat’s “pro-crime, anti-victim” policies, follows at the heels of the controversial indictment against Trump, 76.  Trump has become the first sitting or former president ever to be charged with criminal activity.  The 34-count felony indictment charges that Mr. Trump falsified business records for “hush money” paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal just before the 2016 presidential election.

New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, spoke out in defense of Bragg, claiming the hearing is part of “the Republicans’ general attempts to obstruct justice and to attack the DA in Manhattan and to obstruct justice in the Trump case.”

Stefanik berated Bragg, who took office in January 2022, for “refusing to prosecute heinous crimes, violent crimes.”  “And yet they’re conducting political witch hunts for crimes that have not been committed,” she added, referring to the case against Trump.  Still, she maintained that the hearing was prompted by the 2019 criminal justice reforms and failed crime policies plaguing the Big Apple.

In a statement on Sunday, City Hall spokesman Fabien Levy slammed Stefanik, saying: “Time and again, Congresswoman Stefanik has spun false tails to prop up Donald Trump’s flailing political career, and this stunt is no different”.  Levy added, “Murders, shootings, and other violent crimes are down in New York City, and up in so many House Republicans’ districts, including numerous visiting New York on the taxpayer’s dime as they hold a sham hearing to boost Donald Trump’s campaign.” he said. “We wonder if constituents in Congresswoman Stefanik’s district know they are responsible for footing the bill for her all-expense paid trip to New York City for no good reason.”

The DA’s office didn’t immediately return the Post’s request for comment.