During an interview on MSNBC this Monday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticized a field hearing of the House Judiciary Committee held in Manhattan that morning, where committee chair Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and other Republicans hoped to highlight ostensible problems with crime in the city.
Trying to tie crime — and, more specifically, violent crime — to Democratic leadership has been a consistent feature of Republican rhetoric for some time, no matter the actual realities of living in these places and that the problems that do exist aren’t somehow confined to locales with Democratic leaders. A recent mass shooting at a school unfolded in Tennessee, and another such incident, that time at a bank, happened in Kentucky — both known for leaning towards the Republicans.
There are high crime rates in plenty of politically GOP-dominated areas, although during the hearing on Monday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tried to use separate observations about potential trepidation felt by New York residents no matter the evidence to support the Republicans’ case against certain city leaders. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) also focused in his questioning on fear, which while obviously unfortunate isn’t the same as facts and is propagated, in many respects, by these very Republicans!
“I think it’s the highest level of hypocrisy,” Adams said of the GOP-led hearing on Monday. “We know that cities all across America are dealing with the issues around public safety, particularly the criminal justice system. And right in the largest city in Ohio, it was reported today in one of the tabloids, the murders are up over 50 percent in the first quarter. And so, while crime is going down, homicides are going down here, shooters are going down here, some of the major crimes, you’re trending in the right direction. Our subway system crime is going down. So I think coming here and highlighting DA Bragg is just really a political stunt.”
The reporting that he was trying to reference originated with the New York Daily News. Alvin Bragg is the locally elected district attorney in Manhattan, and it’s basically in response to Bragg’s decision to pursue charges against Trump that Republicans schlepped to his jurisdiction this week.
Adams also criticized some of what’s been seen in association with Trump’s visits to the city. Recently, when he was arraigned in his criminal case, there were sometimes raucous protests outside the courthouse. “We are going to make sure that DA Bragg has the proper protection around him, but each time the former president comes to the city, he has a tendency to bring those who are coming from outside, trying to disrupt our way of life,” the mayor said Monday. “But the New York City Police Department is always prepared, and we are going to make sure this trial goes off without a problem.”
