Alvin Bragg’s Office Tells Jim Jordan to Take a Road Trip to Ohio If He Wants to Talk About Violent Crime

One thing you can absolutely count on, with the dependableness and predictability of death and taxes, is that the Republican Party will go to the ends of the earth to defend Donald Trump—regardless of what he’s done or how bad it makes them look by association—as if they took a blood oath in the basement of the White House the night the former guy was inaugurated. Most recently, that’s involved Marjorie Taylor Greene showing up in Manhattan on the day of Trump’s arraignment and also likening him to Nelson Mandela and Jesus Christ. This week, however, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan grabbed the baton and announced the committee would be holding a stunt hearing in Manhattan about the “violent crime” prosecutor Alvin Bragg is supposedly allowing while unfairly holding the ex-president to the letter of the law.

To our knowledge, neither Bragg nor his office has commented on Greene’s claims that Trump has much in common with Mandela and Christ—but they have chosen to respond to Jordan’s event planned for next week. And in the most polite manner, they’ve told the lawmaker from Ohio that he can stick his hearing where the sun don’t shine.

In a statement that came from Bragg’s official Twitter account, a spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney said: “Don’t be fooled, the House GOP is coming to the safest big city in America for a political stunt. This hearing won’t engage in actual efforts to increase public safety, such as supporting national gun legislation and shutting down the iron pipeline…. In DA Bragg’s first year in office, New York City had one of the lowest murder rates of major cities in the United States (5.2) – nearly three times lower than Columbus, Ohio (15.4). If Chairman Jordan truly cared about public safety, he could take a short drive to Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron, or Toledo in his home state, instead of using taxpayer dollars to travel hundreds of miles out of his way.”

Jordan‘s committee claimed on Monday that Bragg’s official policies were “pro-crime” and “anti-victim.” No witnesses for the April 17 “field hearing” have been announced, but presumably Jordan will rustle someone up to call Manhattan a crime-ridden hellhole and say something about “Gotham City.”

Last week, after Jordan subpoenaed Mark Pomerantz, who previously led an investigation into Trump on behalf of the DA’s office, Bragg accused the House GOP of “continu[ing] to attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation.” He added: “Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law. These elected officials would better serve their constituents and the country, and fulfill their oath of office, by doing their jobs in Congress and not intruding on the sovereignty of the state of New York by interfering in an ongoing criminal matter in state court.”