Kevin McCarthy continues to use his Twitter platform to denigrate the “radical DA” Alvin Bragg, the NYC District Attorney who brought the case that led to 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 with the post shows a stick-up in broad daylight in Manhattan, where a motorist, allegedly armed, smashes another car and takes something (allegedly cash) from the driver.
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.
“The safest big city in America” https://t.co/sTuVjIPNRO pic.twitter.com/c6YwkDKtAw
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) April 10, 2023
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holds power in a country where much has happened in the last two weeks, including two brutal mass shootings (Nashville, Louisville) and the Easter holiday, a time Christians use to celebrate peace and renewal.
The Speaker’s own triumphant meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan at the Ronald Reagan Library also took place recently — a bipartisan exercise in global diplomacy that won praise from across the American political spectrum, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s commendation of McCarthy’s leadership.
Yet Speaker McCarthy’s “pinned tweet” — a signal of his top priority — has remained unchanged since March 18, through all these happenings.
McCarthy’s pinned tweet is a fiery complaint about what he calls “an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump.”
Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) March 18, 2023
I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by…
For context on the “safest big city” dig, Bragg’s office had released a statement claiming overall NYC crime is down significantly in the first quarter of 2023. According to the D.A.’s office, murders aredown 14%, shootings down 17%, burglaries down 21%, and robberies down 8%.
The statistics were released in response to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio launching an investigation into Bragg’s case against Trump, an investigation which Bragg’s office describes as a political stunt.
“In D.A. Bragg’s first year in office, New York City had one of the lowest murder rates of major cities in the United States – nearly three times lower than Columbus, Ohio,” the statement said. “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.”
