Congressman blasts Kim Foxx during Chicago meeting on crime: 'it's only gotten worse'
CHICAGO - With a government shutdown potentially just days away, several high-ranking House Republicans were in Chicago Tuesday talking about personal safety.
This is part of a series of conversations titled, "Victims of Violent Crime" led by Congressman Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee.
The discussion, held at the Fraternal Order of Police Headquarters, covered a wide range of topics from homicides to carjackings to the recent implementation of cashless bail as part of the controversial SAFE-T Act.
The panel heard from Fox News political analyst Gianno Caldwell, whose younger brother, Christian, was shot and killed earlier this year in Morgan Park.
When asked if Chicago was savable, Caldwell told the panel: "Absolutely, it is savable."
The panel also heard from Chicago Police Officer Carlos Yanez Jr., who was shot repeatedly during a traffic stop last year. His partner, Officer Ella French, was fatally shot during the same traffic stop.
"I was shot a total of five times, four times of which were in the head. I lost my right eye, some hearing in both ears, I also have tinnitus in one ear as well as paralysis in one side of my body," he told the panel.
Congressman Jordan placed the blame for the scourge of violent crime squarely on Illinois Democrats including, but not limited to, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and States Attorney Kim Foxx.
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Democrats blast House Republicans for planned forum on Chicago crime instead of addressing government shutdown
Chicago Democrats on Monday lambasted Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee for planning a crime forum in Chicago on Tuesday, rather than working to avoid a federal government shutdown.
"Stop and think about it. First, it was defund police — that’s the former mayor — then it’s this SAFE-T Act — and then it’s a prosecutor who won’t prosecute the bad guys," said Jordan.
"Innocent people in Chicago are victimized by a justice system that cares more about political correctness than punishing the criminals who have harmed them and their families. Eleven years, for 11 years, Chicago has led the country in homicides, and it's only gotten worse under state's attorney Kim Foxx," he added.
Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller pointed to Democrats, in particular to Pritzker, for making Illinois less safe as a result of the recent abolishment of cash bail decrying its rollout.
"The first individual under this new policy had been arrested for pepper spraying four police officers," she said.
As Republican lawmakers were talking crime here in Chicago, the House of Representatives remains deadlocked on a deal that would keep the government from shutting down this Sunday.
Several Democratic Illinois lawmakers condemned Tuesday's panel discussion as poorly timed. Chicago Congressman Danny Davis called it a "distraction" that will ultimately keep House lawmakers from passing a short-term spending plan.