Chairman Jordan Discusses Judiciary Hearing in Chicago to hear from Victims of Violent Crime

I want to talk about what brings you to Chicago today and this morning, but more important, I want to bring in Gianno Caldwell. He's going to be testifying in front of the congressman's field hearing in Chicago today on the growing crime crisis. And Gianno, remind everyone, not only growing up in Chicago, why this matters to you so much. Well, on June 24th of last year, my life changed forever when my baby brother, Christian, innocent teenage baby brother, Christian, was murdered on the south side of Chicago. Now, this has been a mission for me, not just because of my brother, but because of the thousands of other victims of violent crime in the city of Chicago. I've been in this fight since I was 14 years old. I got pictures in the Chicago Defender where I'm walking shoulder to shoulder with former mayor Richard M. Daley and my alderman and the superintendent of police. You know, I'm so thankful and honored to be with you, Congressman Jim Jordan. Thank you for bringing Congress to Chicago to address the issue that our leaders at the state level and local level refuse, refuse to address. In fact, they're making it worse with bills like the Safety Act. I'm really disappointed with what I'm seeing from the other side of the aisle. I'm talking about the Democrats who've refused to show up here today. Chicago is a city of 2.7 million people. 29 percent of that population is black. Last year, 80 percent of the murder victims were black. Wouldn't you think the people who've been screaming Black Lives Matter would be here to show that black lives truly matter? Where's Jerry Nadler? I tried to talk to him, and we have the clip, the packages that we did in Washington, D.C., when I was trying to talk to Democrats and Republicans alike about their plans on violent crime. He refuses to show up and look these people in the face who are losing their lives daily. And Congressman Danny Davis, who's a sitting congressman here in Chicago, recently said, well, what they're doing here is a stunt. Really, Congressman Danny Davis? It's a stunt? And was that 7-year-old who was murdered in the backseat of a car in a drive-thru at McDonald's, is that a stunt? How about the 5-month-old who was murdered on the same day as my brother, Cecilia, June 24th? Is that a stunt? How about three days ago, 86-year-old man, carjacked, murdered in the streets of Chicago. Is that a stunt, Congressman Danny Davis? It is not. So we're going to have a real conversation. Hopefully, we can get something drafted, some legislation, something that's going to really help the people of Chicago and across the nation, because we are a nation that's suffering from violent crime, and Democrats have not taken this issue seriously. But Chairman, real quick, what do you expect to emerge out of this? Same thing happened at the border. Kevin McCarthy, Democrats didn't show up. Look at that problem. This is now a zero-cash bail state you're in. Yeah, yeah. No, Gianna's exactly right. When you let bad guys stay on the street, they do bad things. And that's been the policy of the state's attorney, the Cook County State's attorney here, Kim Foxx. You couple that with what the mayor did, former mayor Lightfoot, when she defunded the police. And then you add in this law that the legislature passed in a lame duck session at four in the morning, which gets rid of cash bail. That's why you had 76 cops shot last year. That's why you had 30 people shot over this past weekend. So all we can do is draw attention to it, see if there's something at the federal level we can do when it comes to funding or whatever. But drawing attention to this problem, I think, is so important. And when you have witnesses like Gianna, who can tell it in a first-hand personal way, the tragedy and the impact on his family, that is powerful. And we appreciate him being one of our witnesses today, along with two police officers, one who was actually shot himself, who is going to be a part of our witnesses today as well. I mean, if you just look pure politics, forget about the emotion, the reality. The Democrats got to their benefit to ignore the border and ignore crime. And that's exactly what this looks like right now. Guys, thanks so much. We'll be covering your hearing. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.