Gianno Caldwell to testify before House panel on Chicago crime
Fox News commentator and political analyst Gianno Caldwell will testify before the House Judiciary Committee in Chicago Tuesday on how progressive “soft-on-crime” policies are turning the city into an “active warzone” — after the South Side native lost his baby brother to gun violence.
The lawmakers will be visiting the Windy City as it grapples with a crime epidemic.
The crisis is so dire there that Caldwell has turned to the FBI to get justice for his brother, Christian, who was senselessly shot dead in June 2022. He was just 18 years old.
“I’m working directly with the FBI now. I’ve not made that publicly known. I was going to mention that at the hearing,” Caldwell told The Post Monday, adding that Chicago’s Democratic prosecutors and politicians “recklessly” ignore the murders that disproportionately ravage the black community.
“They’re working with the Chicago Police Department to try to bring about a positive resolution to the murder of my innocent teenage baby brother.”
Caldwell, 36, who runs a bipartisan consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., is set to call on Congress Tuesday to “employ the full use of the FBI to help clear murder cases in our cities.” His brother’s killer has still not been identified.
He also will urge lawmakers to provide funding to hire and train 2,000 more police officers to bolster community policing crime-ridden communities.
Caldwell’s testimony will mark the first time he will address Congress after a lifetime of service that he said began with an internship with his local Chatham alderman when he was 14.
“It’s been a fight for many many years, I just had no idea that it would impact my family so personally,” he said.
The Fox News contributor said he was looking forward to speaking to lawmakers on the committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Oh.), but was discouraged to learn Friday that Democratic leadership was not making the trip to Illinois.
“After my name was released… all of a sudden I get a call ‘saying hey they’re not coming,’” he said of the hearing, which he said had been rescheduled several times.
“Here’s an opportunity to actually do something policy-wise for the city of Chicago, and those who have been active participants in this conversation because this isn’t just a Chicago issue, it’s a New York issue, it’s a Philadelphia issue, it’s a San Francisco issue,” he continued.
“This is impacting multiple cities across our country. Wouldn’t you want to be a part of that solution? A bipartisan solution?”
Caldwell blasted the expected no-shows as “callous.”
“Many of these same individuals have screamed left and right ‘Black Lives Matter,’” he fumed.
“But Chicago is a city of 2.7 million people. Eighty percent of the people who were murdered last year were black, and it’s a city of only 29% black folks.”
Ranking Democratic committee member Rep. Jerry Nadler did not immediately return a request for comment on the alleged snub.
A preview of Caldwell’s address obtained by The Post puts the blame on the “decriminalization of offenses,” progressive Cook County prosecutors “who refuse to prosecute,” and the city’s “no-chase policy” for cops.
“These officials have recklessly ignored the people they were elected to represent and as a result, bodies — mostly, Black bodies — are littered throughout the streets of Chicago,” the powerful speech reads.
“Policies pushed by the Cook County prosecutor, and the current and previous mayors, have proved to be a death sentence for the people of Chicago. What started off as, perhaps, a noble cause of criminal justice reform has become justice for … the criminal,” it continues.
“It is our police who have been handcuffed … as criminals no longer live in fear of arrest or prosecution. When you can steal at will, when you can drive away from the police during a traffic stop — the streets become lawless. Murder, as many like my family know too well, is close behind.”
Chicago has led the nation in murders for the last 11 years, despite having just a third of the population of New York City, according to the independent research outlet Wirepoints.
In 2022, 695 people were murdered in the Windy City — a 39% increase from 2019, after soaring during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, according to figures from the Chicago Police Department.
“They’ve largely become numb to the violence that exists here in Chicago. ‘Oh it’s just another shooting. Oh somebody just got shot, Chuck just got shot,’” an exasperated Caldwell told The Post.
“I’ve got to tell you, the value of a human life in the city of Chicago has been eroded. It has long been eroded. And with that consideration in mind, especially if you are an individual who is poor, and you live in these poor areas that are black, you may not have ever been out of the city. You may not have ever seen something different, so how would you know? This is just your reality day in and day out.”
The “Victims of Violent Crime Hearing” on Tuesday is also set to feature testimony from Lt. John Garrido III, a retired CPD detective, and retired officer Carlos Yanez Jr.
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