Manhattan US Lawyer Jay Clayton is throwing sources towards tackling violent avenue crime within the Massive Apple, he instructed The Submit Wednesday — and he’s already gotten a kudos from President Trump for the workplace’s crackdown on Washington Sq. Park.
Clayton, who was appointed to run the highly effective Southern District of New York by Trump in April, revealed he plans to carry extra circumstances involving medicine, weapons and violence in federal court docket — the place the percentages of getting suspects locked up pending trial are greater on account of harder legal guidelines.
“Violent crime on the streets of New York Metropolis and the remainder of the district is what we’re keenly centered on,” Clayton mentioned in an interview, when requested about his high priorities helming the important thing Division of Justice submit.
Clayton sat for an interview minutes after holding a press convention asserting the busts of 12 alleged narcotics peddlers for overtly operating an open-air drug market at an East Harlem public housing venture for greater than three years.
His workplace is in search of pre-trial detention for the suspects — and already satisfied federal judges to lock up greater than a dozen individuals accused of hawking equally harmful medicine in and round Washington Sq. Park, with that case pending, court docket data present.
The sweeping busts on the famed Greenwich Village greenspace in October earned him congratulations from the president, who instructed him “Nice job!” in a short telephone name, Clayton, who served as SEC director throughout Trump’s first time period, instructed The Submit.
A supply near Trump, who has performed golf with Clayton a number of occasions through the years at his Bedminster, New Jersey course, confirmed that the decision passed off.
Clayton mentioned Wednesday that a part of the technique to sort out avenue crime circumstances federally is to extend the percentages of a suspect being detained whereas their case is pending, and for the allegations to truly make it to trial, in comparison with in state court docket.
Federal judges are allowed to take neighborhood security into consideration when setting bail, whereas jurists in New York state are solely allowed by legislation to think about somebody’s threat of flight in lots of bail-eligible circumstances.
“We’ve to imagine that individuals are harmless till confirmed responsible, however there are various circumstances the place a pretrial detention choice within the affirmative is the best solution to go for society,” Clayton mentioned.
“We all know from research that when you’ve a repeat violent offender, steady custody is the factor that reduces crime most,” Clayton added.
Jail reform advocates have contested that argument, citing information exhibiting a rise in recidivism for suspects who spend time in jail.
Clayton nonetheless plans to proceed investigating circumstances involving different points in SDNY’s purview similar to intercourse trafficking and public corruption, he mentioned.
He declined to remark when requested in regards to the infamously deserted bribery case towards outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, which sparked the departure of a number of of the workplace’s veteran corruption prosecutors.
When requested whether or not his bar for bringing corruption circumstances was greater than below his Democrat-appointed predecessor, Damian Williams, Clayton mentioned: “My bar is to carry the circumstances that New Yorkers need.”
“We must always carry the general public corruption circumstances that New Yorkers need us to carry,” he mentioned broadly.
“That’s what I ask the road prosecutors after they say, ‘Right here’s the place we’re.’ I say, ‘Is that this a case New Yorkers would need us to carry?’”
Clayton burdened a number of occasions in the course of the half-hour sit-down that going after the lethal fentanyl scourge and violent avenue crime was a high precedence.
“I’ve restricted sources. In what varied methods can I deploy them to have essentially the most optimistic influence for New Yorkers?” he mentioned.
“Fentanyl is clearly one. Fentanyl is an enormous threat. Avenue crime isn’t just an enormous threat, nevertheless it has ripple results all through the neighborhood,” Clayton mentioned.
“If New York doesn’t really feel secure, tourism goes down, individuals don’t need to stay right here, firms don’t need to have their staff right here.”
Clayton was additionally given the high-profile activity by US Lawyer Pam Bondi in November — at Trump’s public urging — to deal with a brand new probe of lifeless pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s hyperlinks to Democratic bigwigs and establishments like JP Morgan Chase.
He declined to remark Wednesday when requested if his workplace had taken any investigative steps or assigned any prosecutors in response to Bondi’s order.
Clayton additionally didn’t touch upon Trump’s pardoning of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in a 2024 case introduced by SDNY of enabling drug traffickers to smuggle tons of cocaine into the US.
“Pardon energy is completely the president’s energy to train, in any manner he or she sees match,” he mentioned. “That’s our Structure.”
— Further reporting by Steven Nelson
