New York lawmakers want Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to remove Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg from his post.
Fox News reports that the removal effort is being led by the state's Senate Republicans.
Per the outlet, "State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt and 19 other senators called on the Democrat governor to remove Bragg, citing the 'unconscionable handling' of the NYPD officers by a gang of migrants outside Times Square."
For those who missed it, the New York Post details the incident.
The outlet reports:
A group of migrants were caught on camera attacking two NYPD officers late last month. Several of the individuals involved were apprehended a short time later, and charged with assaulting a police officer, but were released from custody without bail. Several of them have since fled the state to California, sources previously told The Post.
New York Senate Republicans sent a letter to Hochul on Feb. 6, calling upon her to remove Bragg from his position, and they cited Bragg's handling of this incident as the one of the main reasons why Bragg ought to be removed.
The Republicans wrote:
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s unconscionable handling of the recent attack on two NYPD officers by a gang of migrants outside of a Times Square shelter must be the final straw.
The public safety of New Yorkers is clearly at risk. We urgently ask you to exercise your power
under the State Constitution and the Public Officers Law to remove District Attorney Alvin
Bragg from office.
Here, the Republicans emphasize that Bragg's handling of this incident was not atypical for him. Rather, it is an egregious example of the way that Bragg has run his district attorney's office.
Ortt put it this way, "[Bragg] is running a public defender's office out of the district attorney’s office."
Suffolk County state Sen. Dean Murray (R), in his statement, also highlighted the fact that this is nothing new from Bragg, bringing up the office memorandum that Bragg released after he became district attorney.
"We are past the time for action. It is time that she remove Alvin Bragg from office. From the moment he took office, he was picking and choosing which laws he would enforce, which criminals he would go after and which ones he wouldn’t," Murray said.
Whether Hochul will actually proceed to remove Bragg is unclear. While Hochul is a Democrat, Bragg's handling of this case and the fallout from it may be too much to defend.
Hochul and Bragg are both Democrats, but pressure from the law enforcement community may be the deciding factor here. Bragg may outlive his usefulness to Democrats if he keeps creating massive controversy.
But, Hochul is facing tremendous pressure right now to remove Bragg, as many - even some Democrats - consider Bragg to have crossed a bright line with this latest incident.
