GOP lawmakers name for particular counsel to research sexual misconduct allegations in NY AG workplace

Three New York GOP lawmakers on Tuesday referred to as for Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to nominate a particular counsel to research allegations of sexual misconduct towards the previous chief of workers within the state’s legal professional basic’s workplace.

U.S. Home Reps. Claudia Tenney, Elise Stefanik and Chris Jacobs sent a letter to Hochul asking her to instantly appoint a particular prosecutor to research the sexual harassment claims towards Ibrahim Khan.

The Republicans cited a “mishandling” of an investigation into Khan’s alleged misconduct by the legal professional basic’s workplace.

“Whenever you took over from disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, you made a dedication to vary New York’s tradition of corruption, which included tackling the reoccurring drawback of sexual harassment,” the lawmakers wrote within the letter, asking for “a good, clear, and accountable investigation into Ms. James’s dealing with of this incident by an impartial particular counsel.”

Khan introduced he would resign from the New York Lawyer Normal’s Workplace as chief of workers this month following an out of doors regulation agency’s investigation into two sexual misconduct claims.

New York Lawyer Normal Letitia James (D) was slammed for not disclosing the investigation earlier than this month and of dealing with it otherwise than the same misconduct probe that helped result in Cuomo’s ouster as governor in 2021.

James stated she performed an “impartial, neutral investigation” to probe the misconduct claims — which included inappropriate touching and kissing — after she discovered of them in October.

“My workplace handled this matter as aggressively as each different matter that has come earlier than our workplace,” she wrote in a press release this month.

Nonetheless, the GOP lawmakers stated there have been earlier public reviews of alleged misconduct towards Khan in 2017 and questioned whether or not James had not identified in regards to the allegations earlier than the investigation this yr.

“New Yorkers should know if James was truthful when she claimed to haven’t identified in regards to the a number of allegations towards Mr. Khan,” they wrote. “New Yorkers additionally should know why Ms. James used a regulation agency with ties to her workers to research the matter and why, in contrast to in earlier circumstances, she didn’t search contract approval for the investigation, which might have created a paper path.”