{"id":106566,"date":"2026-01-20T23:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/106566\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T23:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:45:07","slug":"gop-rival-roasts-hochul-for-boasting-manhattan-da-could-one-day-take-fed-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/106566\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP rival roasts Hochul for boasting Manhattan DA could one day take fed post"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman<\/a> roasted Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> for praising Manhattan\u2019s top prosecutor and saying he might one day take federal office \u2014 but she doubled down on her support.<\/p>\n

Hochul shouted out District Attorney Alvin Bragg<\/a> during an address Sunday in Harlem\u2019s Abyssinian Church and said he could one day become US attorney general after she accidentally referred to him as AG instead of DA.<\/p>\n

Blakeman, an ally of President Trump<\/a> who\u2019s serving as Nassau County executive, said Hochul applauded the \u201cmost soft-on-crime DA in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman blasted Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul for praising controversial Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a crackerjack prosecutor. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Alvin Bragg, violent offenders get charges knocked down. Repeat criminals walk free,\u201d Blakeman told The Post of the DA, who prosecuted Trump in a \u201chush money\u201d case in New York that eventually saw the president convicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cCareer criminals with long rap sheets are back on the street within hours, and too often, back in front of a judge for the next crime,\u201d Blakeman said. \u201cHochul is not only celebrating him \u2014 she is taking responsibility as Bragg\u2019s partner in this \u2018Criminals First\u2019 approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, was easily reelected to a second term last November.<\/p>\n

But his tenure opened with instant backlash over an infamous \u201cDay One\u201d memo that instructed staff to avoid seeking prison time for some crimes and advised to downgrade felony charges in some cases \u2013 like armed robberies.<\/p>\n

He got tagged by critics as soft on crime.<\/p>\n

But Blakeman fell short of Republican Lee Zeldin<\/a>, who unsuccessfully ran against Hochul in 2022 and had pledged to fire Bragg if elected.<\/p>\n

Hochul praised Bragg in a speech at Harlem\u2019s Abyssinian Church on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are measures that I would take incrementally to ensure that District Attorneys follow the law,\u201d Blakeman said. \u201cRemoval is a drastic measure that I would use as a last resort to any prosecutor that failed to uphold the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Republican said he stands with law enforcement to \u201cmake sure families in New York can feel safe again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul, during her address, had recognized Bragg in the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have another fighter to keep people safe and that is our attorney general,\u201d Hochul said, before correcting herself.<\/p>\n

Gov. Hochul said that Bragg one day could be the US attorney general after she called him AG by accident while giving her speech at the church. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, our District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Who knows, maybe he\u2019ll be an attorney general someday too, change the occupant of the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued to praise Bragg during the church service.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m not here to get political, you know what I\u2019m saying. But he [Bragg\u2019s] been a great partner in bringing ideas to us in the legislature and myself on how to make our streets safer and they are safer,\u201d Hochul said.<\/p>\n

Bragg and Hochul\u2019s administration worked together this year to develop two proposals in her State of the State, one aiming to reduce costs and delays in grand jury proceedings and a second to crack down on 3d-printed firearms. The two sides also worked on an expanded definition of hate crimes and other law enforcement initiatives.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCrime is down to record lows, particularly here in Manhattan, and I give him so much of the credit,\u201d the governor said in her remarks.<\/p>\n

The Hochul campaign said Tuesday Blakeman should look in the mirror.<\/p>\n

\u201cBruce Blakeman\u2019s failed record on public safety speaks for itself \u2013 he withheld funding from local law enforcement and let violent crime in Nassau spike to its highest level in ten years on his watch,\u201d Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he\u2019ll never disagree with the convicted felon in the White House who tried to defund the NYPD by $187 million, and he\u2019ll never stand up for New Yorkers\u2019 safety,\u201d the Hochul rep added.<\/p>\n

Bragg faced scrutiny in other high profile cases, aside from prosecuting Trump for business fraud.<\/p>\n

He made waves when he charged deli clerk Jose Alba<\/a> with manslaughter after the bodega clerk claimed he was defending himself against a violent shoplifter \u2014 and the DA dropped the case amid the backlash.<\/p>\n

The DA also prosecuted subway vigilante Daniel Penny<\/a> in the chokehold death of homeless man Jordan Neely<\/a> \u2014 but a jury ultimately acquitted the Marine veteran of criminally negligent homicide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman roasted Gov. Kathy Hochul for praising Manhattan\u2019s top prosecutor and saying he might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3015,1626,426,75,84,83,57,9,24,13895,63,87,58],"class_list":["post-106566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-alvin-bragg","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny-governor-election-2026","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}