CLAIM: Rudy Giuliani has fired Alvin Bragg, Manhattan’s district attorney, for his “fake prosecution” of former President Donald Trump.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Giuliani is a former New York City mayor and U.S. attorney who has represented Trump; he has no authority to remove Bragg from his position. Under state law, a governor could initiate a process to remove a district attorney from office.
THE FACTS: A Manhattan grand jury has been hearing evidence about hush payments made on Trump’s behalf in 2016. Trump has said he expects to be arrested.
As the public waits to see whether Trump will be charged, which would mark the first criminal case against a former U.S. president, a Facebook video is touting the bogus claim that Bragg has been fired — by a Trump ally.
“Rudy Giuliani fires Alvin Bragg immediately for fake prosecution targeting Trump,” reads the large text over the video.
The video shows an interview between Newsmax host Eric Bolling and Giuliani, in which the former New York City mayor and Trump attorney criticizes Bragg. Giuliani calls the case a “political use of the awesome power of the criminal justice system.”
The interview clip itself never makes the claim that Bragg has been fired. And Giuliani, who was the city’s mayor until 2001 and U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in the 1980s, has no authority to remove Bragg.
Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor, told The Associated Press that in New York, it’s the governor who could potentially remove a district attorney — but not without following a process.
“The governor may remove a district attorney but before doing so the governor has to give to him or her a copy of the charges against him/her and an opportunity of being heard in his/her defense,” Briffault said in an email.
New York state law sets forth a process in which the governor can launch investigations and hearings into such public officers. Briffault said “there would have to be some formal process for the DA to defend himself.”
Giuliani’s son, Andrew Giuliani, pledged to remove Bragg during an unsuccessful run for governor last year.
Removing a district attorney would go against voters: Bragg is one of New York City’s five elected district attorneys.
A Democrat who took office in 2022, Bragg inherited a yearslong grand jury investigation into the money paid to two women who alleged that they had extramarital encounters with Trump. Trump has denied wrongdoing and the women’s accounts of his infidelity.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
