Lee Zeldin Pledges to Fire Soros-Funded DA Alvin Bragg on First Day in Office

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), the Republican gubernatorial nominee in New York, doubled down on his promise to fire the George Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his first day in office.

“I will FIRE Alvin Bragg immediately upon taking office as New York’s next Governor in January,” Zeldin tweeted on Monday.

Bragg was elected as Manhattan’s District Attorney with the help of a million-dollar campaign contribution from Soros, a billionaire Democrat mega-donor who funded far-left district attorney candidates across the country.

Although Bragg campaigned on a “pro-jailbreak agenda” that sought to end prosecution for various crimes, Manhattan residents overwhelmingly voted to install Bragg as district attorney.

Bragg also claimed he would reduce “mass incarceration” by recommending 20-year maximum prison sentences “absent exceptional circumstances.”

Bragg made headlines earlier this year after his office issued a memo instructing staff to seek pre-trial detention or prison sentences only for criminals accused of homicide, public corruption, and a few other exceptional cases.

Bragg wrote in his memo:

There is a presumption of pre-trial non-incarceration for every case except those with charges of homicide or the death of a victim, a class B violent felony in which a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument causes serious physical injury, sex offenses in Article 130 of the Penal Law, domestic violence felonies or charges of PL § 215.50, public corruption, rackets, or major economic crimes, including any attempt to commit any such offense under Article 110 of the Penal Law. For any charge of attempt to cause serious physical injury with a dangerous instrument, ADAs must obtain the approval of an ECAB

Bragg’s soft-on-crime approach recently resulted in a 15-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by a suspect Braggs’s office released back into the streets.

As the New York Post detailed:

At the time of Wednesday’s attempted rape, Anthony Ibanez was out on no-bail in a case where he allegedly robbed a Manhattan deli with a Taser-wielding confederate. Cops had charged him with robbery in the first degree with use of a dangerous instrument, a bail-eligible offense, but Bragg’s prosecutors reduced it to non-bail-eligible petit larceny, second degree menacing and other low-level raps.

Monday was not the first time Zeldin pledged to fire Bragg if elected as New York’s governor.

“My first action right after I am sworn into office is turning to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and Alvin Bragg and tell them he’s fired,” Zeldin told Fox News earlier this month.

Zeldin argued it is the governor’s “constitutional responsibility” to remove district attorneys who refuse to enforce the law.

“The governor of New York has the constitutional authority – I would say the constitutional responsibility – to remove a D.A. who refuses to enforce the law. We do not have recall elections in New York,” Zeldin said. “So it’s up to me to do what the people can’t. There is no recall. So I am going to act as my first action after I’m sworn in.”

Zeldin also made similar comments in January and blasted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) for meeting with Bragg.

“The governor has the constitutional authority to remove a district attorney who refuses to enforce the law,” Zeldin said. “As governor of New York right now, I would do that. Yesterday, Gov. Hochul met with Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney. Didn’t fire him, didn’t condemn him.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.