by WorldTribune Staff, March 10, 2024
The commissioner of the New York Fire Department (FDNY) is reportedly tracking down firefighters and other staff members who booed New York Attorney General Letitia James during her appearance at a promotion ceremony on Thursday.
Not only did the firefighters and other staffers shout down James, they cheered in support of former President Donald Trump.
This disruption put the heat on FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh who is hunting down the alleged offenders, the New York Post reported on Saturday.
On Thursday, video shows the crowd, which consisted of the families of captains, battalion chiefs and civilians up for promotion as well as the firefighters who work beside them, erupting in loud jeers as James walked onto the podium at the Christian Cultural Center’s Brooklyn Campus in Starrett City.
“Oh, come on. We’re in a house of God. First, simmer down,” said James. She added, “Thank you for getting it out of your system.”
As James continued her speech, the booing swiftly turned to chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!”
In an email to other officials, FDNY Chief of Department John Hodges warned of a reckoning for the booers led by the department’s Bureau of Investigation and Trials (BITS).
“BITS is investigating this, so they will figure out who the members are,” Hodges wrote FDNY chiefs Saturday in the email obtained by The Post. “I recommend they come forward. I have been told by the commissioner it will be better for them if they come forward and we don’t have to hunt them down.”
Constitutional and criminal law attorney Alan Dershowitz told The Post: “Firefighters have an absolute constitutional right to boo the attorney general, and the government has no power to punish them for it. So efforts to get the names of the booers is an effort by the government to chill free speech and is unconstitutional.”
An FDNY retire told The Post: “It was a political stunt for the city to have the AG there. When it backfired, they sent their fascist pit bulls after guys for exercising their First Amendment rights. Most were off-duty and not in FDNY uniform.”
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