'Unconscionable!' New Jersey prosecutor skewers Trump for president's new 'illegal demand'

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin slammed President Donald Trump Wednesday after having joined in a lawsuit against the administration over what he called an “illegal demand.”

“I think it's unconscionable, it's patently illegal, and it's one of the most heinous things I've seen from any administration,” Platkin said, speaking on CNN.

Platkin has joined 19 other states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds earmarked for public safety, including funds intended to support crime victims. The Trump administration has withheld the funds from some states in order to compel them to cooperate with its immigration crackdown.

“What we are saying is that in this case, it's immigration, but what if it was a Democratic president saying you won't get funds unless you agree with this abortion policy?” Platkin said.

“We have checks and balances in this country for a reason. Congress appropriates funding, bipartisan funding that has been around for four decades to fund some of the most critical services for our victims, (and) I cannot believe that I have had to file a lawsuit to say don't use these people as political pawns. That's what we're talking about in this lawsuit.”

Trump’s withholding of federal funds has placed some states in the position of having to choose between cooperating with the administration’s aggressive migrant crackdown and funding key crime victim programs, which help victims with emergency shelter, funeral costs and medical bills, among other things.

For Platkin, Trump’s latest threat is par for the course considering the president’s tenure in office.

“This has been the most anti-public safety administration in, I think maybe in American history,” he said. “It started on day one, pardoning 1,500 violent insurrectionists, including people who led to the death of a police officer who was born and raised in my state in New Jersey.”

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