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Pa. House Republicans are pushing for another investigation of Philly DA Larry Krasner

But the move was nearly overshadowed by political drama that ended almost as quickly as it began.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg on Friday. House Republicans this week advanced legislation to authorize a new investigation into his office.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner speaks at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg on Friday. House Republicans this week advanced legislation to authorize a new investigation into his office.Read moreKalim A. Bhatti

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania House Republicans who are investigating Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and searching for grounds to impeach him advanced legislation Tuesday that would urge the state auditor general to launch a second investigation of his office.

But that move was nearly overshadowed by political drama that ended almost as quickly as it began.

During a House Judiciary Committee meeting Tuesday morning, Rep. John Lawrence (R., Chester), the chair of the House committee investigating Krasner’s office, said the idea to audit Krasner’s spending of state funding came from an unlikely source: Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for governor.

But the Attorney General’s Office quickly disputed that, with a spokesperson saying Shapiro “absolutely did not” make such a suggestion.

And within hours, Lawrence walked back the assertion, saying in a statement that Shapiro’s office had provided the committee with documents to review, but adding, “To be clear, the Attorney General did not request an audit.”

The short-lived dispute — and the new, narrower investigation — represented the latest step in a GOP attempt to target the progressive Philadelphia prosecutor. And for a time, it threatened to pit Krasner against Shapiro, the state’s top law enforcement official and a standard-bearer for the Democratic Party statewide, just weeks before an election Republicans have tried to make about crime.

Shapiro and Krasner have frequently clashed. But Krasner said Tuesday that Lawrence’s citing of Shapiro was “in this super-heated election cycle, to put it mildly, a rather peculiar claim that Republicans would be besties with candidate Shapiro on such a thing.”

The audit, Republicans said, would be to review how Krasner’s office spends state dollars that are allocated to the Gun Violence Task Force, an investigative effort led by prosecutors, police, and field agents from both Krasner’s and Shapiro’s offices.

The resolution, which passed the Judiciary Committee along party lines and could be considered by the full House this week, also directed the bipartisan Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study how Krasner’s office spends taxpayer dollars to serve crime victims and to prepare a report within nine months.

The legislation did not allege Krasner’s office has misused state funds.

» READ MORE: State lawmakers issued a report criticizing Philly DA Larry Krasner but didn’t recommend impeachment

Lawrence said he reasoned the auditor general could conduct a concurrent investigation given the Select Committee is only authorized to convene through Nov. 30, saying, “We are going to run out of time.”

Krasner called the effort “a new fishing expedition” and said the committee didn’t subpoena records from his office related to Gun Violence Task Force funding.

“There’s not a whiff that there’s actually anything wrong with it,” he said.

The call for the state’s Republican auditor general to investigate the office’s spending comes just a day after the House Select Committee on Restoring Law and Order, chaired by Lawrence, released a report that strongly criticized Krasner.

It included several references to the Gun Violence Task Force and said Shapiro’s office provided “a robust set of documents” regarding the use of funds by Krasner’s office. But it did not include details of what those documents showed.

The Select Committee’s report didn’t make any recommendations, and notably did not call for Krasner’s impeachment.

Krasner said last week that he expected an impeachment vote within days. He has called the Republican-led investigation a politically motivated stunt and an attempt at overturning the will of Philadelphia voters who twice elected him.

He repeated those critiques Tuesday, saying the report released by the Select Committee amounted to “a very specific and deliberate effort to take everything out of context in ways that are politically useful that have nothing to do with trying to address public safety issues.”

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday slammed the latest effort targeting Krasner as unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Philadelphia) called the inquiry a “witch-hunt.” He asked Lawrence if he’d “considered the will of the people of Philadelphia” in advancing another attempt to investigate Krasner’s office.

Lawrence didn’t answer. The line of questioning was halted by Rep. Rob Kauffman (R., Franklin), the committee chair who described Lawrence’s efforts as “very well thought out,” saying to Rabb: “I am running this meeting. If you don’t like how it’s being run, I can’t help you with that.”

Rep. Jared Solomon (D., Philadelphia) — who was among dozens of Democrats who earlier voted to hold Krasner in contempt — said Tuesday he didn’t understand the purpose of a resolution asking for a second investigation into Krasner’s office when the House committee’s review is not yet complete.

He attempted to delay the measure until after Lawrence’s committee issues its final report before the end of the legislative session, but was blocked.

Republicans cast the effort as a prudent attempt at auditing the use of taxpayer dollars. Rep. Torren Ecker (R., Adams), who sits on the committee investigating Krasner — and who called for Krasner’s impeachment before the committee was formed — said Tuesday it was “offensive” for Democrats to suggest Republicans who live outside Philadelphia were not considering the interests of Philadelphia residents.

He argued that there was no harm in asking the auditor general to review the spending of state funds.

“If there’s nothing there, there’s nothing there,” he said.