Here’s why N.J. Republicans are trying to impeach Attorney General Matthew Platkin

New Jersey Assembly Republicans introduced articles of impeachment last week against Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin with a laundry list of grievances as New Jersey’s top legal official has been fighting President Donald Trump’s administration in court.

Platkin is working with a group of other Democratic attorneys general on several lawsuits against Trump’s administration, battling orders ranging from ending birthright citizenship to cutting public health research.

The impeachment bill against Platkin, which Republicans shared, does not mention Trump. Instead, it attacks the Democratic attorney general’s handling of police misconduct investigations, his subpoena of an antiabortion pregnancy center, and moves he has made that stirred the pot in his own party.

The bill was introduced the day after Platkin’s case against Democratic power broker George Norcross was dismissed and about a year after he defied Gov. Phil Murphy’s views on the state’s ballot design.

In a statement, Platkin said he will not “respond to partisan political attacks.”

“I am focused on the same priorities I have had since day one: driving gun violence down to historically low levels, holding social media corporations accountable for the harms they’re inflicting on our children, and protecting our residents — including by standing up to threats from Washington and fighting corruption, no matter who it offends,” he said in the statement.

There are 52 Democrats and 28 Republicans in the state Assembly, so the bill is not likely to go through. It would need a majority of the Assembly, and then two-thirds of the Senate, which is also Democratic-controlled.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, a Democrat from Middlesex County, declined to comment on the bill.

Platkin was appointed attorney general in 2022 at age 35. He previously worked as the policy director for Murphy’s 2017 gubernatorial campaign and then as his chief counsel. In 2020, Platkin worked as Democratic Sen. Cory Booker’s special counsel for the first impeachment trial of Trump.

The list of grievances in the impeachment bill against Platkin provide a look into how exactly the attorney general has ruffled feathers in Trenton and what impacts he has made on a state that is in the process of a political reckoning both in terms of respect for establishment tradition and its partisan makeup.

New Jersey Rep. John DiMaio, the minority leader in the Assembly and one of the bill’s primary sponsors, accused Platkin of politicizing the office, a thread that ties together the bill’s accusations. DiMaio pointed out that one Democratic candidate for governor, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, said he would keep Platkin on if he is elected. Platkin has been rumored to have future political ambitions, but he did not launch a bid in the crowded governor’s race this year.

“This is something that’s built up over a period of time, and people need to understand what’s going on,” DiMaio said of the impeachment bill. “This will shine a light on it.”

The impeachment bill sharply criticizes Platkin’s handling of police oversight.

“He seems to worry about the bad guys rather than the good guys, so to speak,” said DiMaio, of Warren County.

The bill accuses Platkin of “unjustifiably” discrediting the New Jersey State Police by accepting the results of an independent study that claims the state police target minorities in traffic stops. Republicans say there have already been significant reforms over the years.

The bill also says that the processing of disciplinary and criminal allegations against state troopers is taking too long, and thus violating troopers’ due process, delaying possible promotions, and tainting their reputations.

DiMaio said that state police have said they are “hamstrung” and that police officers are “confused” and sometimes “afraid to even do their jobs.”

The bill also homes in on Platkin’s taking over the Paterson Police Department in 2023 after two police officers shot people in separate instances. In 2024 an appellate court ruled he did not have the authority to do so, and Platkin has since filed an appeal with the New Jersey Supreme Court.

The bill also cites dismissed cases that stemmed from the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability and accuses Platkin of using the office to generate headlines rather than pursue worthwhile investigations.

“Our attorney general is very busy inserting himself into federal politics to do anything here in New Jersey,” Republican Rep. Erik Peterson of Hunterdon County, the deputy minority whip, said on the Assembly floor. “… He should resign. He’s a disgrace.”

The bill also accuses Platkin of targeting antiabortion pregnancy centers, referencing a subpoena the top cop pursued against First Choice Women’s Resource Centers as part of a consumer fraud probe. Platkin has been outspoken about supporting abortion access.

The bill also accuses Platkin of mishandling a sexual assault allegation against a member of Murphy’s campaign staff in 2018 while he was working as Murphy’s chief counsel. The subject loomed over Platkin’s nomination to his attorney general post in 2022.

The impeachment document also says that Platkin has been condemned for his role helping to draft Murphy’s pandemic-related executive orders.

While the bill can be largely read as a partisan attack, two pieces mentioned in the bill defy party lines when it comes to the political establishment in New Jersey.

The bill says that Platkin failed to defend a state law and unilaterally decided its constitutionality when he decided not to defend the state’s county line ballot design, which a federal judge ordered redesigned for last year’s Democratic primary and lawmakers have since taken up redesigning.

The bill cites Murphy’s reaction to his attorney general pushing against his legal position at the time, saying in a statement: “It is well-established that Attorneys General have a general obligation to defend the constitutionality of statutes, regardless of their own personal view.” Murphy’s office declined to comment on his quote being used in the impeachment bill.

DiMaio said Platkin “had no business” commenting on that case.

And in a shocking blow to the political establishment, Platkin pressed racketeering charges against Norcross, the Democratic power broker from South Jersey, and his allies. But a judge dismissed that case, and critics on both sides of the aisle called it politically motivated.

The bill quotes Norcross’ lawyer saying that Platkin’s tenure “will prove to be an epic failure,” calling him “a politician masquerading as a law enforcement officer.”

DiMaio said that he has not discussed the bill’s future with Democratic leadership and that it’s “in their hands.”

“Hopefully they would look at it and say, ‘We really ought to look,’” he said. “… We needed to shine a light on this and let the public know that this is wrong and it shouldn’t happen.”

The bill does not actually mention Trump or Platkin’s ongoing resistance against the president, which has heightened the attorney general’s national profile.

DiMaio criticized Platkin’s suits against Trump as “premature” because the impacts of his administration are not fully clear.

He said Platkin is spending money and “chasing things down just to make headlines” instead of waiting to see the effects of Trump administration policies and being “more deliberate.” He also criticized Platkin for “trying to impede the federal government’s ability to cut back on waste and expenses.”

As for why it’s not mentioned in the bill, DiMaio said that Platkin’s resistance against Trump is “becoming more apparent as time goes on” and that “if we keep waiting for more things to put in, we’d never get it out.”