When New York Attorney General Letitia James appeared onstage at a New York Fire Department event on Thursday, she was welcomed with boos.
The FDNY convened in a church in Brooklyn, New York, to honor 65 uniformed members, 29 Bureau of Fire Prevention personnel, and 34 civilian employees. The audience booed James as soon as she took the podium, most likely because of her recent civil fraud case victory against former President Donald Trump.
“Oh, come on, we’re in a house of God,” James reminded the audience. “First, simmer down.”
However, the crowd’s apparent sympathy for Trump became clearer later in her speech, when some individuals began screaming the former president’s name.
FDNY Chief John Hodgens made it plain that the boisterous reception did not represent the whole department.
“Today’s ceremony focused on one thing: the accomplishments of the individuals being promoted. “The members whose behavior detracted from that celebration were an embarrassment and not representative of the world’s best fire department,” Hodgens said in a statement.
New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered Trump and his Trump Organization to pay more than $350 million in damages as a result of James’ civil fraud complaint. Furthermore, the verdict states that Trump will be barred from conducting business in New York for the next three years.