GOP lawmakers announce plan to draft articles of impeachment against Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives opened impeachment proceedings against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner on Monday morning.

The three lawmakers, Rep. Josh Kail (R-Beaver/Washington), Rep. Torren Ecker (R-Adams/Cumberland) and Rep. Tim O'Neal (R-Washington) are leading the charge.

"Across the country, people are standing up to unchecked and uncontrolled violence and lawlessness. It's allowed because of radical politicians and district attorneys like Larry Krasner," said O'Neal.

The lawmakers say Krasner is one of the reasons for the increased crime and lawlessness in the city.

The announcement comes as Krasner faces continued criticism about his office's handling of gun cases and violent crime.

The representatives highlighted the more than 220 murders and nearly 1,000 people injured by gun violence this year in Philadelphia.

The June 5, 2022, shooting on South Street underscored the need to take immediate action to ensure the district attorney is enforcing the law in Philadelphia, according to the lawmakers.

Out of the three lawmakers, none represent the city of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney believes there is another motive for this move.

"It's a political stunt that they're very good at. If they really want to help the city of Philadelphia, they can pass gun laws that will eliminate assault weapons, extended magazines, and allow us to pass our own legislation," said Kenney.

During an unrelated press conference, Krasner said he is not surprised or worried about the announcement.

"What they are doing in terms of impeachment is clearly without legal basis, clearly unconstitutional. This will all come out as this proceeds," said Krasner. "There's nothing new about there being resistance when you're trying to bring meaningful change and trying to change society."

The three members said they are, as of today, circulating a co-sponsorship memo for supporters of Articles of Impeachment they hope to have completed in the near future.

While these lawmakers may not be from the area, they're already garnering support from people like fellow Republican Martina White.

"I am proud to announce that I have co-sponsored the House resolution to impeach District Attorney Larry Krasner. In my view, the lawlessness in Philadelphia has been exasperated by the intentional lack of adequate prosecution by and under Krasner's direction. That is coming to an end. I want to thank my colleagues Reps. Josh Kail, Torren Ecker and Tim O'Neal for standing with Pennsylvanians and announcing they will be introducing Articles of Impeachment for Larry Krasner," said White in a statement to Action News.

A local political science professor at West Chester University said an impeachment will be extremely hard to execute.

"You can do it, but politically, it's very difficult. It's very similar to impeachment on federal," said Dr. John Kennedy. "You can impeach officials. It's very rare, it's happened only twice before. This is a political statement in a political year, with very high-intensity issues."

The representatives also announced a new website collecting stories of people they say have been impacted by Krasner's actions.

They believe they will have bipartisan support to move this impeachment process forward.