Attorney General talks federal funding lawsuit

(WHTM) — Attorney General Dave Sunday addressed a lawsuit filed this week by Governor Josh Shapiro against the Trump Administration for a federal funding freeze.

abc27 News spoke with Sunday Friday about the case. He said the Commonwealth Attorneys Act gives the governor the power to sue with or without the attorney general’s blessing.

He said his team is still doing legal analysis of the froze funds issue but adds that, sometimes, behind the scenes negotiation is more effective than lawsuits.

Oftentimes the greatest results come through negotiation and not through just filing a lawsuit,” Sunday told abc27. “And that’s very important for people to understand. As attorney general, what you will not see out of me is, you know, an incident happens and then the very next day, I file a lawsuit solely — and I’m not saying that’s the case here — but to get a media hit.”

“Those lawsuits may not even turn into actual positive outcomes for anyone,” Sunday said.

Shapiro said he tried to work with Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, both Democrat and Republican, to unfreeze the funds, but was forced to file suit.

The longest serving Pennsylvania congressman refutes that claim.

“I never heard from Governor Shapiro,” Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-15) told abc27’s Dennis Owens. “He claims he’s trying to work with the congressional delegation. You know who is the dean of the delegation? That would be me. So this is sort of political theater that he’s been famous for.”

Shapiro says he’s trying to protect the interests of Pennsylvanians.