As a legislative investigation into a rape allegation within the Murphy administration continues, it’s Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez that’s catching some heat.

Suarez sat down with NJTV News Senior Correspondent David Cruz for a wide-ranging conversation on what she knew about the case and when.

“Under normal circumstances, this case would have never come to my attention,” said Suarez.

According to Suarez, Al Alvarez and Katie Brennan were not considered high profile enough among the thousands of cases the Prosecutor’s Office handled, to rise to her attention.

At the time of alleged rape, Brennan and Alvarez both worked on Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign — Brennan as a volunteer and Alvarez as a staffer.

Suarez maintains she was unaware of the seven-month investigation by her office until she received a media inquiry from The Wall Street Journal.

Suarez attended an informal dinner with Brennan and several others in August 2018, months after her office had concluded its investigation, but the topic never came up.

“She didn’t bring it up to me. I think about it all the time. I wish she had. I don’t say it to avoid everything that had happened. I say it because if she was upset, I would like to have helped,” said Suarez.

Suarez said she knew Alvarez since 2003 when she worked as Bergen County counsel and he was an attorney for an outside agency.

“Now this allegation, or implication, that I know him so extremely well, it’s offensive. And the reason why I find it so offensive is because some by the last name of Suarez to allege that I could possibly have such a close relationship with some of the last name Alvarez smacks of racism,” said Suarez.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office conducted the original investigation which did not result in any charges against Alvarez.

Once The Wall Street Journal article was published in October, the case was transferred to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office for review. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office said in a statement Wednesday that after reviewing the case against Albert Alvarez that it would not be filing charges against him, citing a “lack of credible evidence.”

In a Nov. 27 letter to legislative leaders, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said his office’s investigation “found no evidence that Prosecutor Suarez acted improperly in any respect regarding this investigation.”

The next scheduled hearing of the legislative Select Oversight Committee is Friday.