his wife Tammy, asking for an audience to discuss a "sensitive matter" that happened during the campaign. She did not mention the sexual assault allegations.

"He seemed to understand,'' McKenna testified Tuesday as he described his June meeting with Alvarez. "He said that he didn’t do anything wrong but he didn’t want to put the governor in a bad position."

Yet Alvarez didn't resign until Oct. 2, when The Wall Street Journal contacted the administration for comment on a lengthy story it was writing about Brennan's allegations. Murphy and his wife "were blindsided and completely shocked,'' Cammarano testified.

The question lingers: Why did top administration officials take such a squishy, passive-aggressive approach to the firing of an "at-will" employee who loomed as a political and public relations disaster for Murphy?

It isworth noting that the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office investigated Brennan's allegations last year and chose not to charge Alvarez, who had served as director of Latino and Muslim outreach for Murphy's gubernatorial campaign.

Murphy's transition officials became aware last December that Alvarez had been investigated, although they were unaware that Brennan was the accuser, according to Cammarano's testimony. They ordered a background check. When it came back "clean,'' Alvarez was offered a job.

But a furious Brennan, a campaign volunteer who became chief of staff at the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage and Financing Agency, testified last month that she was not going to stay silent until Alvarez left his job and until the Murphy administration enacted hiring reforms.

Platkin, who is expected to testify early next year, was clearly aware