Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in a sternly worded letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, accused the state’s chief executive of violating the separation of powers Tuesday, when he pulled Vance’s authority to investigative allegations of assault and intimidation leveled against former attorney general Eric Schneiderman in favor of Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas, who the governor appointed as a special prosecutor earlier in the evening,

In a letter to both newly sworn-in acting Attorney General Barbara Underwood and DA Singas, Cuomo announced Singas’ appointment as the special prosecutor he promised on Monday after the publication of a New Yorker article detailed allegations of nonconsensual violence against a number of former Schneiderman ex-girlfriends. Schneiderman announced his resignation within hours of the story’s publication.