The head of the New Jersey State Police is pushing back against allegations made by six state troopers in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit was the subject of an in-depth report by Newsweek published Tuesday regarding a 2017 dispute between troopers and the Sussex County prosecutor. The article quotes lawsuits and depositions filed by six troopers. Those troopers allege they tried to pursue a sexual assault case, but were shut down by Sussex prosecutors. When they went around the prosecutor to a judge, they were transferred.

Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan and Gov. Phil Murphy took issue with the lawsuit, with the governor calling it a labor dispute.

"This predates us. This is back to 2017. And at that time the Sussex County prosecutor made a decision not to bring any charges. It was ultimately a labor grievance, and there's absolutely no evidence there was improper involvement by Col. Callahan,” Murphy said.

Callahan was deputy superintendent at the time. He was appointed acting superintendent in October 2017 by then-Gov. Chris Christie. Murphy opted to keep Callahan when he took office months later and formally nominated Callahan as superintendent two years ago.

"Unfortunately, as we all well know, sometimes when you work, you reach a certain point in your career that baseless accusations are leveled at you and I knew that signing up,” Callahan said.

Callahan said that he is proud to be a New Jersey state trooper.

"As far as my career in law enforcement and my decision to follow my father into the state police, I couldn't be more proud simply to call myself a Jersey trooper,” he said.

Callahan and Murphy have been working side by side for more than three months during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"He's been an extraordinary superintendent in both peacetime and wartime and I think it's frankly a real stain on the Senate that they've not chosen or found a way to confirm him for some political reasons, which is outrageous,” Murphy said.

Senate President Steve Sweeney says that he wants the U.S. Attorney's Office to look at the case.