Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) received pushback from conservative voices after she downplayed the crime crisis sweeping New York City, appearing to blame increased police presence for crime on subways.
Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the “squad,” joined the “Breakfast Club” radio show on Tuesday, the day of the 2022 midterm elections while Americans were heading to the polls. She claimed that shootings and major indicators of violent crimes are down in New York City.
“A lot of people think that crime is up, when we actually see that shootings are down, when we see that huge indicators on the most violent crime in New York City is down,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Subway crime is up. But let’s also note that subway crime is up after they committed so many more officers to the subway system. So that also tells us from a policy perspective, adding more cops to the subway isn’t solving this problem.”
The panelists on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” criticized the liberal congresswoman for her “patently false” claims, just days after she won an easy reelection effort for her third term in the House.
“Outnumbered” co-host Emily Compagno claimed AOC’s remarks were hard to stomach, saying Thursday that, “It’s absolutely, patently false for her to be saying that police presence does not deter crime and to blame violent attacks or rise in crime on our New York City’s finest.”
Kennedy Montgomery, host of “Kennedy” on FOX Business, explained that the rise in crime is the reason for the additional police presence.
“She’s delusional,” Montgomery said. “She’s flat-out wrong. If she believes it, she’s not fit to serve.”
Co-host Kayleigh McEnany called on New Yorkers to “wake up” to the problems plaguing the state under their continued Democratic leadership, noting that Democrats have been winning the governor’s seat by a narrowing margin since 2018, and Gov. Kathy Hochul won by only five points in this year’s midterm against challenger Lee Zeldin who ran from a tough-on-crime platform.
“So there was a significant recognition here in New York that something is awry,” she said. “Everyone’s going to Florida. They’re going to Florida for a reason because those policies work.”
Compagno suggested that AOC may eventually face a recall over her “outlandish” claims, not dissimilar to those made by former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin who was ousted in July after taking office in 2020.
“We thought we would see that this week with AOC, but perhaps we’ll see it next time,” she said.
Crime on New York City’s transit system is up 40.8% this year, according to NYPD data, ahead of the 29.6% jump in overall crime throughout the city.
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