Zeldin Blasts Hochul for Silence on Crime after Jogger Raped in Manhattan
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New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin slammed Democratic governor Kathy Hochul Friday for downplaying rising crime in the state, even after a woman was raped and beaten while jogging in lower Manhattan last week.
Representative Zeldin noted the heinous incident during a Fox News town hall for the Ingraham Angle and blasted his opponent for claiming Republicans are inflating crime statistics. He mentioned that Hochul has accused his party of “data-denial” and overdramatizing the danger many residents feel. In New York City, rape is up 15 percent year over year, he said.
“Here’s the best part of that clip… she’s saying that right next to them showing all the different major crime categories that are way up year-over-year… She says it’s a conspiracy. And even CNN this morning, when she’s doing that side-by-side, is showing how major crime category one after another,” the gubernatorial hopeful said.
Instead of “deflecting” and “distracting,” a competent leader should offer solutions to fix the crime problem, Zeldin said.
“We will have zero tolerance for crime where you support our men and women in law enforcement,” he said. Firing rogue progressive prosecutors such as New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg will be among his top priorities if elected, Zeldin said. Bragg has come under fire for his lax law enforcement policies that many suspect have fueled the city’s crime wave.
Asked by an NYU student for his specific proposals to make the city safe again, Zeldin said he would facilitate more open discussion between the Democratic-dominated legislature in Albany and the governor’s office.
“What we’re going to do on day one to force them to the table is that we are going to declare a crime emergency here in the state of New York and we are going to suspend cashless bail,” he said.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle called out Hochul’s attempts deflect on crime Friday, saying, “Here’s the problem: We don’t feel safe.”
“You may be working closely with Mayor Adams, you may have spent a lot of money, but I walk into my pharmacy, and everything is on lockdown because of shoplifters. I’m not going in the subway. People don’t feel safe in this town. We’re worried we could be San Fransisco,” Ruhle said.
A former cop, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has pushed Hochul and lawmakers to roll back a bail-reform law that routinely let criminals back onto the streets hours after they’re arrested. Zeldin himself was attacked over the summer by a man who was quickly released.
Adams has been urging the governor to convene a special session of the legislature to redraft the sweeping 2019 bail-reform law, which prohibited cash bond for most crimes except serious misdemeanors and felonies. While state lawmakers withdrew portions of the law in 2020 and again in 2022, Adams wants to overhaul the law and add a stricter pretrial detention provision.
“We never said that the cause of crime in the state is because of bail reform,” Hochul, said after Adams requested a special session. “That is too simplistic. That is a political slogan.”
Hochul has maintained that the rollbacks to the law have given judges and prosecutors more discretion to keep offenders in custody, but they’re not taking advantage of it. Yet, she refuses to terminate those district attorneys, including Bragg, arguing in her interview with Ruhle that firing Bragg wouldn’t solve the nationwide crime problem.
On Friday, Hochul ordered the arrest of a Bronx sex offender who assaulted a man but was released without bail. While police charged the suspect with attempted murder, the Bronx District Attorney’s office charged him with more minor misdemeanor assault and harassment charges. The man was freed without bail.
