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WASHINGTON (77WABC) —White house press secretary Jen Psaki is under fire for some inflammatory comments about crime policies.
Psaki was speaking about a Fox News segment during an appearance on the Pod Save America podcast last week when she questioned what ‘soft-on-crime consequence’ even means — insisting Americans care ‘more about what’s happening in their lives than what’s necessarily happening in every cable news chyron’.
Jen Psaki mocks people discussing the “consequences” of “soft-on-crime” policies: “What does that even mean?” pic.twitter.com/C1KEnXVIQI
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 31, 2022
“There’s an alternate universe on some coverage,” Psaki said. ‘What’s scary about it is a lot of people watch that. They think that the president isn’t doing anything to address people’s safety in New York and that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
JACQUI TIME: "Your appearance on Pod Save America" mentioned "one line has prompted some criticism…'Soft on crime consequences? What even is that?' Were you speaking in your personal opinion or…the priorities of" the WH?
Psaki says Fox has unfairly criticized them on crime. pic.twitter.com/h6n392tYRm
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 31, 2022
The nation’s largest police union — the National Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes called out Psaki for belittling Americans’ concerns after Psaki said media outlets who run segments on soft on crime policies are living in an alternate universe.
“I think it’s wrong – very wrong – for Ms. Psaki to suggest that violent crime in our country is of no concern or to just laugh it off,” Yoes said in a statement. “She may feel safe in the White House, one of the most protected buildings in the United States, but not everyone feels safe in their workplace. The world we find ourselves in is dangerous and increasingly more so.”
She laughed off concerns despite a 510 percent nationwide spike in carjackings over the last year, 28 police officers being shot in January and widespread criticism of Democratic District Attorneys — including New York’s Alvin Bragg — who is sparking backlash after he put out a memo last month telling his office not to prosecute certain crimes.
