‘There’s 1,000 People Killed in 20 Months!’ News Anchor Throws Down With Philly’s DA Over City’s Crime Policies in Fiery Interview
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner hit back at a local news anchor blaming his soft-on-crime policies for the violence in his city.
Krasner appeared on Fox 29 Philadelphia’s Good Day Philadelphia on Wednesday to defend his policies. Anchor Mike Jerrick told Krasner, “You have a perception problem. There is a perception in this city that the reason for all this gun violence is you!”
“I don’t,” said Krasner, who cited his overwhelming victory in 2021, when he won almost 72 percent in his re-election. He said that this meant that people believe in his office’s approach to gun violence. He was interrupted when Jerrick said, “Why is that perception there? You have to admit it’s there. Every cop I talk to says it’s too lenient.”
In 2022, there have been 374 fatal shootings and 1,425 nonfatal shootings in the city.
“There are multiple things going on in the system but it has never been the case before until we had reform prosecutors where people tried to blame just one entity. We all have to work together and the reality is that we’ve been more effective…,” said Krasner, who was interrupted by Jerrick.
“And you are a reform district attorney. Everybody in the country knows that,” he said. “Maybe it’s not working.”
“It is working,” responded Krasner. “The reality is that our…”
“There’s 1,000 people killed in 20 months!” Jerrick said, putting his hands on his head in disbelief.
Krasner doubled down.
“It is working. The reality is when you look at all of these jurisdictions we’ve had a devastating blow from the pandemic and there is absolutely no correlation between being progressive or traditional and the rate of crime,” he said. “These states in the United States that have a rate of homicide that is 40 percent higher are MAGA states, they are Trump states. I’ll say it again: The rate of homicide in Trump states as combined to Biden states, take all 50 of them, is 40 percent higher.”
“Republicans say the opposite,” said Jerrick. “It’s all the blue states…”
“Republicans lie!” interrupted Krasner. “I mean, let’s just get down to it. Republicans lie. That is what they do.”
“Not all Republicans lie,” Jerrick shot back.
“Well, ok, that’s right, not all of them do, but the MAGA ones do. Eight out of 10 of the most violent cities are Trump cities!” he said. “And we got to get real about this. Facts matter.”
It’s unclear where Krasner got the statistic he’s referencing. The personal finance website MoneyGeek conducted a detailed analysis using crime cost per capita and found that the 10 most dangerous cities in America to be St. Louis; Jackson, Mississippi; Detroit; New Orleans; Baltimore; Memphis; Cleveland; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Kansas City, Missouri; and Shreveport, Louisiana — only one of which was won by former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Watch above via WTXF-TV.
