Sunny Hostin Questions National Guard Troops Protecting NYC Subway Riders: ‘Theatrics’

Sunny Hostin criticized Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) for her decision to place National Guard soldiers on New York City subways, suggesting that it played into “Republican narratives” on increasing violent crime in Democrat-led cities.

Hostin made the comments directly to Hochul’s face during the New York Democrat’s Wednesday appearance on ABC’s “The View,” complaining about the optics and arguing that there was no real need for the added security.

“Governor, after a series of high profile crime on New York City subways, right, you deployed hundreds of state police and National Guard troops into the subway system,” Hostin began. “But since the pandemic, you have done a wonderful job, overall crime is down in the city, so my question to you is, why now? Why deploy now to the subway?”

Hostin went on to ask Hochul how she’d respond to fellow Democrats who referred to the move as “theatrics that play into Republican narratives that blue cities are poorly-run war zones.”

“I’m not buying it, I’m not buying it,” Hochul replied, adding, “My job is to keep you people safe. Any way I can, I’m going to keep New Yorkers safe, and I’ll tell you who does show appreciation for it, the people out there on the streets.”

WATCH:

Cohost Joy Behar then pivoted to address the topic of bail reform, noting that people who probably should be in jail were being returned to the streets and going right back to committing crimes — whether they be in the subway system or on the streets of the city.

Hochul again stated that her job was to keep New Yorkers safe — and said that she was happy to take criticism all day long for doing just that — but she shifted the blame for her state’s bail reform laws to former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), who resigned amid multiple sexual misconduct scandals.

“I inherited from my predecessor and the legislature before – they took the bail laws and watered them down and made it impossible for judges to look at the whole picture of the crime and the person, what they’re doing,” she explained.