Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Saritha Komatireddy | Attorney General of New York Candidate Speaks on Her Campaign Six Days Out From Election Day

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Saritha Komatireddy | Attorney General of New York Candidate Speaks on Her Campaign Six Days Out From Election Day · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I will say, Saritha, this week that you got an
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: endorsement from somebody even more famous than me, which was
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: pretty cool. He won the World Series with the Yankees
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: in 2009. How cool was it to get a big
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  Speaker 1: endorsement from Mark Teixeira?
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  Speaker 2: It's a great honor. Thank you for having me on
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  Speaker 2: this morning, Sid. It's obviously a huge honor. I welcome
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  Speaker 2: the endorsement of every New Yorker and someone like Mark
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  Speaker 2: who really understands. He's someone I have such great respect
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: for athletes because There's no shortcuts in athletics. You have
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: to put in the work. And only results matter. And
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  Speaker 2: that's really the same standard that... People in elected office
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  Speaker 2: should be held to. You want someone who's going to
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  Speaker 2: work hard every day, be disciplined, be doing things the
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  Speaker 2: right way and producing results. That's the kind of attorney
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  Speaker 2: general that I'll be. That's the kind of attorney general
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  Speaker 2: that New Yorkers deserve. And I was very honored to
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  Speaker 2: have Mark recognize that and support me.
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  Speaker 3: It was cool. So I don't know if you know this.
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  Speaker 4: Of course you do. I'm sure you do, but I'll
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  Speaker 4: tell you anyway.
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  Speaker 1: You realize that after you demolished and you did demolish her,
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  Speaker 1: you'll be humble, I guess, but you killed her. Letitia
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  Speaker 1: James and your one and only debate opportunity. that you
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  Speaker 1: scared the living daylights out of her. Did you see
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  Speaker 1: the email that she sent out the day after where
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  Speaker 1: she admitted that your debate performance made this a totally
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  Speaker 1: different race, begging her people for money?
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  Speaker 3: Did you see that?
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  Speaker 2: I didn't see that email, no.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah?
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  Speaker 1: She sent out an email the next day. Based on
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  Speaker 1: the debate performance last night, my Republican challenger is actually
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  Speaker 1: doing much better than we thought she would. So please,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: whatever you're going to send me, send me more. Well,
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  Speaker 1: how about that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what, Sid. It wasn't a performance.
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  Speaker 2: It's just called being a prosecutor. That's what people should
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  Speaker 2: expect from their New York attorney general, someone who can
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  Speaker 2: stand at a podium, make an argument, present a case,
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  Speaker 2: and persuade others. And that's what that debate did. New
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  Speaker 2: Yorkers got to see for themselves who their two candidates are.
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  Speaker 2: Tish James was unable to defend her record. unable to
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  Speaker 2: identify the issues that actually affect New Yorkers' safety and
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  Speaker 2: affordability of the state, and unable to present any fresh
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  Speaker 2: ideas for moving forward. And it's really, you know, they
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  Speaker 2: got to see someone like me who actually has a
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  Speaker 2: positive vision for the future. We are seeing that most,
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  Speaker 2: the overwhelming majority of people who watch that debate end
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  Speaker 2: up deciding to vote for me. And so I really
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  Speaker 2: encourage people to watch the debate, make the decision.
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  Speaker 1: After you see it, There's no way you can watch
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  Speaker 1: that debate and vote for Letitia James.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, obviously, I'm biased. I think you're great. But
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  Speaker 4: there's no there's just no way.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you you ended up at that rally for
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  Speaker 1: Bruce Blakeman.
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  Speaker 3: Law and order.
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  Speaker 1: President Trump was there and you. Sat with that lovely
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  Speaker 1: couple and eventually came on this show with them. Their
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  Speaker 1: beautiful 12-year-old son was murdered. I'm trying to find a
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  Speaker 1: furniture store to get McDowell some furniture for a new apartment.
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  Speaker 1: But these are the types of people that have gone
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  Speaker 1: through life-changing hell in New York. And I never hear, never, ever,
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  Speaker 1: ever hear Letitia James talk about any of these people.
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  Speaker 1: Whether it's the Gorman family up in Mike Lawler's neighborhood.
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  Speaker 1: or these lovely people, I think they were in the Bronx,
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  Speaker 1: I never hear your competitor talk about these people who
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  Speaker 1: have been through the horrors here in New York, ever.
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  Speaker 2: Well, they can't acknowledge that crime is up and homelessness
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  Speaker 2: is up and fraud is up because it's their fault.
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  Speaker 2: They've totally taken their eye off of the responsibilities of
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  Speaker 2: the Attorney General's office to keep New Yorkers safe and
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  Speaker 2: instead been obsessed with with national political fame. And that's
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  Speaker 2: what happens. We have self-serving politicians. They don't serve New Yorkers.
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  Speaker 2: And now they're not just asking for a third term
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  Speaker 2: in office. No, thank you. New Yorkers deserve better. We
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  Speaker 2: want someone who's actually going to help New York. That's
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  Speaker 2: why I decided to stand up and run because I
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  Speaker 2: looked around and I saw this is ridiculous. I'm tired
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  Speaker 2: of the crime. I'm tired of the politics. We deserve better.
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  Speaker 2: And You know what? It was incumbent on me. I
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  Speaker 2: felt like it was important someone from the law enforcement
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  Speaker 2: community step up and really make the case for why
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  Speaker 2: it's important to have a common sense way forward. The
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  Speaker 2: victims need a voice. They don't feel heard. You know, Sid,
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  Speaker 2: I travel across the state so many times at events.
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  Speaker 2: Even just two days ago, someone woke up to me.
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  Speaker 2: I was at a rally just a couple days ago.
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  Speaker 2: And someone came up to me in tears and said,
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  Speaker 2: thank you so much for mentioning fentanyl in your speech.
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  Speaker 2: I lost my son to fentanyl, and no one talks
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  Speaker 2: about it anymore, but it's the number one killer of
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  Speaker 2: New Yorkers between the ages of 18 and 45. I
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  Speaker 2: was at another rally, and after the rally, three women
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  Speaker 2: pulled me aside and talked to me about how they're
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  Speaker 2: in domestic violence situations that they can't get out of,
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  Speaker 2: and they don't know what to do, and the system
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  Speaker 2: is rigged, and they don't know who to call. And
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  Speaker 2: You know, I've talked to people who have been victims
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  Speaker 2: of fraud who tell me they call the attorney general's
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  Speaker 2: office for help and no one gets back to them.
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  Speaker 3: Unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: The state of New York, the attorney general is ignoring
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  Speaker 2: crime victims. She's more concerned about her own celebrity. And
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  Speaker 2: I think New Yorkers are tired of it. I'm tired
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  Speaker 2: of it, and we need a change at AG to
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  Speaker 2: make this state safer.
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  Speaker 1: And I think you say in your commercial that under
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  Speaker 1: Letitia James, the crime number is up 26%.
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  Speaker 3: That's a very big number.
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  Speaker 1: And correct me if I'm wrong, Sarita, you live in
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  Speaker 1: the city with your husband, and you've got, what, two
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  Speaker 1: sets of twins, four children?
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  Speaker 3: They can't feel safe, do they?
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  Speaker 2: We've totally changed the way we go about where we
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  Speaker 2: take our kids, what time of night we take them,
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  Speaker 2: how we take them places, because we are concerned. Listen,
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  Speaker 2: just a couple of days ago, not too far from
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  Speaker 2: where I live, a woman was raped in Central Park.
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  Speaker 2: Can you believe that? 66th and 5th Avenue. She's walking
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  Speaker 2: through the park in the evening, not too late, about
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  Speaker 2: 8 p.m. in the evening. I've walked through the park
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  Speaker 2: in the evening around that time. I have a daughter.
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  Speaker 2: We go for a walk. But she's walking around, and
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  Speaker 2: a man approaches her with a knife, drags her into
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  Speaker 2: the woods, and rapes her.
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  Speaker 3: You know what's crazy about that for a second? Let
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  Speaker 3: me stop you for one second. I never heard the mayor, never,
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  Speaker 3: the governor, James, talk about that. You know what I
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  Speaker 3: hear about? Horses. How horses are so dangerous in Central Park.
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  Speaker 3: Not the rapists. Isn't that weird?
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  Speaker 4: Well....
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  Speaker 2: They again, they can't talk about it. They can't acknowledge
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  Speaker 2: it because they're the reason for this failure. Rape is
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  Speaker 2: up in New York. Violence against women is up in
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  Speaker 2: New York under Letitia James. And it's she has no
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  Speaker 2: answer for what why that is. But she's totally failed
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  Speaker 2: women in New York.
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  Speaker 3: She really has.
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  Speaker 1: And the Jewish people, you know, I keep hearing again,
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  Speaker 1: I love Jessica Tish, as you know, we're very, very
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  Speaker 1: good friends, and I'm sure she loves you too. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm proud of some of the work that she's done.
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  Speaker 3: She's done a terrific job.
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  Speaker 1: But this idea that New York is safe, you just
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  Speaker 1: talked about it, rapes her up. Assaults are up, batteries
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  Speaker 1: are up, and hate crimes in this city, they're going
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  Speaker 1: through the roof. Now, I think I did see this,
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  Speaker 1: but confirm this for me if you would. Did you
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  Speaker 1: say that, not if you win, when you win, day one,
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  Speaker 1: you will call a state of emergency for anti-Semitism here
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  Speaker 1: in New York?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I will. The New York Attorney General has special
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  Speaker 2: jurisdiction to prosecute hate crimes in New York when a
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  Speaker 2: DA has proven ineffective. Letitia James has never invoked that authority.
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  Speaker 2: I will invoke it on day one. It's clear that
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  Speaker 2: we have ineffective prosecution of hate crimes in New York City.
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  Speaker 2: hate crimes have skyrocketed under her watch. They've doubled. Anti-Semitic
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  Speaker 2: incidents have tripled. There's actually a hate crimes unit in
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  Speaker 2: the Attorney General's office, and A.G. James has not staffed it.
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  Speaker 2: I will staff it. We will prosecute hate crimes. We
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  Speaker 2: will work with the DAs to prosecute hate crimes. We
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  Speaker 2: will make sure that every New Yorker feels safe, regardless
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  Speaker 2: of their race, religion, or politics.
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  Speaker 1: Explain to me how your opponent is still, still involved
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  Speaker 1: because of the brilliant governor, Kathy Hochul, still involved in
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  Speaker 1: this Cornell alleged rape case when she's already gone on
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  Speaker 1: Facebook and said the guys are guilty.
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  Speaker 2: She's prejudged the case. She's totally screwed it up. She's
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  Speaker 2: never prosecuted a criminal case in her entire career, and
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  Speaker 2: it's showing. And a few days ago, Sid, they actually
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  Speaker 2: confirmed that they're now frantically looking for outside counsel to
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  Speaker 2: handle the case for them because she's not running a
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  Speaker 2: serious office and they aren't able to handle a case
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  Speaker 2: like that themselves, even though they have 700 attorneys that
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  Speaker 2: the New York taxpayers already pay for. So now New
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: York taxpayers are going to have to pay millions of
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  Speaker 2: dollars to private law firms, a private attorney in order
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  Speaker 2: to handle this criminal case, which is is Frankly, embarrassing.
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  Speaker 2: It's embarrassing that our attorney general's office can't handle one
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  Speaker 2: case like this. We need to professionalize that office. We
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  Speaker 2: need to return the AG's office in New York to
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  Speaker 2: being the best office in the country. We need to
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  Speaker 2: just fight crime.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I guess when you talk to her,
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  Speaker 1: I'll wrap this up here shortly, but when you ask her,
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  Speaker 1: what have you done exactly?
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  Speaker 3: Now, the one thing she did do is she kept
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  Speaker 3: her promise, right? Now, here's the problem.
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  Speaker 1: She didn't promise to keep New Yorkers safe. She didn't
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  Speaker 1: promise to keep women safe when they jog.
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  Speaker 3: In Central Park. She didn't promise any of that.
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  Speaker 1: She promised to go after our great president of the
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  Speaker 1: United States, who's not a threat to anybody. So I
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  Speaker 1: guess she did keep her promise. But outside of that,
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  Speaker 1: what can she boast exactly?
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  Speaker 2: Nothing. it's here's a she hasn't accomplished anything for new
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  Speaker 2: yorkers just ask yourself are you safer now than you
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  Speaker 2: were when she did seven years ago no is new
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  Speaker 2: york more affordable now than it was seven years ago
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  Speaker 2: no And the attorney general can actually do something about that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when crime is up, it makes it harder
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  Speaker 2: to live your life. It drives up prices because shoplifting
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  Speaker 2: forces store owners to increase prices on the shelves. Medicaid
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  Speaker 2: fraud drives up health care costs. Car stuff drives up
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  Speaker 2: car insurance. And people all the time tell me that
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: the homelessness crisis is making it difficult for them because
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  Speaker 2: the people who are severely mentally ill, who are living
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  Speaker 2: in our subways and on our streets, make their employees
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  Speaker 2: feel unsafe. So restaurants have to shut down earlier because
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  Speaker 2: their employees don't want to commute home too late at night.
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  Speaker 2: So when you talk about the affordability crisis, the best
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  Speaker 2: way the Attorney General can help is to fight crime
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  Speaker 2: and actually make New York safer, a place where people
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  Speaker 2: want to invest, want to live, want to work, and
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  Speaker 2: that brings more prosperity. There's also an issue with prosecuting fraud.
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  Speaker 2: She's totally stopped prosecuting Medicaid fraud. Her recoveries are one-tenth
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  Speaker 2: of the recoveries of her Democratic predecessors. That means New
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  Speaker 2: Yorkers are missing out on billions of dollars. Criminals are
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  Speaker 2: taking billions of dollars from our system. Instead of that
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: money being in the New York state budget or being
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: in the New York state taxpayers' pockets. What does that mean? Well,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: every time there's a budget shortfall, they keep finding some
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  Speaker 2: new reason to raise taxes. Things like congestion pricing, which
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: is just a tax. just an excuse for the state
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: to take more money away from us. You know, if
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  Speaker 2: you had an attorney general who prosecuted fraud properly, you
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't need to raise taxes. If you had an attorney
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: general who actually helped make sure that, you know, who
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: didn't have a personal ideological vendetta against certain forms of energy,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: we would actually be able to bring electricity bills down.
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  Speaker 2: But our attorney general tries to shut down the supply
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: of energy because she doesn't agree with how it's made
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  Speaker 2: instead of saying, you know what? New York doesn't have
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  Speaker 2: enough energy. Let's use every source available. And because of
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  Speaker 2: her ideological agenda, she decreases supply. She sent her attorneys
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: into federal court for two years to shut down natural gas.
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  Speaker 2: And as a result, we have less energy and higher
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  Speaker 2: electric bills. So we are paying left and right as
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  Speaker 2: New Yorkers for the decisions, the choices that Letitia James
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  Speaker 2: has made. And it's time to stop paying this crime
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  Speaker 2: tax It's time to have a prosecutor's attorney general who's
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  Speaker 2: going to prosecute crime and fraud, who's going to bring
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  Speaker 2: the homeless inside and make New York safer.
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  Speaker 4: God, I love you.
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  Speaker 3: Where are you going to be on Tuesday night to
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: celebrate your victory?
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  Speaker 2: I'll be with a number of other candidates who are running.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: I think we're all going to be together. We're excited.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: I got to tell you, Sid, you know what? I'm
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: less dialed in on Tuesday night. I'm more dialed in
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: on every single moment between now and Tuesday night. After
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the polls close is a different story. Right now I'm
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: focused on getting every single vote and getting every voter
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: to the polls. I know a majority of New Yorkers
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  Speaker 2: already agree with my vision and our vision for a
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  Speaker 2: common sense New York. We just need to make sure
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: that they vote.
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  Speaker 4: I believe you. Get out there and vote.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: And you've run a tremendous campaign, win or lose. And
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I really do think you're going to win. I can't
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: say that. I thought that a couple of months ago.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I wasn't sure. But you are so impressive, so much
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the better candidate. I really do think you're going to win.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: But either way, man, I'm.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: Proud of you. And New Yorkers should be proud of
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: you and should be very proud of yourself.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: But you're going to win on Tuesday night, and then
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: we'll celebrate on this show on Wednesday morning.
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: How does that sound, okay?
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: We're going to win, Sid.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Go get them.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Come out and vote. We're going to win.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: Go get them. You're doing a great job. Thank you
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: so much, sweetheart.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: Take care. So with her coming to ready right there,
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: she is a very.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: Impressive candidate and a wonderful young lady.
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to sit in friends in the morning.
• 13:44
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• 13:47
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• 14:06
  Speaker 5: Time for a new episode so you never have to
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: wonder
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here