Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Saritha Komatireddy | Candidate, Attorney General of New York Recaps Last Night's Debate Against Letitia James

Transcript

Saritha Komatireddy | Candidate, Attorney General of New York Recaps Last Night's Debate Against Letitia James · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Here she is.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: If God is good to us, our next Attorney General,
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: my friend, Saritha Cometoretti.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Saritha, I got to tell you, I texted you right
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: away last night. Congratulations. You said thank you.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying it's because we're friends or you're the
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Republican candidate. You really did wipe the floor for Letitia
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: James last night. Did you feel that way when you
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: left that place?
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, Sid, first of all, for having me on.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: I always love being on the show. And, you know,
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: we were just trying to tell the people the facts.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Tish James was evading it at every turn. The reality
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: is New Yorkers right now feel less safe than they
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: did when she came into office. And that's her fault.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: And she doesn't have any answer for it. I mean,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: what I was really stunned by was her answer on
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: bail reform. Did you hear that? I didn't have an answer.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Were you surprised she did not have an answer for
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: bail reform?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: And I noticed she did what Kathy Hochul is going
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: to do Tuesday with our friend Bruce. When she didn't
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: have an answer, she just said, Trump, Trump, were you
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: surprised that she was that ill-prepared and knew so little
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: in this very important debate?
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: No, because the reality is there is no way to
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: defend her record. And she doesn't have any ideas about
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: how to make New York safer or more affordable. If
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: you look at her policies, she believes in releasing criminals
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: into the streets. And every policy she's put, she's put
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: into place. Bail reform, the laws that allow... violent criminals
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: to be put back into communities instead of removed. All
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: of those things are focused on letting criminals out. Then
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: she talks about compassion. But what she totally ignores is
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: the victims of the crimes. You know, an NYPD officer was,
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: they tried to rob him when he was off duty.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: And then when he fought back, they stabbed him 10 times.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: That happened just last week in the Bronx, right? Now,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: I went and visited that officer. Tish James didn't. But
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: when you talk to that guy, he's a solid guy.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: He's going to recover from this. He's going to go
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: back to work. He's going to serve our communities. And
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: our attorney general is not going to serve him because
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: it doesn't matter to her that the people who attacked
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: him were repeat offenders who were let out under our
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: broken bail laws. She just confirmed last night she's not
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: interested in changing those laws. And she doesn't care that
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: the people who attacked him were here illegally, and even
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: after they were convicted of violent crimes, they stayed instead
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: of being removed. She's more interested in keeping the criminals
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: on the streets than protecting innocent New Yorkers, including an
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: off-duty cop who got stabbed.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Terrible. Just terrible.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: You know, I go back to Blakeman and Trump and
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: they're going to campaign together today in Syracuse.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I know you know that.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: But the last time I saw you was at that
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Nassau County rally with Blakeman and Trump. And you were
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: sitting there with these two lovely parents. In fact, the
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: last time you were on this show, not that long ago,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: you were on.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: With both of them.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: This beautiful 12 or 13 year old boy that was
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: riding his bike and happened to be in the wrong
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: place at the wrong time, went to a bodega with
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: his new bike, and next thing you know, there's gunshots,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: and this beautiful young man was murdered. And they were
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: on this show, the mom and dad and you, we
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: all cried together. In Nassau County that day, we all
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: cried together. But I'm going to gather that much like
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: you said you went to visit the cop and Letitia
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: James didn't, that while you spend a lot of time
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: with victims, with angel parents, that Letitia James hasn't seen
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: that couple yet either.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Is that a fair assumption?
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: It's a fair assumption. I mean, that was a heartbreaking
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: day and it was a very moving appearance we had
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: last time on your show. You know, the reality is,
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: you know, she sits there and boasts about taking 10,000
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: guns off the street. That's ridiculous. She has eight years
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: and she takes 10,000 illegal guns off the street. You know,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: New Jersey took 16,000 illegal guns off the street in
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: one year. The reality is kids are getting shot in
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: New York by violent criminals who have illegal guns. She
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: doesn't do anything about it. When there was a spike
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: in gun violence, she told people not to overreact. You
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: know what I did as a federal prosecutor? I went
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: in during COVID. I reopened the grand jury so that
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: we could indict as many violent criminals as possible on
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: illegal gun charges and get them off the street. That's
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: what you do when you have the power to do something.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: She has all these powers. She doesn't use them. And
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: she has no excuse for not using them. She has
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: the legal authority. She has the resources. She just doesn't
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: actually care about crime victims. True.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: All she cares about is Trump. She actually campaigned on
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: getting Trump.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: She tried. It was so ridiculous.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: She made up crimes. She had to because she promised
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: her constituents she was going to get them.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: That's what a louse she is. I mean, she's a louse.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Even your conversation... Again, you killed her on this. The
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: injection centers, okay?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Why would you encourage people to shoot up drugs? You know,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: my son, Gabriel Cerrito, he goes to high school in Chelsea,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: and he tells me, you know, Daddy, at least once
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: or twice a week, he'll walk past anywhere between Union
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Square and 14th Street and 17th Street, And he'll see
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: some junkie, and I'm a recovering addict, okay? So I
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: am sympathetic to a certain extent. But he'll see some
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: man or woman shooting up in the street. And it
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: seems to me, Saritha, like people like Letitia James are
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: encouraging that.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Or is that a stretch?
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: They're using taxpayer money to fund drug use. And listen,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: I've talked to the people in the neighborhood. They've reached
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: out to me. And you know why? Not because of politics.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: They've actually reached out to their local assemblymen and senators
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: and all the elected officials. And they're just tired of it.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Nobody's listening to them. So then they reached out to me.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: This is why I have Democrats and Republicans supporting my campaign.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Public safety is not political. They don't want to see
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: us leading people to their deaths by funding drug use.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: They don't want to see people who are addicted to
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: drugs wandering around like zombies on their streets, in their neighborhoods,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: in their kids' playgrounds. They don't want to be stepping
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: over needles when they're walking their kids to school and
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: they're frustrated. And I promised those families that I would
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: bring it up in the debate. That's why I did.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: And the reality is, you know why she funds, you know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: she supports those things. She'll never shut them down because
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: of the same people who fund those drug injection sites
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: fund her campaign.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: New Yorkers. She just serves the extremists who are ruining
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: our city.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: You know, there's another big case going on in the
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: city right now, and Sarita, I know part of your
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: amazing resume, and I'll just patronize you, your resume is outstanding.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: You spent 12 years as a prosecutor prosecuting sexual assault cases.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: So right now, the whole city, the whole state, really
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: the country, is wrapped up in this Cornell alleged rape case.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: And Kathy Hochul, the worst governor in the country.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, she's the worst.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: She's every bit as bad, maybe worse than J.B. Pritzker,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Gavin Newsom, you name it. This mental midget decides, I'm
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: going to bring on Letitia James, the AG, as a
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: special prosecutor. Correct me if I'm wrong, but when you've
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: already made public statements like Letitia James did on Facebook,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: where she basically said these guys are guilty.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Let me just say this. I've said this too.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: What they did, these boys, is morally reprehensible. In my mind,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: they're guilty of that. No matter what they say, no girl,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: no girl, messed.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Up or not, wants to have sex with seven guys. Okay?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: So, at the very least, these guys, what they did
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: was morally grotesque. But, Criminally, we don't know yet. But
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Letitia James, already on Facebook, basically said they're guilty. How
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: in a million years can Kathy Hochul leave her on
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: this case?
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Well, I was a federal prosecutor for 12 years. And
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: as you know, Sid, my focus was terrorism. But when
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: you're a prosecutor for 12 years, you do nearly every
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: kind of case. So I prosecuted sexual assault cases. They're
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: some of the most important, serious cases that you can handle.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: And you need a serious prosecutor to handle them with
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: fairness and impartiality and integrity. Tish Shams does none of
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: those things. She's never prosecuted a criminal case. She's political
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: in everything she does. And in a true breach of
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: ethics case, She and Hochul politicized this case, thinking they'd
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: get some kind of election advantage. It's shameful. You have
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: the lives and futures of eight young people in your hands.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: You need to approach that situation with complete apolitical, nonpartisan fairness.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: And they're not capable of doing that. To me, this
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: entire situation just reinforces the fact that what New York
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: needs now is a real prosecutor. This is not a joke.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: This is not a political football. This is people's lives.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Everyday New Yorkers deserve someone in that office who's a
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: nonpartisan law enforcement professional. That's what I am. We've had
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: enough of the politics. Let's turn the page. Let's focus
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: on public safety.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Well, the other political story this morning is another major
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: story in New York, which is getting national attention, been
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: on Fox News all morning, and that is that we've
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: got another ICE shooting. Now, look, okay, Sarita, I'm a
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: huge ICE advocate.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: I love them.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Mark Wayne Mullen, Tom Holman, I love these people, okay?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I think they do a terrific job. I'm sorry that
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: pretty is dead and good is dead. And this guy
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: got shot. But when you look at the numbers, OK,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: they have now arrested and deported ice thousands.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: That's not an exaggeration.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Thousands. of murderers, pedophiles, drug dealers, rapists. So, yes, there
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: have been five or six shootings.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: One's not good. I get it. But the numbers, you
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: really can't compare.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: So, look, if you say to me, Sarita, we need
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: to investigate this ICE agent yesterday, why would he open fire?
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: With a guy in a car with a five-year-old, I'm
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: going to say, I get it.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Guess what?
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Mark Wayne Mullen's going to say the same thing. But
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: one thing has nothing to do with the other. Why
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: would the mayor, this idiot, why would he be on
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the phone with Trump for two hours?
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: He lied.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Trust me, Trump didn't talk to him for two hours, okay?
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: But why would the mayor be asking for the release
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: of this guy this morning when whether he was shot
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: barely or not, this guy's a career criminal? He's got
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: alleged gang ties. He's been arrested twice. He's got a
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: long rap sheet. Why would the mayor with Letitia James
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: standing right next to him want this animal back on
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: the streets?
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: No one wants to see people shot in the streets.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: No one. And that includes law enforcement, most of all.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: So what we really need to ask right now is
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: how do you prevent things like this from happening? Now,
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: we still don't know exactly what happened in this case.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: The facts are still coming out. But let's zoom out
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: for a minute. The reality is we didn't used to
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: have enforcement operations in neighborhoods like this when we allowed
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: federal officials to take custody of violent criminals at the
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: jailhouse door. When I started as a federal prosecutor, I
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: started under President Obama, and that's.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: How we did it.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: In the first five years that I was a prosecutor,
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: whether it was President Obama or President Trump, we simply
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: took people who were arrested for violent crimes in New
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: York State by the NYPD. And the NYPD would give
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: the federal officials a call and say, we have this
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: person in custody and he's here illegally and you have
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: a detainer. And that transfer would happen at the jailhouse door.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: So the violent criminal would not go back into our
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: communities and federal officials wouldn't go into our communities. There
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: was no need. That is a safer way to do it.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: It honors due process. If there's need for some kind
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: of court challenge, there's an opportunity for that. And it
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: actually keeps everyone safe and it avoids these enforcement operations
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: in neighborhoods. Isn't that what New Yorkers want? That's what
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: our focus should be. I don't know why our current
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: elected officials are more focused on releasing criminals into our
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: communities than keeping communities safe. We should be working together
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: to make sure that we keep violent criminals out of
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: our communities and we do it in the safest way
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: possible for those communities and for law enforcement and everyone involved.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Did you get a bunch of text messages like I
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: sent you congratulating you? Because I'm going to say it again.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: You were really impressive.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I know that about you already. You're a very smart girl.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: But I got to say this. As good as you were,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: that's how bad Letitia James was. Like, she didn't care. Like,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: I'm going to win anyway. I've already been in office.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: I'm black. I'm a woman. I hate Trump. I got
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: nothing to worry about.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: She really approached that debate last night like, who cares?
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: You came prepared. You killed her.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Did you get a ton of messages just like mine?
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: I did get a ton of messages. I'll tell you
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: what would be better. I need people to go to
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: my website, support our campaign. Our campaign's on fire. We
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: need to get our message out to every single voter,
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: every single New Yorker. And when we do that, we'll win.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: I'll beat her in November 3rd, just like I beat
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: her last night.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: 24 days away. You and I, we've been talking for many, many,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: many months.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Many months.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: We've done a lot of events together, even Rockland County.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: How do you feel, honestly, 24 days away?
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: I feel great. We are going to win this because
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: New Yorkers want change. I just need to make sure
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: every single person knows I'm on the ballot and they
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: got to come out and vote. You guys vote, we'll win.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: So, Rithi, you really are terrific. I'm really proud to
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: call you a friend. Great job last night. Great job
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: this morning. And I look forward to celebrating with you
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: on November 3rd. Thank you so much, sweetheart. All right, Rithi,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: take care.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: There she is.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: Very, very impressive young lady. So, Rithi Komatereti. And she
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: is running against... The racist louse who hates President Trump,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: who's fat.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Too, by the way.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure that matters here, but why wouldn't you
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: wear a jacket that fits? And why would you button
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: that button? Did you see the fat coming out of
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: that jacket, Lou?
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I was slightly distracted. Oh, my God. Why would you
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: do that? Yeah, she doesn't present herself.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Why didn't Errol Lewis at one point say, Letitia, will
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: you do us all a favor and please unbutton your jacket?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Why wouldn't he? Oh, I know why. Because he's also
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: fat and stupid. Am I right, Noam? Noam won't talk
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: about that. He likes going on New York One.
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 14:59
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• 15:01
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• 15:22
  Speaker 4: so you never have to wonder.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: What the heck is going on here?