CNN’s Phillip: Dems Don’t Seem to Acknowledge Crime Got ‘Out of Hand’ in D.C.

On Thursday’s “CNN NewsNight,” host Abby Phillip stated that policies adopted by the D.C. City Council “in the name of social justice and criminal justice reform” resulted in “the takeover of the D.C. Police Department, because crime did get out of hand” which harmed a lot of non-white people, “And I don’t hear enough of Democrats acknowledging, maybe we should have done something better about that.”

Phillip said, “[T]he D.C. City Council did have a spate of years where they were doing all kinds of things in the name of social justice and criminal justice reform and the consequence of that has been the takeover of the D.C. Police Department, because crime did get out of hand. So, there is a lesson here, I think, for Democrats in going too far and not paying attention to the thing right in front of them, which is the quality of life of people that they serve.”

She added that while she understands criticisms of using the National Guard, “I’m saying, should there be an acknowledgment that some of the things that they did to signal a desire to reform criminal justice did not do what they intended, and perhaps actually exacerbated the problems for the very people — look, the victims of crime in D.C. are black and brown people who are hurt and the young people who are running around in the streets aimless, whatever it is, carjacking. Those people are both the perpetrators and the victims of a system that does not help them. And I don’t hear enough of Democrats acknowledging, maybe we should have done something better about that.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett