'Special Report' All-Star Panel on how crime spike can influence 2022 midterms

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Polls are ‘overwhelming’ with want for more control as crime becomes major concern for voters

Wall Street Journal’s Jason Riley, Kimberley Strassel and Reuters' Jeff Mason discuss how the Dems’ defund the police policies resulted in increased crime, death and have become a concern for voters on ‘Special Report.’

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report All-Star Panel," January 28, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DOMINIQUE LUZURIAGA, WIDOW: The system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore, not even the members of the service.

JOE GAMALDI, FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: Where is President Biden? Our cities are war zones. Our country is in turmoil. And police officers are being hunted in the streets.

REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, (R-NY): You can't keep letting criminals back on the streets. They are now emboldened because they see that our politicians are serious about crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: The first soundbite there, the wife of a slain police officer Jason Rivera at that service at St. Patrick's Cathedral today. And the images today were truly unbelievable. The sea of blue in the streets their home in front of St. Patrick's, as all the police officers came out, poignant images that really hit home.

Let's bring in our panel, Jason Riley, "Wall Street Journal" columnist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Kimberley Strassel, a member of the editorial board at "The Wall Street Journal," and Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Reuters. Jason, let me start with you. Your thoughts on if these images, those comments from the widow -- if they move the needle for people who, to see this in reality.

JASON RILEY, COLUMNIST, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": I hope they do, Bret. It is quite sad and tragic. We are burying cops in places like New York, but not only in New York. There has been an uptick in violence against police officers across the country while you have prosecutors in these same cities, from San Francisco to Philadelphia to New York bragging about how few people they are going to prosecute going forward, changing felonies to misdemeanors in order to avoid prosecuting people, bragging about this while we are holding funerals for police officers.

"The Wall Street Journal" had an article on how recruitment is difficult now for police to partners all across the country. Early retirements, finding people who want to become cops. And the real tragedy here, in my view, is that the people who live in these communities where this violence is happening want more crime control, want more police. The polls are overwhelming. Yet the elites, the media, and our political system claim to be speaking on behalf of these folks, but are calling for things like less funding for law enforcement. There is a huge disconnect here.

BAIER: Jeff, obviously, the White House is now looking at those polls. The president is going to be meeting with the mayor of New York, Eric Adams. And crime, if you look at those poles, is going up the chain as far as people's concerns around the country.

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "REUTERS": Yes, Bret, and I think it's going up the chain in terms of concern here at the White House as well. I spoke to a White House official before coming on your show tonight who said it's fair to say that the president is alarmed by this trend, and that is certainly one reason why you will see him going to New York next week to talk about it, to meet with the mayor. And I think that you will probably see more events or more commentary from the president about this issue.

Looking in the realm of politics, this could certainly be a difficult thing for him in the midterms in November. That said, I also think it's important to note that President Biden, though this isn't true for everyone in the Democratic Party, President Biden was never in favor of the defund the police effort, and he was in favor of increasing funding for the police. But of course, that is not the case for everyone in the Democratic Party, and that is another example of the tension there.

But it has taken a while, Kimberley, we have to admit, for this White House to get into this frame of mind when it comes to crime, number one, and immigration, number two.

KIMBERLEY STRASSEL, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Exactly. And look, the problem I think the White House really has is that first it has been pushed by its left to go there, but the bigger problem is that there is no real way for the White House to really address this, in that what we've come to understand watching these sad funerals of these police officers is the depth of the problem. This is not just a question of refunding the police, but it's about reassembling these police units that were dismantled by progressive mayors. It's about changing bail laws that have happened at the state level. It's about these prosecutors Jason mentioned who are going to have to be defeated at the polls to get real changes.

And those are not things the White House can handle. It can handle the border. In that case it chooses not to, which is a very odd thing because this is a bipartisan issue. Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike strongly favor securing the border, but the White House just won't go there for some reason.

BAIER: Winners and Losers. Jason, winner, then loser?

RILEY: My winners are the progressives, who successfully pressured Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to retire probably before he wanted to so that they could replace him before the midterm elections when Democrats could lose control of the Senate.

And my losers of the week are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who in their 10th and final year of eligibility were denied entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame over allegations that they used performance-enhancing drugs.

BAIER: Jeff, your winner and then loser.

MASON: On a lighter note tonight, Bret, my winter is Willow, the Biden family's new cat, who gets the whole White House to creep around. And my loser is Commander, their new dog, as of last December, who has to share the White House with a cat.

BAIER: Now, has there been pulling that the cat is better than the dog, in some way?

MASON: The cat was just announced today, Bret, so I think the polling is still premature.

BAIER: No offense to the cat people out there, but I just think they always have an agenda.

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: Kimberley, winner and then loser.

STRASSEL: By the way, go dogs. My winner is Keechant Sewell, the New York police commissioner, who gave such a powerful speech at Jason Rivera's funeral, reminding us of the importance of the police.

And my loser are the CEOs of GM and Ford, who went for their photo-op to the White House this week to beg for more electric vehicle tax credits, when they should just be focused on making cars American actually want to buy.

BAIER: All right, panel, bundle up this weekend. And Jeff, you can get inside now. Thanks a lot, have a good one

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