Conservative or Liberal? This Prosecutor Refuses to Be Put in a Box

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

Society & Culture

4.2 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From Donald Trump to George Floyd and Tyre Nichols, the last five years have changed our national conversation about public safety and policing. That’s particularly true in San Francisco, where progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin lost his seat in a heated recall election last year, and today’s guest — SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins — stepped into the powerful role. In the months since she assumed office, the Black and Latina DA has spoken of the city’s “lawlessness,” revoked plea deals, allowed more teenagers to be prosecuted as adults and pushed for more policing of drug dealing. Her critics say she’s too conservative for the notoriously liberal city. She says she’s creating consequences for those who break the law. As Kara tells Jenkins, “Only in a city like San Francisco could they call you a conservative.” You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema. Or email us! on@voxmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi everyone from New York Magazine in the Vox Media Podcast Network. This is law
0:16.6	on order with 100% less Lenny Briscoe. I love Lenny Briscoe so much. Just kidding,
0:22.8	this is on with Kara Swisher and I'm Kara Swisher. And I'm name Araza.
0:27.0	Dum Dum. No, you know, I'm going to tell a very brief Dum Dum story. When I was pregnant
0:34.7	with my son, Louis, I used to watch Lenny Briscoe over and over. Like when I sat, I was enormously
0:40.4	pregnant and I used to get a sandwich, put it on my stomach, which was gigantic and watch
0:45.4	law on order. And every time Dum Dum happen, Louis flipped. You know, I worked with Dick
0:51.8	Wolf for a long really? That must have been some. Well, Dick is a very interesting person
0:56.1	because you definitely don't want to go up against him. And ICT once told a story, saying
1:00.1	basically he loves working with Dick Wolf because Dick is a gangster like him. I think
1:03.8	he said something like, if you go into a salary negotiation with Dick, you get the next
1:07.7	week's script and you did. Oh, wow. Just, you know, one way to negotiate. Yeah. I think
1:14.4	that's John DeRyme's does something like this. It's a cold case by that. It was a good
1:19.2	show too. But our interview today is with a real-life DA, not just someone who plays one
1:23.1	on TV. Brooke Jenkins is San Francisco District Attorney, a seat that Vice President Harris
1:28.3	held a decade ago. You knew her. That's when I met her. And chase that booting most recently
1:34.2	held that position. He's very progressive. And he was recalled last year. Jenkins who
1:39.6	worked for booting before quitting and then working to recall him is really an interesting
1:44.0	figure because she's a black DA who is painted by some progressives as just being too tough
1:48.4	on crime. Right. Kara, what do you make of that? You know, I'm considered conservative
1:52.7	and San Francisco and I am not conservative. So, you know, essentially, I think she's
1:57.2	a very canny and the way she handled this was really interesting. I think she did a perfect
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from New York Magazine, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of New York Magazine and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.