Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who was recently served with a recall notice, addressed the issue of a potential recall election with supporters Wednesday night. RedState was exclusively provided video of portions of a Zoom meeting of local Democrats for which Gascon was the main speaker. He took questions on a variety of topics.

One of the last questioners mentioned the recall notice and asked how supporters can help keep him in office. Gascon threw out a laundry list of insults against the recall proponents and supporters, leading off with a pretty shocking one — that the recall was being driven by “lock-em-up” Republicans who are “using” traumatized victims in “unconscionable” ways.

So, you know, just basically people were unhappy. They did not want me to become District Attorney. They didn’t want, you know, the movement that we’re pushing, and they are now doing this. And you know, unfortunately – and I – you know, I don’t say this in a partisan way, but it’s really unfortunate that it seems to be driven by Republicans, right. So we have Steve Cooley, a Republican, former District Attorney, very lock-em-up kind of guy; Dennis Zine, former City Councilman, former member of the LA Police Protective League, a Republican; Antonovich, former Board of Supervisors, a Republican. And they have taken a few victims of crime that are very traumatized and they are – they’re using them in ways that I find unconscionable.

Gascon’s characterization of the number of victims of violent crime involved with the recall as “a few” is laughable. More than 100 victims lined up to sign the Notice of Intent to Recall a little more than a week ago even though only 20 signatures were needed. Hundreds more — maybe even thousands — are members of the Recall George Gascon Facebook group, where every day there are at least five new heartbreaking stories from people whose family members were murdered or brutally attacked or raped (and more), who are upset that Gascon is essentially allowing the criminals to get off with a slap on the wrist or not opposing parole even for hardened criminals who are unrepentant.

For Gascon to allege that these victims of crime were sought out by three Republican men who are former elected officials simply for political purposes – and that the victims were too psychologically scarred from their experiences to know that they were being used – is disgusting projection. How, exactly, does he think the three “ginned up” this level of support within a few weeks of Gascon taking office? Are the only well-adjusted violent crime victims the ones who agree with Gascon’s way of thinking? It sure seems that way.

Then Gascon took a page out of the Newsom playbook and claimed that recall proponents are “abusing” the recall process, far-right extremists, and, of course, racists.

I think that we need to – I agree that a democracy requires involvement and people should – you know, the recall process, it’s in the Constitution and I respect that, but I think what we’re seeing is, we’re increasingly seeing a very abusive way of taking democracy to another level, and really trying to disrespect the will of the people, much like, frankly, some people that still believe that Donald Trump was elected, right. I mean, it’s the same mentality.

We’re seeing some of the comments, very racist comments. I’m not going to say that everyone involved in the recall is a racist, but it’s really interesting how race immediately starts to play a role. And, you know, there’s a lot of code talk that is going on here as well.

Oh, well, in his benevolence Gascon said not everyone involved in the recall is a racist, but then claimed that supporters are using “code talk.” Would that code talk be similar to someone claiming they’re “reforming” the criminal justice system while they’re hiring people as top advisors who’ve publicly stated that their goal is to abolish prisons, as Gascon has done? It seems that maybe Gascon is the one who knows quite a bit about using code talk.

It’s interesting that Gascon never once mentions the massive spike in violent crime in Los Angeles County since he took office as a reason people might support the recall. Last week, a diner in Beverly Hills was shot in broad daylight as part of a robbery attempt. We all heard about Lady Gaga’s dog walker being shot and her dogs stolen. Those are just two examples of an alarming trend:

In the first two months of this year, Los Angeles Police Department officers fielded 570 reports of shots fired, up 88% from the 303 incidents during same time frame in 2020 — and 267 people were hit by gunfire, a 141% increase from the 111 people wounded in the time frame in 2020, it was reported Thursday.

Those numbers just reflect the City of Los Angeles and not the cities within the county that operate their own police departments or the unincorporated areas and contract cities the Sheriff’s Department serves. They’re not a surprising result of the implementation of Gascon’s “reforms” like $1.00 bail, no gun/gang/hate crime enhancements, refusing to try juveniles as adults, and refusing to seek increased sentences for crimes committed while the defendant was on pre-trial release for another charge. If all of that criminal legalese didn’t really make sense, here are a few real-life examples of how this plays out.

LAPD Central Area Gang Unit arrested a suspect in possession of a gun after he crashed & ran from officers.

Wish we could say it was his first run-in with the law, but this convicted felon had been arrested several weeks prior by the same Gang Unit for?

Yep, Possession of a gun pic.twitter.com/dZC62Td9Cy

— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) March 10, 2021

Another Day, Another Gun #offourstreetys by W3 Patrol Officers. Individual stopped for speeding and and no front plate. Due to a scale & numerous Marijuana bags in plain view, a Narcotics search resulted in finding the gun. Individual has another pending Gun Charge in Torrance. pic.twitter.com/gDzJE1Dh8q

— LAPD Southwest (@LAPD_Southwest) March 9, 2021

Last night a BPS gang member was arrested for possession of a firearm, who was also arrested and released the day prior, for believe it or not…gun possession. Great work Watch 3, it's still 2 weapons off our streets. pic.twitter.com/c4dBw2uWZ5

— LAPD Southwest (@LAPD_Southwest) January 22, 2021

These are just a few examples where law enforcement officers perhaps saved someone’s life by getting those gang members and their weapons off the street for that night. But due to Gascon’s policies they’re right back out, finding other guns, and carrying on with their violent criminal enterprises – and innocent people are shot and killed.

But sure, the people who want Gascon recalled are just racist Republican conspiracy theorists taking advantage of mentally unwell crime victims. That Gascon views critics who are his constituents, whom he took an oath to serve, in that light speaks volumes.

Watch Gascon’s comments about the recall below. Further installments of this story will highlight his comments on issues like alleged police brutality, attendance at parole hearings, and new mandatory diversity training for his employees.