Gov. Kathy Hochul hits back at critics of sending National Guard to protect NYC subways: 'I'm not buying it'

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defended sending National Guard troops into the New York City subway system on "The View" Wednesday, arguing she had to do something "dramatic" to send a message. 

Co-host Sunny Hostin asked Hochul about the decision to send troops into the subways and asked her to respond to Democrats who criticized her decision. 

"I'm not buying it. My job is to keep you people safe," she responded, noting there was a spike in subway crimes recently, but that overall crime in New York has come down. 

"What happened is I needed to do something dramatic and quickly to send a message that you will not get away with committing crime in our subways. You cannot slash the throat of a conductor," she said during her media appearance. "Because people will not take the subway if they don't feel safe. They are not there to harass anybody." 

Gov. Kathy Hochul joined the co-hosts of "The View" on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.  (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

HOCHUL, ADAMS ANNOUNCE CRACKDOWN ON TOLL-DODGING 'GHOST CARS': 'THE GHOSTBUSTERS HAVE ARRIVED'

"These are moms and dads. The National Guard are citizens who have stepped up, so I will do that any day of the week. I take criticism the second I wake up in the morning until I go to bed at night and I don’t care. My job is to protect New Yorkers and that’s one way to do it," she added.

Co-host Joy Behar pressed Hochul about bail reform laws in the state. Hochul said she inherited the bail laws from her predecessor, who she said took the bail laws and "watered them down." Hochul took over after the resignation of Andrew Cuomo in 2021 and was elected to a full term as governor in 2022.

"I worked hard last year, I held the budget up one month late. I wanted to be on time. You can brag about being on time. I was not going to be on time because I had more leverage after April 1st, so last year I held up the budget, I got the changes I needed. Judges now have discretion. They can look at the whole issue, they can look at whether a gun was involved, was there an order of protection," she said. "We have to protect the victims of domestic violence."

Behar asked specifically about a case in the state where two of the four people charged in connection with a pair of dismembered corpses discovered scattered over Long Island's South Shore have been let out on bail.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul presents her 2025 executive state budget in the Red Room at the state Capitol on Jan. 16, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

OFFICIALS RAIL AGAINST BAIL REFORM AS 4 SUSPECTS CHARGED, THEN LET GO IN NY BODY MUTILATIONS CASE

Behar said the fact that the suspects were let go sounded "insane" to her. 

"The crime that was brought was not what was bail eligible. Yes, murder is. Yes, conspiracy to commit murder is. Yes, assault is bail eligible. All those are, and I know that the DA is working really hard with the Suffolk County Police Department to build the case they need to build – bring the charges that are necessary. The charges he brought, he did not have enough evidence at the time to hold it," Hochul said. 

Hochul announced in early March that she was deploying 750 members of the National Guard to the subways to assist the New York Police Department with bag searches at entrances to busy train stations.

FILE - A video surveillance camera hangs from the ceiling above a subway platform, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. ((AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File))

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"For people who are thinking about bringing a gun or knife on the subway, at least this creates a deterrent effect. They might be thinking, 'You know what, it just may just not be worth it because I listened to the mayor and I listened to the governor and they have a lot more people who are going to be checking my bags,'" Hochul said at a news conference in New York City.

Fox News' Bradford Betz and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.