The governor made the remark while speaking about retail theft in New York City.

“Many of the cases [Trump] gave examples to were bail-eligible,” Hochul said, “But guess what? The judge decided to do something differently than what the prosecutors asked for, rightfully under the law.”

“The question I have is… come on, judges! I need the judges to step up,” she said. “I’m surprised at the number of judges … they do not hold someone on bail who, common sense says, should have been held.”

🚨 HOLY CRAP! President Trump has caused NY Governor Kathy Hochul to reverse course, and she is now DEMANDING judges stop releasing dangerous criminals from jail back onto the streets.

“Come on judges! I need the judges to step up! I’m surprised at the number of judges…they do… pic.twitter.com/hWDcNjdoFo

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 26, 2025

Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to other cities across the United States, like Chicago and New York City. Many blue state governors have criticized Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in D.C., calling out the president for an overreach of his powers.

Hochul, who previously deployed her state’s National Guard to the subways, said she spoke to Trump about his plan to send the National Guard to New York. But she left the phone call with little hint as to whether he would.

“I don’t know what he’ll do,” she said. “I was very gracious. I just said, ‘I’ll tell you what, Mr. President, if I think I need help from the National Guard on the stuff I’m already doing, I know where to find them.’”

“I had that conversation, I said, ‘Mr. President, I can give you all the data to show that crime is down. It’s working. Our policies are working. NYPD is doing their job,” she added.

Trump suggested last month that he would take over New York City if he didn’t like the direction of the city, especially if Democratic nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani is elected.

“We’re not going to have — if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to,” Trump said.

Conservatives have contended that Democratic-run cities let criminals out too often without keeping them on bail. Attorney General Pam Bondi was expected to speak with New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch Monday on the issue. Trump previously directed Bondi to find jurisdictions that have “substantially eliminated cash bail.”

KATHY HOCHUL POSITIONS HERSELF AS ‘MOM FROM BUFFALO’ FIGHTING TRUMP IN NEW AD

Hochul said that New York City does have cash bail, and the president’s concern is wrong. She also argued that he’s trying to “create chaos” in blue states.

“He has no concept of how our laws work here… He’s just trying to throw gasoline on a fire,” she said. “I think he’s going after blue states, Democratic states, states with Democratic governors, states with Democratic mayors. It’s just part of a larger strategy to create chaos.”