Hillary Clinton has inappropriately politicized the unrest in Baltimore over the death of a black man in police custody to win African-American votes, Mitt Romney says.
Referring to the Democratic presidential candidate's recent speech linking
racial bias in the justice system to economic inequality, Romney, in a
Fox News interview aired Monday, fumed that Clinton was "simply wrong."
In her speech last Wednesday, Clinton said that "without the mass incarceration that we currently practice, millions fewer people would be living in poverty."
Romney disagreed.
"We don't have mass incarceration in America," he said. "Are we not going to lock people up who commit crimes? Is that what she is suggesting?
"I thought it was a very inappropriate thing for her to do, and I think it was political in nature for her to get more support in the African-American community, and I think it was a big mistake on her part and simply wrong."
But Adrienne Watson, communications director for the pro-Clinton rapid response group Correct the Record, told
The Hill that it was Romney who was off-base.
"This from the guy who believed 47 percent of his community was unworthy of engagement?" Watson said, referring to the 2012 GOP presidential nominee's controversial remarks about 47 percent of U.S. voters being dependent on government and not paying taxes —
comments he quickly retracted.
"Mitt Romney is choosing to ignore the realities we face within our criminal justice system, while Hillary Clinton spoke boldly on criminal justice reform and is looking to work together to create greater opportunity and security for all Americans," Watson told The Hill.
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