joining us now is former florida state attorney monique worrell.hank you for having me. that is the duly elected state attorney for the night judicial circuit. >> absolutely. state attorney, duly elected state attorney worrell, i want to play a clip from governor desantis explaining his decision to suspend you. >> monique worrell criminal justice -- clearly and fundamentally derelict, those two constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence. >> what is your response to what we've heard? >> you know, it is part of a smear campaign that has been going on for months to try and make the public feel like they were not safe. the reality is that crime is down in the ninth judicial circuit. it has gone down since i took the reins as state attorney in january of 2021. there are no facts, no truth to any of that that is being said. my policies have reduced mass incarceration, and that is exactly the platform that i ran on. that's what people elected me. for what is happening now is one of the most vicious attacks on the democracy that we have seen in prese

state attorney monique worrell joins me now. state attorney worrell, thank you for being here.your margin of victory when you were elected to be state attorney? >> good evening, joy. thank you for having me. i don't remember exactly what it was, but i know it was a lot to a little bit. >> so, ron desantis is now replacing you with the person you beat. essentially winning essentially re-running the election for the republican party. how do you interpret what he is doing? is this just a desperate move to get more support from his supporters who might be anti black and anti woman or anti progressive? what do you think it is? >> he's not replacing me with the person i beat, but one of individuals i beat was second in command in the office now. the individual who we replace me with, interestingly, is a local judge, and i guess ron desantis thinks if he swaps one black person for another, that will make the voters happy. >> what were you told? what was the notice to you when you are dismissed? >> i received a call from one of my investigators this morning, reading me, basically, a no

like warren, monique worrell ran on a progressive platform. of the vote in orange and osceola counties, becoming the only black woman to serve as a local prosecutor in the state of florida. also like mr. warren, miss worrell supports criminal justice reporter reform, seeking to reduce incarceration rates and make the justice system more equitable, which was effectively the thing that got her fired. governor desantis, flanked by the state attorney general and the law enforcement commissioner today accused miss worrell of neglecting her prosecutorial duty by failing to pursue mandatory minimum sentences for criminals. and boy, those optics were not an afterthought. the orlando police union has repeatedly criticize miss worrell for being allegedly soft on crime. these union recently blamed for the shooting of two police officers by a man who was out on bond for sexual assault. in fact, miss worrell says much of the information used to build a case against her came from law enforcement officials, who opposed her because she prosecuted officers, in

desantis accuses her of refusing to enforce florida law. >> monique worrell's administration of criminaltice in the ninth circuit has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence. >> reporter: the police union has criticized worrell for being soft on crime, and today a local sheriff praised desantis' move. >> this governor has always put the victims, has always put the law-abiding citizens ahead of the criminals. >> reporter: worrell's performance frequently slammed by republicans. just days ago, two orlando officers were shot and wounded by a suspect who had been released on bail worrell tells us she had no say over his release. governor desantis is saying that you're just not enforcing the law, that you're abusing prosecutorial discretion your response? >> it's just not true. that's not based in fact crime is down in orange and oseola counties, not up, and that decrease has happened since i took office 2 1/2 years ago. >> reporter: this is the second time desantis has suspended a democratic prosecutor tonight worrell tells us she's r

was keen on criminal just reform and was backed by a committee back backed by george soros. >> monique worrell'sbeen criminally and fundamentally derelict. >> reporter: the police union has criticized worrell for being soft on crime and the local sheriff praised desantis' move. >> this governor has always put the victims -- has always put the law-abiding citizens ahead of the criminals. >> reporter: worrell's performance frequently slammed by republicans. just days ago two orlando officers were shot and wounded by a suspect who'd been released on bail. worrell tells us she had no say over his release. governor desantis is saying you're not just enforcing the law, that you're abusing prosecutorial discretion. your response? >> it's just not true. it's not based in fact. crime is down in orange and osiola counties, not up. and that decrease has happened since i took office 2 1/2 years ago. >> that was gabe gutierrez. and monique worrell will be a guest this morning coming up on "morning joe." >>> back out on the campaign trail president biden is hitting back and touting his economic agenda. during

monique worrell joins me tonight to respond to the governor's accusations. ms. 66% of the vote in 2020. so what's your reaction to all of this? >> yes, that's correct. i won by an overwhelming margin, and my reaction is that we are losing our democracy right by right, vote by vote. and no one is coming to save us. >> in his announcement yesterday, governor desantis accused you of being lax on crime and declining to prosecute certain charges. and he cited three cases, two of which involve suspects with prior records who went on to commit violent crimes. do you stand by all your past prosecutions from your office? >> i absolutely do. the governor and local law enforcement had been really good about pushing false narratives about my role in the system. but it's really important to be clear. the criminal legal system is a collaborative system. it doesn't only rest on the shoulders of the state attorney. there is a judiciary. there is law enforcement. there is a defense bar. and these are the components of the criminal legal system. any decisions that had been made b

quietly signing a very restrictive abortion bill into law to enemy now is the honorable monique worrellrney suspended by governor ron desantis earlier this week thank you so much for being here now that these diversion programs have been canceled, they were central to your policy platform as a when -- you are campaigning, when you are running for office. what does that do for the people who are in these programs? these programs are suddenly ended in these folks have nowhere to go? >> thank you for having me. yes, this is going to harm our community. the policies that we implemented surrounding diversion are based in research. i spent 16 years as a professor at the university of florida college of law. there i was the director of the criminal justice center. there was a lot of research that goes into the fact that diverting nonviolent people out of the criminal legal system build stronger, safer, communities. what we did with my first two and a half years in offices we expanded diversion programs so we could make it easier for people who just needed a little redirection to be able to get

he comes home for 24 hours and goes after monique worrell.he day, this was politically-charged, as andrew just said. she was the only state attorney in the -- long before that incident he was talking about earlier today, this is his attempt to try to get back into the narrative of being the tough guy again. and at the end of the day, the people of our state are not buying it. people around the country are not buying it. unfortunately, he is going to come back here into our state seeking revenge and this evil tyrant that we have here, i feel bad for the people of our state, which is why florida democrats are working around the clock to take back our state, because this is extremism that has backfired and has significant consequences on the people that are living here in our state. we have the highest inflation in the country. a property insurance market that is crumbling. and economic disaster here in our state and of course kids are back at school and we have the highest teacher shortage in the nation. he has created a dumpster fire here for

. >> desantis removed monique worrell for what he calls neglect of duty. faced criticism this week after two police officers were shot allegedly by a man with a long criminal history who had been released on bond. >> whether or not someone gets released on bond is in the discretion of the court and bond is a right bond is a constitutional right. >> but the governor and the local police union cite other cases accusing worrell of being soft on violent offenders. >> what this state attorney has done is abuse that discretion and is effective, nullified certain laws in the state of florida that that breaches her duties that she owes to the people of florida under our state constitution. >> worrell, who was elected in 2020 with 66% of the vote, says crime is down. the orlando police chief reports a 10% drop in violent crime in the past year and a 30% drop in shootings . worrell is the second democratic state attorney removed by desantis. he suspended tampa area prosecutor andrew warren for suggesting he would not enforce florida's 15 week abortion law. the state

dissent is removed monique worrell 40 calls neglected duty. -- removed for what he called neglected dutydiscretion and effectively nullified certain laws in the state of florida. that it reaches her duties she owes to the people of florida under our state constitution. reggie: legal experts say the governor does have the right to remove these prosecutors. worrell says she's considering legal action. drew: tomorrow outside lands gets underway. tomorrow is the cloudiest day of the festival. we will have morning drizzle giving way to some sunshine. saturday and sunday it is not only brighter, it is also warmer by sunday get close to 70 degrees preach and live look outside. our marine layer is with us. we have closely drizzle this morning along with dense fog. it is abbreviated average this afternoon and hot summer weather returns this upcoming weekend. watch the cloud cover pullback to the coastline. sunshine, we will watch some high clouds move in after the sun goes down coming in from the south. the is the remnants of tropical storm eugene and it will likely bring some widespread drizzle

and now that the governor has basically done it again this time to state attorney and democrat monique worrell, we have just the person to talk to about what is happening here. joining me now is andrew warren. andrew, thank you so much for being here. i'm sure you have a lot of thoughts about what is happening, but i'd ask first do you think the governor was emboldened by what he was able to do to you and effectively turn that into a play book for other democrats working at the state level? >> yeah, absolutely, alex. when i was suspended i said that this was going to turn out bad for democracy in the state of florida if we couldn't win in court. and we still have a case pending, but certainly the governor has been emboldened by it. he thinks he can get away with it. he's broken the law so many times as governor. he's violated his oath of office to protect the rights of floridians, and he keeps getting away with it, so why would he stop now? >> what's striking about this is how little recourse there is to fight the governor on this. can you talk about the ways in which desantis has populated th

finally, governor ron desantis has suspended orlando state attorney monique worrell, over claims thatt on gun crimes and drug trafficking. it's the second time he has removed a state attorney. laurel was elected to a position, overwhelmingly, and says she plans to run for reelection. danny, what is your analysis of desantis's decision, of just dismissing elected state attorneys? >> this is really an interesting constitutional issue. and one, that at least one federal judge authority ruled upon. and, this is an interesting finding. desantis tried to do this previously, with another elected state attorney. and, the court concluded that this was probably unconstitutional. because unlike the federal government, where all u.s. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. instead, florida's constitution, and many other states have a system, where if you are the county attorney, you win that election. it's totally foreseeable, that you may be of a different political party than the governor. and in florida, the court said the term in that the governor does not control those prosecuting

. >> yeah, alicia, it really is troubling, because monique worrell was elected with 66.6% of the votenor, it reads like a campaign flyer against her. her political opponent would put out against her. they don't like that she is not tough enough on gun crimes or she hasn't filed enough charges under the mandatory minimum laws. she is maybe too slow in prosecuting juvenile cases. okay. if you belief that, then the answer is to run against her and vote her out. but it's not to remove her and take away the power of the voters to make a decision as to what's best for their own community. in fact, none of their policies was a surprise for her community. she ran as a progressive prosecutor, wanted to look at alternatives to incarceration. although she and i may have some differences on our policies, the one thing i don't try do is to second guess the voters in a community that overwhelmingly elected her. what you saw today was undemocratic and unfortunate. >> i wonder, dave, as your fellow state attorneys watch this all goes down, if it impacts the way you approach your work and your job? >>

. >> monique worrell. >> she ran on a progressive platform that maybe i disagree with, but she ran onve platform that 67% of the people voted for. that's called democracy. ron desantis has fired her, kicked her out. it's really shocking. then, of course, we have what happened in ohio this past week, where ohio has referendums that allow 50% of the vote to be enough to pass a referendum, a state referendum. they suddenly decide to move it up to 60% because they know they're going to lose an abortion battle. this is -- it is literally anti-democratic movements to take votes away from americans. it looks like, not all republicans because i certainly have a lot of friends who are concerned about it, but it looks like the trump wing of the republican party, they're all in. they don't care about democracy. they just care about power. >> yeah. you know, i spent a lot of time in politics, listening to republicans lecture me about the evils of the heavy hand of government. they have now taken the heavy hand of government and done the most damaging thing you can possibly do in a democracy. that

the new york times," tampa bay times, orlando sentinel, even nbc all reported how monique worre legislation l -- worrell>> absolutely. i can guarantee you they've created a vicious cycle of equitable justice where they will go into stores can and brazenly just steal which then rises the price up for law-abiding citizens when they want to buy something. and stores are now closing in the inner cities where these folks are purporting to want to stand for them. in essence, they are endorsing the bad guy, protecting the bad folks and shunning law-abiding citizens. elizabeth: we're talking, you know, these cases involved sex you bat withly of a 14-year-old -- battery of a 14-year-old girl, you know, shooting children, shooting cops, shooting pregnant win. that's -- women. that's what was not challenged that msnbc anchor did not challenge these state attorneys on how these criminals have been set free in florida. but we've got the tampa bay times, local media reporting on it. how can they -- how come they can't simply do research and say, hey, wait a second, what about these stories saying you weren't doing yo