“So let’s call this what it is, opportunities for me, but not for thee,” said Congresswoman Crockett of Republicans’ D.C. CRIMES Act.

A video of an exchange between U.S. Reps. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, and Byron Donalds, R-Fla., has gone viral, highlighting the ongoing political divide over public safety in the nation’s capital.

Many, including comedian D.L. Hughley, shared the resurfaced encounter from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, reigniting the debate on criminal justice. On Sept. 17, the House passed Congressman Donalds’s bill, the DC Crimes Act of 2025, or H.R. 4922.

Republicans championed the legislation for codifying President Donald Trump‘s “agenda to make Washington, D.C., safe again” following the White House deployment of military troops in the nation’s capital.

“District officials have actively facilitated dysfunction and chaos through their progressive soft-on-crime policies,” said Donalds, who introduced H.R. 4922, during House debate on the bill, which now sits in the U.S. Senate for a vote. The bill would revoke the juvenile criminal justice reform passed by the D.C. Council, reducing the age of youth offenders from 24 to under the age of 18 and removing the ability of judges to sentence youth offenders below mandatory minimum guidelines.

Donalds, who called D.C.’s criminal reform “insane,” said the Trump administration’s “crime emergency” actions in D.C. showed that “lawlessness is a choice,” adding, “It is time for Congress to step up, adhere to our constitutional duty and firmly address crime in the nation’s capital.”

But Congresswoman Crockett called out Donalds’ bill, essentially calling him a hypocrite, as the Florida Republican benefited from juvenile criminal justice reform policies he now wants to revoke in the nation’s capital.

“Imagine being a young man born to Jamaican and Panamanian parents who messed up not once but twice. Imagine standing in front of a judge with your whole future hanging in the balance, and instead of prison, you are given a promise of mercy,” Crockett said of Donalds, without naming him directly.

She continued, “Your record gets wiped clean; you get a second chance at life. Now, imagine taking that promise and turning it into a promotion. You go to college, you get a job, and even become a member of Congress.”

“That’s what redemption looks like. That’s what America is supposed to be about, and that is exactly the story of the next wannabe governor from Florida as a young man,” Crockett said of Donalds, who is now a gubernatorial candidate in the Sunshine State.

The Texas congresswoman noted that Donalds went through pretrial diversion for misdemeanor marijuana possession as an adult, and, because he was under 24, he was also placed on probation for felony bribery charges, which were expunged. Crockett said Donalds was also given a third chance of redemption.

“Now, he’s the face of a bill that would not afford young people in Washington, D.C. the same opportunities afforded to him,” said Crockett, a former civil rights attorney. “Let me be real, if he had grown up under Donald Trump’s America, or under the very D.C. Crimes Bill he’s pushing…He wouldn’t be standing here as a member of Congress.”

Calling out hypocrisy, Congresswoman Crockett continued, “So let’s call this what it is, opportunities for me, but not for thee.”

“He climbed the ladder of redemption, and now he’s yanking it right up from the D.C. youth. See, most of us were taught to lift as you climb, but clearly some have forgotten to lift as they climb, and now they are committed to telling the next generation to pull themselves up by their bootstrap,” said Crockett.

“I will not sit quiet while a man who was saved by grace turns around and tries to snatch grace away from others. If we’re going to be real about second chances and even third chances, then it needs to start with us looking in the mirror and remembering that even the author of this bill has a story, too, before he tries to lecture DC on safety.”

Crockett also seemingly called out President Trump, who, before being re-elected to the White House, became the first former president to be criminally charged with a total of 34 counts.

“It would be complete hypocrisy to have, hypothetically, someone convicted of 34 felonies to lecture D.C. on what to do with youthful offenders who have been scientifically shown not to have fully developed brains under the age of 25,” she said. “Especially if said multi-count convicted felon was in his 70s when he was convicted. What would be his excuse? Because his brain would be fully developed.”