Nithya Raman faces backlash after video with influencer Ed Choi

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman is facing backlash after progressive influencer Ed Choi posted a video where they said in unison, "only you can stop fascist liars," as a photo of Mayor Karen Bass appears.

Choi, who has 400,000 followers, later in the video said LA has become extremely fascist because Bass appointed Jim McDonnell as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department before asking Raman what she will do if she is elected mayor. 

"I think there's a lot we can do to make sure our LAPD is actually protecting people instead of protecting ICE on our streets," Raman said. 

Raman goes on to say McDonnell has not met the moment and says she'll appoint new leadership.

Bass said the video shows that her opponent is not ready for "primetime."

"Somebody who is not ready for primetime," Bass said. "Somebody who has absolutely no idea what it takes to hire a police chief. I'm not sure if either one of them have looked up the word fascist in the dictionary."

Raman's campaign declined CBS News Los Angeles' request for an interview and instead released a statement. 

"The creator asked her to repeat the phrase, 'only you can stop fascist liars,' which she said in reference to ICE and the Trump administration's violent kidnappings that continue in our city today," her campaign wrote. "The video was edited by the creator to put Mayor Bass on screen during that moment, but Nithya never used that phrase to describe Mayor Bass, Chief McDonnell or LAPD officers."

Raman's campaign said they asked Choi to take down the video, which he did.

"I think Angelenos have to ask themselves, is this: who do you want to be the leader of the city," Bass said before talking about the upcoming Olympic Games. "We are less than 650 days away from the nation's largest sporting event that has ever been held in U.S. history.

Recent polls show Raman leading Bass by a few points, but those same polls show almost a third of voters are still undecided.