Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that President Obama’s public remarks on race relations, law enforcement and relationship with Al Sharpton make it appear the president is against police officers.
“He has had Al Sharpton to the White House 80, 85 times. Often when he’s talking about police issues, he has Al Sharpton sitting next to him. If you would like to have a poster boy for hating the police, it’s Al Sharpton. You make Al Sharpton a close adviser, you’re going to turn police in America against you,” Giuliani said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.”
Sharpton and Giuliani have an antagonistic history. When Giuliani was mayor, Sharpton was a prominent activist in the city.
Sharpton, who now hosts a political show on MSNBC, has spoken out frequently on race relations and law enforcement in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in Staten Island, N.Y. Both men were black, unarmed and killed by cops, but grand juries didn’t indict officers in either of those cases. That, in turn, has spurred nationwide protests over racial inequality.
The incidents have also brought conversations on how law enforcement and the justice system applies to minorities. That came to a head Dec. 20 when a gunman who had made Facebook posts referencing the deaths of Brown and Garner killed NYPD officers Rafael Ramos, 40, and Wenjian Liu, 32.
Parsing Obama’s public comments on the deaths of Ramos and Liu compared with those of Brown and Garner, Giuliani said that Obama has apparently sided against police officers on the topic.
“I have not heard him make very strong comments about the deaths of officers Ramos and Liu, to that extent,” Giuliani said.
Thousands of police officers attended the Saturday funeral for Ramos. Hundreds turned their backs to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio when he eulogized Ramos, as NYPD officers have criticized the mayor for what they consider a lack of support.
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said on “Face The Nation” that the gesture was “inappropriate.”
But Giuliani said de Blasio owes the department an apology.
“He should have apologized for the remarks he made that gave the police the impression that he’s on the other side,” he said.
