Rudy Giuliani blasted current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing to contain the riots roiling his city.
During an interview with Fox host Sean Hannity, the former New York City mayor said the country’s most populous city does not need the National Guard to contain ongoing riots, but maintained Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should remove de Blasio as mayor to allow law enforcement to stop criminal activity.
“De Blasio is not just not enforcing the law. He is interfering in the enforcement of the law. And the governor should remove him. This should never happen in this city. We have a 35,000 person police department,” Giuliani said, later calling him a “disgrace of a mayor” and blaming Democratic officials for allowing crime to continue as peaceful protesters attempt to shed light on social justice issues.
“Mr. Mayor, the governor has the authority to call in the guard himself because it’s also happening in other parts of the state. He hasn’t. And this governor, you seem to be giving him a pass,” Hannity said, pushing back against Giuliani, who said President Trump should deploy the National Guard to the state.
“We don’t need the National Guard,” Giuliani asserted. “The New York City Police Department is bigger, stronger, better, and knows what it’s doing more than the National Guard. The national guard is trained to defend us in war. The New York City Police Department has kept us out of riots for 20 years, 24 years, under me and Bloomberg. They just need a mayor that stops interfering with them!”
During a Tuesday press conference, Cuomo slammed de Blasio’s handling of riots in the city, noting that he has the option to “displace” him should the circumstances require him. Over 700 arrests were reportedly made on Monday, and approximately half-a-dozen police officers were injured on duty.
“The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job last night, I believe that,” Cuomo said to reporters. “You have 38,000 NYPD people, it is the largest police department in the United States of America,” he said. “Use 38,000 people and protect property. Use the police, protect property and people. Look at the videos, it was a disgrace.”
