Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is unhappy with how Mayor Bill de Blasio handled the last week of unrest and violent demonstrations.
“What I have seen after day after day after day is without doubt a complete dereliction of duty on the part of the mayor, for sure,” Giuliani said Wednesday on Fox News’s Hannity.
Protests across the country erupted after the death of black Minneapolis man George Floyd last week, who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Protests quickly escalated into several nights of violence, looting, arsons, and even shootings. Several New York City police officers were injured in the process.
De Blasio has expressed solidarity with protesters, but he issued a curfew after they became violent. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called de Blasio’s handling of the riots a “disgrace” and threatened that he has the power to “displace” the mayor.
The city made over 650 arrests on Monday, but nearly all of them have been released without bail. Giuliani called having those arrested get out of jail an “absurd” decision.
“They arrested 650 people, and they’re all back on the streets,” Giuliani said. “That is absurd, hypocritical, ridiculously deceptive thing to do and a really dangerous thing to do. You got to be out of your mind — maybe the mayor is out of his mind. I don’t know. But why would you arrest people who just destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of property, 200 or 300 people in the hospital — why would you let them back out on the street? Unless there is something mentally wrong with you? And so, I imagine there is maybe something wrong with the mayor. The governor should remove him. This is not about Republican/Democrat. It’s about the lives of my fellow citizens who are frightened out of their minds.”
Giuliani also slammed de Blasio for not visiting an injured police officer who was a victim of the violent protests.
“I visited every police officer that was seriously injured,” Giuliani said. “De Blasio is a bum. He’s a bum. You don’t go visit a police officer that’s injured, you are a horrible, ridiculous excuse for a mayor. … And the governor knows what a useless person de Blasio is.”
