Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani came to the defense of his successor Bill de Blasio on Sunday.
The two sparred a few weeks prior over the Eric Garner grand jury decision, but Giuliani had nicer words for de Blasio after following the murder of two NYPD officers Saturday.
“It goes too far to blame the mayor for the murder, or to ask for the mayor’s resignation,” Giuliani said on Fox & Friends Weekend.
Patrick Lynch, head of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said de Blasio’s critical comments toward the NYPD are part of the reason two officers were shot and killed Saturday.
Giuliani did still have some criticism for the mayor — as well as President Obama.
“We’ve had four months of propaganda starting with the president that everybody should hate the police,” Giuliani said. “The protests are being embraced, the protests are being encouraged. The protests — even the ones that don’t lead to violence, a lot of them lead to violence — all lead to a conclusion. The police are bad, the police are racist. That is completely wrong.”
Obama, as well as leaders like Al Sharpton, “have created an atmosphere of severe, strong, anti-police hatred in certain communities,” Giuliani added.
Giuliani, who served as the Republican Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001, has been critical of both de Blasio and the protestors’ responses to the grand jury decision not to indict the NYPD officer who caused the choking death of Eric Garner in Staten Island.
