Cuomo blasts de Blasio, NYPD for ‘not doing enough’ to stop looters and protecting the city

Governor Andrew Cuomo slammed the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio Tuesday for not doing enough to keep the city safe and the looting under control during the ongoing New York City protests following George Floyd’s death.

During his daily briefing on June 2, Cuomo stated that he felt that Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD did not do their jobs last night to quell the looting that has taken place during the protests.

“What happened in New York City was inexcusable,” said Cuomo. “I believe the mayor underestimated the scope of the problem. I believe he underestimates the duration of the problem, and I don’t think they used enough police to address the situation last night.”

On June 1, thousands of New Yorkers protested through the five boroughs with an imposed 11 p.m. curfew. However, by the end of the night, the NYPD reported that over 700 people were arrested for looting in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan.

“I’m not happy about last night. The police did not do their job last night, but you have 38,000 NYPD [officers],” said Cuomo. “They have protected the city before in these situations. I’ve seen them do it before, so I know they can do it because I have seen them do it. They did not do it last night, that is true – but I believe, in the inherent capacity of the NYPD, if managed and if deployed, that’s what I think hasn’t worked, and that has to be fixed today.”

That being said, Cuomo does not feel that it’s time to displace the mayor and bring in the National Guard, over de Blasio’s head, to handle the unrest.

“I offered the National Guard, the mayor said he can handle it with the NYPD,” said Cuomo. “My option is to displace the mayor and bring in the National Guard as the governor in a state of emergency and basically take over. I don’t think we’re at that point. That would be such a chaotic situation in the midst of an already chaotic situation. I don’t think that makes any sense.”

Cuomo also criticized President Trump’s recent rhetoric regarding the protests, saying that the president is turning the situation in a political one rather than actually address the problem at hand.

“The president doesn’t want to distinguish between the looters and the protesters. He doesn’t want to speak about the killing of Mr. Floyd,” said Cuomo. “He just wants to talk about looting. And he doesn’t want to talk about reforming the justice system. So he wants to say they are all looters – they are not all looters. That’s his political spin on this.”