NYC Mayor Eric Adams blasted his fellow Democrats for only supporting Black Lives Matter when those behind the killings of African-America...
NYC Mayor Eric Adams blasted his fellow Democrats for only supporting Black Lives Matter when those behind the killings of African-Americans are cops.
Adams, speaking with Anderson Cooper on CBS' 60 Minutes, continued his habit of criticizing the party for being soft on crime.
'Democrats don't like talking about intervention,' said Adams, 61. 'But we have to lean into the discomfort of the immediate things we must do. Because you can't say Black Lives Matter when a police officer shoots a young person, but does that black life matter when a 12-year-old baby was shot?'
Cooper asked Adams why Democrats don't like talking about intervention.
Adams responded: 'Because when you talk about intervention, you have to use the term of giving police officers the tools to deal with violence right now.'
Eric Adams, speaking with Anderson Cooper on CBS' 60 Minutes, continued his habit of criticizing the party for being soft on crime
Cooper retorted by saying it made liberals nervous because it made him sound like former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani's zero-tolerance 'broken windows' policing strategy was credited with hammering crime in New York City during the 90s, but critics said it also drove cops to disproportionately target innocent black people.
'They have allowed Rudy Giuliani to hijack something that the overwhelming number of people of color want,' Adams said. 'They will tell you, 'We want our police. We don't want our police to be abusive.' And that is the balance that I know we can do in this - in this city.'
Adams, who described himself as a 'simple, pragmatic Democrat' denied rumors that he had voted for Giuliani in the 90s but admitted to registering as a Republican.
'I was a police officer, and I saw the violence, and I wasn't seeing any help on the federal level. It was a protest vote.'
Adams felt that the focus on police abuses had led Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to take reforms too far in the opposite direction.
Adams, who described himself as a 'simple, pragmatic Democrat' denied rumors that he had voted for Giuliani in the 90s but admitted to registering as a Republican
Adams felt that the focus on police abuses had led Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to take reforms too far in the opposite direction
'There is a middle ground. We only talk about, 'How do we protect the rights of those who commit a crime?' How about start talking about, 'How do we protect the rights of people who are doing the right thing?''
Cooper did push Adams on the subject of corruption, especially when it comes to Deputy Mayor for Safety Philip Banks, who resigned from the force in 2014 and was later named an unindicted co-conspirator in a police corruption case.
'Is that the kind of person you really want to have in your inner circle?' Cooper asked.
Adams said: 'We're in a city of perfectly imperfect people. During a time that we have a law enforcement crisis, Phil brings a lot to the table.'
Cooper responded: 'There was testimony that he let a businessman pay for his vacation travel and expenses. You said you're not going to tolerate wrongdoing by your officers. Are the things he did okay?'
'Listen, he could have made better decisions of who was around him,' Adams answered. 'What I do know is that we're going to have a very transparent government here in city hall. Transparency is the best way to make sure those who are hired are doing their jobs.'
Cooper did push Adams on the subject of corruption, especially when it comes to Deputy Mayor for Safety Philip Banks (pictured right), who resigned from the force in 2014 and was later named an unindicted co-conspirator in a police corruption case
He was also asked what he would say to those who feel the city's crime rate is continuing to rise, especially in the wake of the recent subway shooting.
That saw a gunman - said to be Frank James, 62, open fire and shoot five people using an N train in Sunset Park during rush hour. All those struck survived.
'We've moved 1,800 guns off the streets of our city since I've been elected. 1,800. And so we're putting in place the foundation of dealing with the immediate needs of violence, but we're also stopping the pipeline that causes children to get involved in violence.'
While murders are down slightly, overall crime remains up 43 percent from this time in 2021, when numbers were already skyrocketing.
Robberies alone are up 48 percent from this time last year, with felony assaults up 21 percent.
This isn't the first time Adams has taken on his own party.
Adams was also asked what he would say to those who feel the city's crime rate is continuing to rise, especially in the wake of the recent subway shooting. Shooting suspect Frank James is pictured on April 13
In an interview with ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos last week, the mayor said former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton was 'right' when he said on the Bloomberg Businessweek podcast last week that progressive policies have led to an increase in crime in Democrat-run cities.
In November, Adams challenged his fellow Democrats to condemn Black Lives Matter activist Hawk Newsome, who said Adams' new policing plans would trigger 'riots and bloodshed' in NYC streets.
In July, Adams called himself the 'Biden of Brooklyn' at White House Monday after meeting with President Joe Biden about gun crimes.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson praised Adams for winning the Democratic primary in the New York City mayoral race because he vowed to stamp down on surging violent crime in the Big Apple.
'He won because he was alone in acknowledging that violent crime is a huge problem for everyone in New York and he vowed to do something about it. That is a winning message because it is rooted in the physical reality and we wish him absolutely the best in fighting crime in New York,' Carlson said.
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