Mayor de Blasio dismissed President Trump’s apparent threat to send federal forces to quell unrest in New York — even after protests here have largely died down — adding that the city will fight the administration in court if need be.
“This president blusters and bluffs and says he’s going to do things and they never materialize on a regular basis,” Hizzoner said at a Tuesday press conference.
“If he tried to do it, it would only create more problems, it would backfire, it wouldn’t make us safer and we would immediately take action in court to stop it,” added de Blasio, who described the president’s use of federal forces in cities around the country as “illegal and unconstitutional.”
The comments came after Trump on Monday announced plans to deploy federal forces to Chicago and suggested he would do the same in other big cities.
“I’m going to do something — that, I can tell you,” the president said. “We’re not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We’re not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats.”
Portland was the first city to see federal agents deployed. While protests sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd have abated in many cities including New York, they appear to still be going strong in the West Coast hub, where agents in camouflage have frightened residents and outraged leaders.
Critics have blasted Trump’s recent actions as an election-year stunt.
But NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea struck a more equanimous note than his boss on Tuesday.
“I always thank people for lending assistance, but we have the resources,” the city’s top cop said on CNN.
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