Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio deliberately held back his police during the protests that erupted over the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, according to explosive claims in a new book.
In her upcoming memoir titled “What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis,” Melissa DeRosa, the former top aide to disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, recalls disagreements between her then-boss and de Blasio on how to handle the violent unrest that included vandalism, looting and other mayhem in the Big Apple.
With his city being the site of some of the biggest protests after the career criminal and drug addict’s fatal encounter with Minneapolis police, Mayor de Blasio refused to deploy an adequate police presence out of fear that clashes between New York’s Finest and the rioters would embarrass him, a shocking dereliction of duty if true.
“We learned that a high-ranking member of the police union had reached out directly to the governor that morning with disturbing information: he believed that de Blasio, fearful of more police clashes with protesters going viral on video, was purposefully not deploying additional bodies,” DeRosa wrote in an excerpt from the book that was obtained by the New York Post.
“As a result, knowing they were outnumbered, officers were unwilling to take on the looters,” she added in a damning statement about the failed leadership of de Blasio who effectively turned the keys of his city over to miscreants and thugs while he took part in stunts like joining race grifter Al Sharpton to paint a Black Lives Matter mural on the street in front of Trump Tower.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Rev. Al Sharpton helped paint a “Black Lives Matter” street mural in front of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. https://t.co/Kvh8H8I0c9 pic.twitter.com/54V378XwuR
— ABC News (@ABC) July 10, 2020
DeRosa wrote of a conference call between the governor, the mayor, and then-NYC Police Commissioner Dermot Shea who said that there were “only 4,000 officers on duty,” who were outnumbered by the 5,000-strong mob of protesters.
“The governor’s eyes widened in disbelief at what, to him, amounted to a staggering admission of malpractice. Shea had just confirmed what the governor had been told and feared; the city had deliberately minimized deployment,” DeRosa recalled.
In early June of the George Floyd “summer of love” it was reported that authorities estimated that 450 businesses had been damaged or looted during the “mostly peaceful” protests that took place in Gotham.
(Video: YouTube/Eyewitness News ABC7NY)
“In the city, de Blasio made clear that, despite the deteriorating situation, he neither needed nor wanted support from the state police or the National Guard. The governor kept the channels of communication open, speaking directly with rank-and-file members of the NYPD and their union officials to get their perspective on what was going wrong,” DeRosa said in her book, according to the excerpt published by the New York Post.
She also said that Hizzoner was influenced by the “far left” who used Floyd’s death to promote their “defund the police” agenda.
“It was ill-advised and stupid, but that didn’t stop extreme-left elected officials from taking up the mantra. The mayor took it a step further, attempting to lead the charge by announcing he would cut $1 billion from the NYPD operating budget and another $500 million from its capital budget,” she said. “Now de Blasio was caught between the reality of needing officers to ensure the city didn’t devolve into complete pandemonium and not wanting to alienate his political base. The governor knew it and was hell-bent on not allowing de Blasio’s politics to interfere with public safety.”
The crowds were getting more and more aggressive, and so was the NYPD,” she recalled of the chaos. “Looters again ran through Midtown Manhattan, smashing windows and grabbing whatever merchandise they could. And there were no police within sight to stop them. I watched the television footage in shock. Where were the additional law-enforcement bodies we had agreed to hours earlier?”
“Cable news ran wall-to-wall coverage of the iconic Macy’s storefront in Herald Square and Rockefeller Center, both covered in smashed glass.”
(Video: YouTube/Bloomberg Television)
The former Cuomo aide said that the de Blasio administration was upset when the governor “called out the unchecked looting as a disgrace,” according to the outlet.
“But the mayor now realized both the practical and the political reality: the chaos was doing more damage to him than offending the Far Left would. That night, the streets were flooded with NYPD. Arrests and looting dropped dramatically. That mattered far more than any bruised egos or negative press about the `feud’ between the governor and the mayor,” DeRosa wrote.
DeRosa’s book will be released on October 24.
DONATE TO AMERICAN WIRE
If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to American Wire News to help us fight them.
- Fox News reporter calls Tucker Carlson a liar over Sec of Defense threat. Here’s how that went. - December 8, 2023
- Rashida Tlaib melts down over censure of fellow ‘Squad’ member because of course it’s racist - December 8, 2023
- NFL head coach cites 9/11 hijackers as positive example of teamwork - December 8, 2023
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
