Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik told Breitbart News Daily host Alex Marlow that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former President Barack Obama, and Obama administration alumni used “race-baiting” to incite “hatred” and “animosity” towards law enforcement, offering his analysis in a Friday interview on the SiriusXM program.
Marlow noted that police officers are “routinely demonized” across the political and news media landscapes. He invited Kerik’s comments on “the de-evolution of the way we treat our law enforcement,” given the context of National Police Week, which ends Saturday.
“It started in the last administration,” replied Kerik, “because you had people from President Obama, other people in the White House, various governors throughout the country, mayors — including the one in New York City, now, de Blasio — that created this animosity, that created this hatred, if you will.”
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Kerik continued, “They created this environment, along with a number of other things, a bunch of race-baiting and all this other stuff. I think only when Donald Trump got elected did that start to change, and this president, who I’ve known for probably more than 25 years, now, I can assure you, I can promise you, the men and women in law enforcement in this country definitely have an ally in the White House.”
Kerik praised President Donald Trump’s approach towards law enforcement officers.
“Many people don’t know, including cops, this president, one of his main bodyguards was a guy named Keith Schiller,” said Kerik. “He worked for me in the NYPD. He worked for the president right up until September 11 of last year. I used to call him whenever a cop was killed, and I would let [Donald Trump] know. He would call me back and say, ‘The president wants to talk to the family,’ and President Trump would pick up the phone and call the family members — call the wives, call the husbands — of the cops killed.”
Kerik went on, “Nobody ever knew [Donald Trump] did that. It wasn’t publicized. It’s never been publicized, but that shows his respect and admiration. I can tell you from the person that was in command of the NYPD on September 11, 2001, Donald Trump was on Ground Zero numerous times — no cameras, no press, no nothing, but he came down to motivate and inspire the men and women down there that were working on the pile. This is a guy that loves the men and women in law enforcement, our first responders, our military, and it’s a nice change from what he had eight years prior.”
Kerik reflected on the sacrifices of cops killed on the job.
“Last year, there were 144 men and women killed in the line of duty,” he noted. “This gives the country the opportunity to recognize that, to thank their families for their sacrifice, to remind the American public what they do on a daily basis when they go out and stand between good and evil and do a job that most people — especially the critics that bash them constantly — would never have the courage to do the job that these men and women do. This is a time that we give thanks to the men and women in law enforcement.”
Marlow asked Kerik to review de Blasio’s mayoral tenure. On Thursday, de Blasio announced his presidential bid.
“This guy’s so delusional that he thinks he could actually run the country,” said Kerik of de Blasio. “So that’s pretty comical, but the other thing is there are people that actually vote for this guy, which kind of scares the hell out of me. This is a man that has diminished quality of life in New York City.”
“It now looks like a major huge homeless shelter all over the city,” said Kerik of de Blasio’s mayorship. “You have homeless everywhere.”
“He’s like Mr. Free Stuff,” said Kerik, “and he wants to do everything free on our tax dime for illegals. Give them free education, free medical. The unfortunate thing is people don’t understand it’s never free. We’re paying for it. The people that pay taxes pay for that stuff.”
Kerik added, “It’s all on [Bill de Blasio] because he’s the one that’s allowing it, from smoking marijuana to allowing marijuana to telling the cops, ‘Don’t lock up anybody for marijuana’ to homeless to panhandlers, people urinating in the street. The cops are not allowed to focus on quality-of-life issues anymore, and that’s going to change the city.”
In 2017, hundreds of NYPD police officers turned their backs on de Blasio when the mayor spoke at a police funeral for a murdered cop. It was not the first time members of the NYPD turned their backs on him in protest.
De Blasio’s derision of New York City cops had created “major friction with NYPD,” assessed Kerik.
Kerik ended by reflecting on the conduct of New York City’s police officers, firefighters, and emergency first responders following the Islamic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
“On the morning and in the day of September 11, 2001, the men and women in the New York City Police Department, Fire Department, [and] the Port Authority lost a total of 400 people,” recalled Kerik. “But on that day, they affected the greatest rescue mission in the history of our country by taking 25 to 30 thousand people out of those buildings.”
Kerik concluded, “More importantly, they actually evacuated more than a million people out of Southern Manhattan into the four boroughs and into New Jersey, almost effortlessly. I think people lose sight of that, and they don’t realize those numbers. When you think of the NYPD and the job they do, think of that because there is no other police department in this country that could accomplish that the way we did.”
Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
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