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NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Mayor Bill de Blasio is defending his record against criticism from President Donald Trump.
The president trashed the mayor's leadership during an appearance Tuesday on Fox News, saying de Blasio has been "horrible" and that the city is "going bad."
“I left there it was four years ago; it was a wonderful place,” Trump told host Sean Hannity. “You could see signs of badness, but it was a wonderful place. And now crime is up by many, many times.”
“What’s happening in New York is so horrible for our country. What they’ve done—what Mayor de Blasio has done to that city in a short period of time is horrible,” the president added.
The mayor fired back during his daily briefing Wednesday.
"When President Trump left New York City, I had been mayor for years," de Blasio said before adding sarcastically, "I'm glad he recognized that what we did in the city was continue to make it the safest big city in America, add more jobs, improve our schools."
De Blasio said New York City was and is a "wonderful place."
"It was a wonderful place then, it was a wonderful place in February. We had the most jobs in the history of this city. It's still a wonderful place and a place that is fighting back against this horrible disease," de Blasio said.
The mayor took another swipe at the president by adding, "The sad reality is nobody has done more to set back New York City than Donald Trump because he failed the city and America with his handling of coronavius."
"If we had presidential leadership we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now," de Blasio added. "New York City is dealing with some tough times, and guess what? A former New Yorker helped bring it to us by failing to address the crisis staring us in the face."
The president also slammed the mayor and the city during a White House briefing earlier Tuesday.
Trump opened the news conference, which was supposed to focus on coronavirus vaccines, with remarks "to address the violence, looting, and rioting taking place in the Democrat-controlled cities of New York, Portland, Chicago, and Seattle."
He called on the mayor to reinstate the NYPD's anti-crime unit which was shut down in June amid protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.
"New York City has an army of great police. I know them very well. And the law enforcement and the New York’s Finest are as good as it gets, and they should be allowed to do their job. If they do their job, if they’re allowed to do their job, the New York City problem will be solved and be solved quickly. They do it well," the presidents said.
Its officers were reassigned to other divisions.
The president falsley stated during the briefing that the city had fired police officers without justification.
"The mayor, Bill de Blasio, should immediately hire back all of the police who were fired without justification. They were fired. I guess that’s part of 'Defund the Police' by the Democrats. They should hire New York City’s Finest back. You have some incredible policemen doing specific jobs that nobody else can do, actually, when it comes to terrorism and other things," the president said.
However, no officers have been fired.
In late June, the City Council passed a budget that shifted $1 billion from the police department to invest in youth and social programs by cancelling an NYPD recruit class that would've started in July, reassigning officers to ensure patrol strength, reducing overtime and lowering spending on contracts and non-personnel.