July 20, 2020 | 1:19pm | Updated July 20, 2020 | 3:15pm
Reacting to The Post’s front page Monday, President Trump said Gov. Andrew Cuomo must squash a spike in violent crime in New York City — or he will send in federal authorities to restore order.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he was particularly upset by reports that Brooklyn woman Shatavia Walls, 33, was shot to death after complaining about illegal fireworks. He said the NYPD is “afraid to do anything.”
“We can’t let this happen to the cities. New York was up 348 percent, the crime wave. So the governor has to do something about it. And if the governor is not going to do something about it, we’ll do something about it.
“But what’s happening in New York, a place I love — I love New York. Look at what’s going on over there. The woman who was shot because she said, ‘Could you please not light off firecrackers?’ And they turned around and shot her eight times and she died. That’s not our civilization, that’s not about us,” the commander-in-chief told reporters.
“And then the police are afraid to do anything. I know New York very well, I know the police very well, New York’s Finest, and the fact is, they’re restricted from doing anything, they can’t do anything.”
Trump did not directly mention Mayor Bill de Blasio, who, like Cuomo, is a Democrat.
Trump said the use of federal law enforcement officers last week, dispatched to Portland, Ore., may provide a template.
“Well, I’m going to do something, that I can tell you, because we’re not going to leave 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, it’s all run by liberal Democrats,” Trump said, adding: “We’re going to have more federal law enforcement, that I can tell you. In Portland, they’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve been there three days.”
Trump said Portland officials opposed the federal intervention because they are afraid for their own safety. He said unrest in the city isn’t a mere continuation of protests over the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police, but is the work of “anarchists.”
“People say ‘protesters.’ These people are anarchists. These are people that hate our country. And we’re not going to let it go forward,” Trump said.
Trump repeatedly mentioned a surge in violent crime in Chicago and said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would preside over worsening crime if elected.
“This is worse than Afghanistan, by far. This is worse than anything anyone’s ever seen — all run by the same liberal Democrats. And you know what? If Biden got in, that would be true for the country, the whole country would go to hell, and we’re not going to let it go to hell,” Trump said.
