18 Days & Counting: Zohran Mamdani Refuses to Apologize for Calling the NYPD Racist, Lies to the Public & Breaks His Promise
Cuomo Again Calls for 5 Debates—One in Every Borough Mamdani Must Answer for Radical Calls to Defund and Disarm Police, Decriminalize Prostitution proclaiming “Sex Work is Work”, and Abolish Private Property
It has been 18 days since Zohran Mamdani promised to apologize to the NYPD for comments he made in 2020 calling the New York Police Department “racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety.” Yet not only has he failed to follow through, as he told the New York Times he would, he has now been caught in another lie.
Despite Mamdani’s claim that his words were simply a moment of outrage made “at the height of frustration” after the death of George Floyd in 2020, he continued for years afterward to repeat the rhetoric and even ran for office on the platform that the NYPD is a racist institution that must be defunded and hobbled. Newly surfaced archives of his old Assembly campaign website showthat through at least December 2023, it included: the following as his policy platform under the header “Defund the Police:”
‘We can’t reform our way out of a racist police system that’s working exactly as designed - as a means of control over black & brown New Yorkers. We need to dramatically curtail the power and presence of the NYPD. That means cutting $3 billion from the NYPD budget and reinvesting those savings in health, housing, and community services. This is a first step on the road to a safer and more humane New York.
Institute an Immediate hiring freeze and cancelation of all new officer classes, and a reduction in the force’s headcount by 1,300 officers through attrition.
Immediately cancel all officer overtime.
Institute a moratorium on all new equipment purchases.’
Andrew M. Cuomo, his opponent for Mayor of New York City, demanded that Mamdani explain to New Yorkers why he lied to them about ‘intending to apologize to the NYPD’ and coming clean with the public about both his lies and his refusal to explain past campaign promises, including the decriminalization of prostitution proclaiming that “sex work is work” and his Democratic Socialist movement’s stated goal to “seize the means of production,” i.e., abolish private property. Mamdani has no plan for New York City’s public education system, supports rolling back mayoral control, and wants to send social workers to respond to domestic violence calls. While Mamdani has continued to get away with non-answers with the press, Cuomo challenged Mamdani to five debates—one in each borough—so voters can hear the truth directly from him:
###