Hochul says Trump is ‘defunding the police’ amid growing tension with Washington

“Let me translate that in real simple terms: Donald Trump is defunding the police,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a press conference Tuesday at her Midtown office. Flanked by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Terrence O’Leary and law enforcement leaders. Hochul called on the Trump administration to release $87 million in counterterrorism funding the federal government still owes the state from a year ago. 

The governor’s plea comes as she has been subject to criticism from the right – including her Republican opponent Bruce Blakeman as she runs for reelection – that she has not been particularly tough on crime, which dogged her in her 2022 run, too. She’s instead put “defund” onto Trump, in a subversion of one of the most politicized political phrases since 2020. And she did so standing next to Mamdani, who previously had called to “defund the police,” but backed away while running for mayor last year. Just as pointing the finger at Trump has become part of the governor’s reelection playbook, increasingly, having Mamdani by her side is, too. 

It’s not the first time the governor has spoken about the concept of Trump defunding the police, specifically in regard to the $187 million. In response to Trump administration proposals to loosen firearm restrictions, Hochul recalled at a July 30 press conference calling the president last year to demand he restore the funds. 

“‘Mr. President, do I have to say you’re defunding the police? Is that what you guys are doing now? That’s not going to play well with your people,’” she said at the time. And a January Hochul campaign email called out Blakeman for failing to say anything when “Trump attempted to defund the police.”

Last October, Trump posted on Truth Social saying he’d reverse $187 million worth of federal cuts to aid New York’s counterterrorism efforts after Hochul penned a letter to then-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. But only $100 million of that money ever made its way to New York, Hochul said – meaning less funding for intelligence operations, training, equipment and transit security. 

“After a quarter century of successfully thwarting other attacks on our homeland, our brave police and firefighters learn that the Trump administration is abandoning them,” Hochul said, referring to the upcoming 25th anniversary of 9/11. “That’s right – Donald Trump is withholding funding intended to keep New Yorkers safe from another terrorism attack.”

Meanwhile, downtown at 26 Federal Plaza, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed his agency arrested more than 2,100 immigrants in New York City over the last month, criticized the state’s new law limiting local law enforcement’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement through 287(g) agreements, and suggested the state and city are less safe under Hochul and Mamdani. 

“I don’t think we should be sending one federal penny to sanctuary states and sanctuary cities,” Mullin said.

Hochul and Mamdani pushed back on the idea that New York City’s lack of a 287(g) agreement has made the city less safe. There’s never been one, the governor said, and major crime categories are at record lows. She also pushed back on Mullin’s estimate of more than 2,100 arrests. “There is no way that that number constitutes people who have committed crimes the way we consider a crime a crime in New York state,” Hochul said. “They consider anybody who crossed the border a criminal.”

Rounding out the Trump administration’s New York offensive, U.S. Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler was in Bayside, Queens, with City Council Member Vickie Paladino to oppose the mayor’s plan to build five city-owned grocery stores – none of which have been planned for the suburban Queens district at this point.