“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough ripped Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday morning for saying New York is soft on crime. The MSNBC personality thinks an apology is in order.
“Has he ever been to New York City? I’m just curious,” Scarborough said. “You don’t talk about the NYPD that way… it makes me mad.”
Sessions sent letters to nine jurisdictions on Friday warning each would lose federal grant money if they refused to cooperate with federal immigrations officials. It marked the latest sign that the Trump administration intends to punish what are sometimes called sanctuary cities. The other jurisdictions include Sacramento, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Miami, Milwaukee, Chicago and Philadelphia, but Scarborough took particular offense to the comment about New York.
“New York continues to see gang murder after gang murder, the predictable consequence of the city’s ‘soft on crime’ stance,” the letter said.
“He needs to apologize to the NYPD rank and file,” Scarborough said.
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has also criticized Sessions’ comments, saying, “We did not become the safest big city in America by being… soft on crime.”
“This is an insult,” de Blasio said. “Look our police officers in the eye and tell them you believe they are soft on crime.”
Check out the video above.