De Blasio, Giuliani clash over whether to use federal funds to hire more police officers
NEW YORK (WABC) -- As violent crime flares in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani clashed over hiring more police officers to fight the surge in crime.
"See the mayor has several problems, he's lazy, and he's stupid," Giuliani said.
"Are you familiar with the phrase liar, liar, pants on fire? That's a classic I'd like to raise right now. This guy just lies for a living," de Blasio said.
The mayor shifted $1 billion out of the police budget a year ago, but this year he put $200 million back in.
As for federal stimulus money going to hire more officers, the mayor has used it for other community-based programs to fight crime, not for more manpower.
"The Biden administration lauded our efforts to fund community-based solutions to violence. In fact, they modeled a lot of their proposals on the cure violence movement and the crisis management system here in NYC," de Blasio said.
TheNYPD now stands at 35,000, far and away the largest force in the country, but Giuliani said the mayor needs to hire more officers.
"I said he should take the money for one purpose. The money he's not taking it to hire more cops," Giuliani said. "So I'm not a liar, I'm telling the truth.He was probably a little foggy when he read it."
As for the likely next mayor, Eric Adams weighed in and he agreed with Giuliani.
"I would accept it. We could ensure that we can put officers in those areas that are really dealing with this gang crisis we have in the city. I would accept the money," Adams said.
Adams also chastised the mayor, for a surge in gang violence in the Bronx, saying de Blasio needs to pay the borough a visit.
"So, yes I'm going to be visiting the Bronx and I think the mayor should go up there and show a real signal to the residents we're not going to allow the Bronx to go backward," Adams said.
MORE NEWS: Another NYC murder as NYPD battles ongoing violence, gang war
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