Gov. Hochul reveals she spoke to President Trump about National Guard in New York City
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Officials in New York City and New York state are pushing back against the idea of National Guard troops coming to New York City.
On Monday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch met with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and her message was clear. In that meeting, Tisch said there is no need for the Trump administration to send in the National Guard as it has done in Washington, D.C.
On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul held a news conference where she revealed to reporters she recently had a phone call with President Donald Trump in an apparent attempt head off deployments of federal troops in New York City.
A source close to the governor confirmed to ABC News that Hochul initiated the call and spoke with Trump on Saturday evening.
"I said Mr. President, I can give you all the data you need to show that crime is down, it's working, our policies are working, NYPD is doing their job, we did our job in the state legislature to tighten up laws that had gone way too long being loose, and not protecting the people of the city and the state," Hochul said.
There are nearly 600 cities in America with higher crime rates than New York, including nearly half the nation's largest cities. And crime is trending lower here in most major categories.
"He's just trying to throw gasoline on a fire, we don't need that, we got our own fires under control here, we do not need the federal government telling us what to do," Hochul said.
The governor echoed what Tisch told Bondi on Monday.
But Trump is continuing to threaten governors and mayors in the nation's largest cities, claiming that crime is raging and that deployments, like the ones in Washington, are necessary to keep citizens safe.
"The line is that I'm a dictator, but I stop crime, so, a lot of people say, 'you know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator,' but I'm not a dictator, I just know how to stop crime," Trump said.
Unlike the governor, Mayor Eric Adams says he has not discussed troop deployments with the president. But he also insists they're not necessary.
"I don't see the need for it, at all, we are doing an amazing job, I know that many of the national leaders will see the crimes that take place, it strikes at the heart of one's feelings, but those are isolated incidents," Adams said.
Despite his phone call with Hochul, Trump said he is considering deploying federal troops to New York City, as he did in Washington, D.C.
Soldiers there have been given the power to make arrests and are carrying military-grade weapons.
The governor was asked how the president's actions differ from what she did when she deployed the New York National Guard to the subways in 2024.
Her response was the mission was specific in purpose, it wasn't open-ended and intended to be a deterrent.
"At a time when crimes were going up and people were very anxious about taking the subway and I needed to do something dramatic, I said that I can have a physical presence, not in a law-enforcement capacity, very clear the difference of what is happening in Washington is those people are being told to carry their guns and arrest people," Hochul said.
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