‘Don’t play political games with people’s lives’: Hochul and Mamdani accuse Trump of defunding the police

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused President Donald Trump of failing to keep a promise to fully fund New York’s counterterrorism work. They spoke together at a press conference at Hochul’s Midtown office, according to Politico. 

Officials said the Department of Homeland Security last year cut $187 million in federal counterterrorism funding from the Homeland Security Grant Program. They said the cut led to criticism from both parties and a lawsuit. Officials also said that in early October, Trump posted on social media that he would personally restore the money. Hochul and Mamdani said DHS later sent $100 million to the state. 

They said New York is still short $87 million, with only weeks left before the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. “Here’s my message to the president: Don’t undermine our public safety efforts. Don’t defund the police who thwart terror attacks. Don’t play political games with people’s lives,” Hochul said. She added, “Release the $87 million you owe us. Because if you don’t release the counterterrorism funding, you’re betraying every family that lost someone on 9/11.”

Officials say the shortfall would cut bomb squads and other emergency programs

Mamdani said the missing money is not for studies or paper plans. “We are not talking about reports or studies or abstract security proposals. We are talking about the money needed to fully fund 12 bomb squads across New York,” he said. 

He also said the funds are needed so the FDNY can talk to its own teams and respond if there is a major attack. He said first responders also need training and gear if New Yorkers ever face a radiological threat. The political fight over funding and accountability has a history, as seen when Trump slammed Mamdani for destroying New York with taxes. 

Terence O’Leary, Hochul’s commissioner of homeland security, said other work would also lose support. He listed counterterrorism preparation, hazmat teams, tactical teams, and urban search and rescue. He also listed cybersecurity work and money for National Guard members posted at sensitive transit sites.

In response, the Department of Homeland Security said Hochul is sitting on $300 million in unspent money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA also said New York has received more money than it needed in recent years. Hochul and Mamdani had their differences, but they both agreed on taxing the rich. 

“Instead of falsely accusing President Trump of defunding law enforcement, Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani should answer a much simpler question: Why is New York and NYC demanding even more taxpayer money when it has failed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars already provided to protect its communities?” a FEMA spokesperson said.

The governor’s office said those unspent funds are part of a normal cycle of federal grants. Officials there said the money in this case is meant to be spent over three years. Hochul spokesperson Jen Goodman said, “The Trump administration is lying to cover up the fact that they are defunding the police.”

While Hochul and Mamdani made their case, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was also in New York City. He highlighted arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and criticized a state law that limits how much local police can work with federal immigration officers.

“Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of ICE and our federal partners, Operation Rotten Apple did what sanctuary politicians in New York City and the state of New York refuse to do: made the Empire State safer,” Mullin said. DHS said the operation led to the arrest of more than 2,000 undocumented immigrants and that some of those people had been convicted of violent crimes.

Hochul pushed back. She said crime has fallen in recent years in both the state and the city, and that shootings and murders in the city are at record lows. She said the new state law did not change rules in New York City, which already limited help for ICE to cases involving a violent or serious crime. She also said many of the people arrested by the Trump administration did not have that kind of criminal record. “They consider anybody who crossed the border a criminal,” she said. “So don’t fall for that.”