Ten days before the nation solemnly commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York accused President Trump of “abandoning” his home state by continuing to withhold counterterrorism funds.
“Let me translate that in real simple terms: Donald Trump is defunding the police,” Ms. Hochul said, as she stood before a phalanx of law enforcement officials and next to Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, at her Midtown Manhattan office.
Ms. Hochul accused the president and his Department of Homeland Security of conducting itself in an “unprecedented, reckless and dangerous” manner by withholding 40 percent of the state’s allocated counterterrorism funding.
The dispute began last year when the Trump administration cut $187 million in law enforcement funding. The president quickly declared that he would reverse the cuts, asserting that the Department of Homeland Security had slashed the funds without his approval.
But the Trump administration only restored $100 million of the funds, which come from the Homeland Security Grant Program that was created in the years after Sept. 11.
The $87 million in withheld funds would be used for, among other purposes, bomb squads, emergency management and hazmat teams, according to state and city officials.
“If you don’t release the counterterrorism funding, you’re betraying every family that lost someone on 9/11,” Ms. Hochul said.
The White House referred all questions to the Department of Homeland Security. In a statement attributed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the department said New York State had yet to spend more than $300 million in existing Homeland Security funding and that Ms. Hochul was “manufacturing a funding crisis.”
“For more than two decades, New York has received substantial federal homeland security funding,” the statement said. “In fact, they traditionally received allocations significantly ABOVE risk-based formulas, allowing them to rake in MORE and MORE money than other states.”
State officials insisted that more than 99 percent of Homeland Security grant money was spent within the required timeframe, and accused the Trump administration of “lying to cover up the fact that they are defunding the police.”
”New York is the No. 1 terrorist target in the nation,” said Jen Goodman, a spokeswoman for the governor. “To imply New York is owed anything less than the $187 million the president himself promised is an insult to the first responders and law enforcement who protect this state,” she added.
Mr. Mamdani condemned Mr. Trump’s actions in a more circumspect manner, focusing his criticism on “the federal government” and “our leaders in Washington” rather than directly naming the president.
“We are talking about the money needed to fully fund 12 bomb squads across New York,” Mr. Mamdani said. “We are talking about the money needed to ensure that, in the event of a catastrophic attack, the F.D.N.Y. can communicate internally and respond effectively. And we are talking about making sure that should New Yorkers ever face a radiological threat, our first responders have the training, the equipment and the capabilities they need to respond.
“To put it simply, there is no excuse for the federal government to leave the nation’s largest city to shoulder this burden alone.”
Ms. Hochul’s strident condemnation of Mr. Trump seemed to signal an end to the delicate détente between the far-right president and the leader of one of the nation’s largest Democratic states. The turn in their relationship comes at a pivotal moment for Ms. Hochul, who is running for re-election this year against Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive supported by Mr. Trump.
While other governors of large blue states have saber-rattled, Ms. Hochul has worked hard to build a rapport with the president in an effort to meet New York’s needs on public safety and rail infrastructure. (Mr. Mamdani has followed her lead, striking up a surprisingly amicable relationship with Mr. Trump.)
Indeed, Ms. Hochul took credit for suggesting that the federal government assume responsibility for renovations of Penn Station, perhaps even renaming it after Mr. Trump (though that was a “lighthearted joke,” her staff said).
The two have also tangled over congestion pricing, several large offshore wind projects and the approval of a new gas pipeline.
A majority of the withheld funds — nearly $70 million — is for New York City, but the cuts in funding also apply to counties across New York State, including Mr. Blakeman’s Nassau County.
Christina Farrell, New York City’s emergency management commissioner, said the funding supports more than 100 of her agency’s staff members.
“Mr. ‘Make America Safe’ still talks a big game on law enforcement, talks big about protecting our law enforcement, our police,” Ms. Hochul said of the president. “Instead of breaking up terror plots, he’s breaking up innocent families, detaining children.”
At an almost simultaneous event across town on Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said immigration officials had arrested 2,100 people in New York over the past month, a marked increase that he said was a response to a “liberal governor” and a “very liberal-slash-socialist mayor.”
Dionne Searcey contributed reporting.
The post Hochul Accuses Trump of Betraying 9/11 Victims by ‘Defunding the Police’ appeared first on New York Times.
