Cuomo cites NYC shooting in slamming Mamdani's ‘defund the police' past
Cuomo, who's running as an independent against Mamdani in November's mayoral election, made the assessment in a wide-ranging interview with the Daily News on Tuesday afternoon.
In the interview, Cuomo argued issues related to public safety are political weak spots for Mamdani and affirmed he plans to start calling out his past rhetoric about policing as the general election season heats up.
Having vowed to run a more aggressive general election campaign after losing last month's Democratic mayoral primary to Mamdani by a 12-percentage-point margin, Cuomo even questioned whether his opponent's condolences for the NYPD officer killed in Monday's shooting were genuine.
'[Mamdani] said that today because it was in his political interest, but everything he has said for years is the exact opposite,' said Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 amid sexual and professional misconduct accusations he now denies.
The ex-gov continued, 'You do a 180 right after this incident … and it's just coincidental that the election is a few months away? Do you buy that?'
Cuomo was referring to an X post Mamdani put out Monday in which he, in part, wrote he was 'grateful' for the cops and other emergency personnel who earlier in the day had responded to 345 Park Ave., where officials say suspect Shane Tamura fatally shot NYPD officer Didarul Islam and three others before killing himself.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, embraced sharply different rhetoric about the NYPD during the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted in 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
In social media posts at the time, Mamdani wrote the city should 'defund' and 'dismantle' NYPD, blasting the department as 'racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.'
'Oh, really, Officer Islam was racist?' Cuomo said Tuesday. 'Who's going to apply to be a police officer when that's what the mayor thinks of them?'
Mamdani, who is in Uganda visiting family this week, wasn't available for an interview Tuesday, but his spokeswoman Zara Rahim blasted Cuomo for using the shooting as fodder for a political attack.
'Families across our city are mourning — including members of our Muslim community grieving an officer who leaves behind his pregnant wife and young children. Multiple victims remain in the hospital, fighting for their lives,' Rahim said.
'Our focus is on supporting those who've lost loved ones and bringing our communities together in the face of tragedy. This is a moment for compassion and solidarity — not cheap shots in the press.'
Mayor Adams, who's also running as an independent in November's election after having dropped out of the Democratic primary amid fallout from his federal indictment, agreed with Mamdani's campaign.
'It is deeply disappointing — and frankly despicable — that during a moment of tragedy, when our city is mourning the loss of one of its own, former Governor Cuomo would choose to inject politics,' Adams told The News in a statement. 'Now is not the time for political potshots. Now is a time for unity, compassion and focus on the brave officer who made the ultimate sacrifice.'
Since launching his mayoral bid, Mamdani has shifted gears rhetorically on policing, saying he wouldn't defund the NYPD as mayor. Instead, he has vowed he'd keep the department's officer headcount flat and launch a new community safety agency focused on helping people with mental illness in order to let cops focus on fighting crime.
But Cuomo, who has pledged to as mayor hire 5,000 new NYPD officers, said he doesn't trust Mamdani would make good on those promises.
'I don't believe that pointing to one statement counteracts 10 years of activism and hundreds of tweets,' said Cuomo.
As governor, Cuomo voiced solidarity in 2020 with elements of the Black Lives Matter movement and signed an executive order that threatened to pull state funding from police departments that didn't take steps to reform their use-of-force protocols to ensure accountability and to protect civil rights.
But on Tuesday, Cuomo struck a different tone, arguing the anti-police sentiment that took root in 2020 was dangerous.
'That whole movement was wrong and did tremendous damage and today is a reality check on that,' he said. Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi later said the ex-gov was with that comment referring to the defund-the-police movement, not Black Lives Matter.
Mamdani is polling as the favorite to win November's election after running a primary campaign focused on affordability that included pledges to freeze rent for stabilized tenants, drastically expand subsidized child care and make public buses free.
Policing was not a major theme of Mamdani's campaign, and Cuomo as well as Adams are likely to come after him over that issue this fall.
Cuomo saved some criticism for Adams in relation to the Midtown shooting as well.
Touting that, as governor, he signed legislation that banned assault rifles in New York, Cuomo questioned why Adams hasn't as mayor tried to do more to rally local elected officials around the country to push Congress to enact stricter gun control laws on the federal level.
'I haven't heard or seen him doing that,' Cuomo said.
In his statement, Adams said Cuomo is mistaken, noting his administration 'has convened national meetings with mayors from cities most impacted by gun violence.'
'This is not a moment for finger-pointing. It's a moment to honor our heroes, support their families, and recommit ourselves to the hard work of keeping our cities safe,' he said.
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Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New details highlight harrowing minutes inside Manhattan office building as mass shooting unfolded
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence. During evening rush hour in New York City on Monday, a man calmly walked into a Park Avenue office building lobby and killed a police officer, then opened fire on other innocent strangers. Within a minute, the gunman had disappeared into a labyrinth of elevator banks and hallways, armed and loose somewhere in the 44-story building. The day's violence would become the deadliest mass shooting in New York City since 2000. The gunman shot and killed four people and wounded another, before killing himself, police said. From the moment the first panicked 911 calls were received, the New York Police Department unleashed a torrent of cops, specially trained units, heavy weapons, sophisticated technology and a swift information exchange among its 32,000 police officers and law enforcement partners across the country. As calls flooded in, the NYPD's electronic log system captured the horror happening in real time inside the Park Avenue skyscraper. The shorthand notes, obtained by CNN, show the desperation of frightened callers as operators attempted to piece together what was happening. 'INVESTIGATE/POSSIBLE CRIME: SHOTS FIRED/INSIDE\ACTIVE_SHOOTER,' read one note. 'ACTIVE SHOOTER IN THE BUILDING AND LOCKED SELF IN ROOM,' the log notes a female caller reported. Additional calls are logged: '7-8 SHOTS HEARD,' 'LOCATION IS NFL HEADQUARTERS,' 'SHOOTER IN BUILDING.' Another female caller reported her husband telling her he's in a locked room, according to the log. From precinct officers to specialized commands, swarms of law enforcement teams raced to the scene. The NYPD's Emergency Service Unit, which operates as a SWAT team, entered the building and began a systematic search for the gunman, who was somewhere inside. At the same time, officers from the Strategic Response Command, providing an additional long-weapons team, set up a perimeter and established a safe corridor known as a 'warm zone' to get medical personnel in and wounded victims out while the search for the gunman continued, law enforcement officials said. While those teams secured the area outside, detectives made their way into the skyscraper and examined surveillance video in the building's control center. They took a screengrab of the gunman, and using technology developed by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, blasted the image to NYPD officers' department-issued phones. Within minutes, every officer searching the building or holding the outside perimeter had a picture of a man taking large strides and carrying an assault rifle, the officials said. The gunman was identified after responding teams found his body on the building's 33rd floor: 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura of Las Vegas, Nevada. New details from law enforcement sources shed light on Tamura's travel to New York City, the gunman's movements inside the building and the police investigation. Here's what we've learned about the shooting at 345 Park Avenue: From Las Vegas to New York City Officers found Tamura's black Series 3 BMW double-parked in front of the Park Avenue building, and then used his name, vehicle registration and a disjointed suicide note found in his back pocket to pull together a timeline of Tamura's path to the carnage. On Saturday, July 26, two days before the shooting, a license plate reader in Loma, Colorado, recorded Tamura's car with Nevada license plates passing through at 1:06 p.m., according to a law enforcement official. On Sunday, Tamura did not show up for his surveillance job as part of the security team at the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. He was miles away. Tamura's black BMW was spotted driving eastbound on Interstate 80 by a license plate reader (LPR) owned by the Nebraska State Patrol. Later, an LPR operated by the Scott County Sheriff's Office recorded the car on I-80 near Wolcott, Indiana. At 4:24 p.m. Monday, a camera attached to the New Jersey State Police's real-time crime center took a picture of his BMW, this time along I-80 in Columbia, New Jersey, nearly two hours before the rampage would begin. Tamura arrives at his intended target Two senior law enforcement officials who reviewed video from the Midtown Manhattan office building provided the following account of the gunman's movements on Monday: At 6:26 p.m., Tamura double-parked outside 345 Park Avenue. He got out of the car carrying the M4 semi-automatic rifle, crossed the sidewalk and then the broad plaza leading to the office building's entrance. One minute later, Tamura entered the building. Inside, Tamura turned to his right to face uniformed NYPD officer Didarul Islam and shot him, killing the 36-year-old father of two who was expecting his third child. As Islam fell, Craig Clementi, who works in the NFL's finance department, was also shot. Clementi called his coworkers to warn them that a gunman was in the lobby firing shots, and then called 911, according to one of the senior officials. Wesley LePatner, a 43-year-old Blackstone executive, was shot as she moved toward a pillar in the lobby, police said. LePatner died from her wounds. Tamura then shot Aland Etienne, a 46-year-old security guard. Wounded, Etienne crawled toward the console behind the security desk and collapsed. Tamura went to an elevator bank on the opposite side of the lobby to the elevators that go up to the NFL offices. Officials have said investigators believe Tamura was headed for the NFL offices at the time of the shooting, but took the wrong elevator. He ignored a woman exiting an elevator car, entered it and then pressed 33, the lowest available on its panel, according to one of the senior law enforcement officials. Once on the 33rd floor, Tamura faced glass walls with locked doors on either end of the hallway. These were the offices of Rudin Management, the company that runs the building. Tamura tried opening the doors, then opened fire on the glass and kicked through it to enter the floor, officials said. By then, it was likely he realized he wasn't at the NFL offices, according to the officials. Tamura saw an office cleaner, Sebije Nelovic, and opened fire but missed her, she said in a statement released by her union. Nelovic said she ran down the hallway and locked herself in a closet. She heard screams and more gunfire, she said, describing the gunman at one point shooting the door she was hiding behind. As shots rang out, frantic employees called 911 and barricaded themselves in offices and conference rooms. Their desperate calls reported how many shots they had heard, where they were hiding and where they believed the gunman was moving, according to a radio call log reviewed by CNN. Over the years, Rudin Management conducted active shooter drills and training for its employees. Their offices on the 33rd floor have bathrooms designed as safe rooms, in the event of an incident just like the one that unfolded Monday, the officials said. The rooms are outfitted with bullet-proof doors that lock with bolts from the inside, and their walls are lined with Kevlar. Each bathroom is equipped with a video feed showing the hallway outside and a dedicated telephone line. Julia Hyman, a 27-year-old Rudin Management employee who was working late, was in one of those very bathrooms designed as a safe room. It is not clear whether she had heard the shots or understood what was unfolding outside. She stepped outside the bathroom, and walked three or four steps, apparently unaware that the gunman was behind her. He fired, striking her in the back. Wounded, Hyman stumbled to her desk and died from her wounds, according to one of the officials who reviewed the video. By this time, it appeared Tamura realized there were no more accessible targets in the office, and, with police swarming the building, it was not likely he was going to find his way to the NFL, the official said. A few seconds after shooting Hyman, video is said to show Tamura stood next to a desk, held out his arms to aim the rifle at his own chest and used his thumb to pull the trigger, firing a single round, the official said. His body dropped to the floor, his rifle falling next to him. Tamura had fired most of two 30-round magazines of .223 ammunition in a matter of minutes, the official said. Throughout the night and into the morning, police collected evidence from where the victims lay and from the areas where shots were fired. In the building lobby, 23 shell casings and more than a dozen ricocheted bullet fragments were recovered, according to an NYPD official. In the 33rd floor offices of Rudin Management, investigators from the NYPD's Crime Scene Unit found another 24 shell casings from Tamura's M4 rifle, as well as 15 bullet fragments, the NYPD official said. Tracing the gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents on the scene received the rifle's serial number, and within minutes detectives learned the rifle had been purchased on August 29, 2024, by a Las Vegas man identified as 'Rick,' a coworker of Tamura's at the Horseshoe Casino, according to documents reviewed by CNN. 'Rick' has not responded to CNN's requests for comment. The NYPD Intelligence Bureau's SENTRY unit, which maintains a national network of law-enforcement contacts, then reached out to Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill, who sent detectives to interview 'Rick.' 'Rick' had also sold Tamura the black BMW he drove across the country, according to Nevada DMV records. Other Las Vegas sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Tamura's apartment to seal it while awaiting a search warrant. Another team went to interview Tamura's parents, who lived nearby. The Las Vegas Metro Police Crime Stoppers hotline received a call at 8:25 p.m. the night of the shooting. A licensed gun dealer had seen the picture of Tamura and remembered his face. In June, he had sold him a modified trigger for an M4 rifle. Tamura had also told the dealer that he planned to buy 500 rounds of .223 ammunition for the assault rifle, a law enforcement official told CNN. Back in New York, Tamura's BMW was cleared by the bomb squad. Detectives recovered 827 rounds for a stainless steel .357 magnum Colt Python revolver. According to the same official, the gun was fully loaded with another six rounds in the cylinder.
Chicago Tribune
32 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Seth David Radwell: The emerging schism within the Democratic Party
Much has been written of late about the fate of the Democratic Party after its poor performance last November and with its damaged brand and lack of a coherent strategy. Over the last several years, the party's primary unifying focus has been assailing President Donald Trump and MAGA, while lacking an articulate compelling message or prescriptive platform. Not only has this left the party adrift, but also, Trump has been all too eager to fill the resulting vacuum, imprinting his 'evil' characterization of the party. While myriad efforts within and adjacent to the party are scrambling to advance a winning strategy for 2026, we can already detect competing agendas. The left flank of the party has a resolute hold on the identity issues it keeps front and center, despite persuasive evidence that this strategy alienates working-class voters. In contrast, the center of the party has been coalescing around what some call the 'abundance agenda' — following the launch of the bestselling book 'Abundance' by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The agenda centers on an insightful reckoning: How can the Democratic Party represent itself as the problem-solving party of the working class when its track record exhibits innumerable failures in major cities? Accordingly, the abundance strategy focuses on enabling government to undertake the 'big things' it accomplished yesteryear by liberating it from a maze of bureaucratic obstacles. Perhaps the most credible advocate of this revitalized spirit is Josh Shapiro, the charismatic governor of Pennsylvania. His 'get stuff done' approach has resulted in some tangible wins such as the rapid reopening of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and the expansion of school breakfast programs. In fact, many Democratic leaders in the center recognize that their rapprochement with the progressive wing in recent cycles has resulted in the party estranging its working-class base. But, the Democratic Party has a more fundamental conundrum based on a contradiction that lies at the heart of progressivism itself. As described in detail in Marc Dunkelman's recent book 'Why Nothing Works,' the reason why our government today cannot build the big things it did in past eras (e.g., the interstate highway system and the Social Security system) is because of this very conflict: On one hand, many progressives deliver a clarion call for government to undertake large-scale solutions to the most pressing current policy problems, such as building green energy infrastructure and affordable housing. But at the same time, these same advocates demand controls that often stymie government from getting anything done. Ever since the Vietnam War, a distrust of the establishment has taken root and grown deep, manifested in a fear of yielding broad powers without adequate controls and limitations. Nonetheless, these two instincts underlying progressivism are at cross purposes: It is hard to have it both ways. How can government solve big problems if it is intentionally designed with diffuse power, easily and frequently obstructed or contested? What is remarkable is that these two opposing impulses frequently operate simultaneously. Millions of young people today call for administrative solutions to the climate crisis, while demanding bodily autonomy free from government intervention. As I describe in my book 'American Schism,' the pendulum has vacillated throughout our entire history between eras characterized by these opposing impulses. At times, centrally designed Hamiltonian solutions (designed by elites) dominated, such as after our founding, in the New Deal and post-World War II periods, and again through Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs. In other epochs, such as when the Federalist party lost influence in the early 19th century, when Reconstruction failed and during the dawning of the Gilded Age, the Jeffersonian demand for curtailed central power reigned supreme. Since the Ronald Reagan era, the wariness of big government has taken hold on the right. But often overlooked is that progressive reformers in recent decades, fearful of the sins of power-hungry leaders such as New York's Robert Moses, have demanded controls on government, which often lead to unwieldy processes and boxed-in government action. Many of these checkpoints, such as mandated constituent input in the policy development process, are warranted. But as a result, government today at all levels feels more like a vetocracy in which citizens or corporate-sponsored interest groups stifle progress at every turn, often via the slow legal system. Even when a major project does get completed, the number of involved commissions and the lawsuits brought by opposing constituents result in skyrocketing costs and years of delay. Perhaps, most ironically, the consequent gridlock has over time eroded faith in public institutions and created the opening for MAGA-style populism. It is this dynamic that is already clashing within the Democratic Party; the centrists' call to tackle big problems may find itself at loggerheads with the fear of elite-designed solutions within the progressive wing. Moreover, such clashes could impede a cohesive and compelling party revival. Dunkleman argues for an adjustment in the belief that we have leaned too far in hamstringing government. However, our history demonstrates that attempts at moderate 'adjustments' usually overcorrect and result in pendulum swings. How any possible Democratic revival manages this underlying contradiction in its road map may determine whether the party can once again attract the populist voters it used to carry. Seth David Radwell is the author of 'American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation' and winner of an International Book Award for Best General Nonfiction. He is a political analyst and speaker in the business community and on college campuses in the U.S. and abroad.
The Hill
32 minutes ago
- The Hill
Democrats contemplate walkout in Texas
Democratic legislators in Texas could flee the state to prevent the GOP from approving new maps that could expand Republicans' congressional majority. Texas and national Democrats have vowed to fight back while blasting the GOP plans, which could give Republicans five more seats, as discriminatory. Visiting with Democratic state lawmakers in Austin, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) vowed Thursday that 'all options' should be on the table to stop the GOP plan. But because Democrats are a minority in the state Legislature, they have few options to stop the GOP and face an uphill battle legally and politically. One very real option would be to seek to deny the quorum necessary to keep the Texas state House and Senate functioning, something Democrats might have the numbers to accomplish. 'Democrats don't have many arrows left in their quiver. There simply aren't a lot of things they can do to be able to challenge these maps in the near term,' said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. A quorum break could be the 'nuclear option,' Rottinghaus said, 'because most members don't want to do it that way. They want to stay and fight.' 'But the problem is that they simply don't have a lot of tools legislatively, or in terms of their total numbers to stop or slow things here in Austin.' The map proposal, filed this past week during a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), comes after President Trump pressed Texas Republicans to draw new maps to protect the party's narrow 219-212 House majority. A public hearing before the state House's Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting was held Friday. Republican state Rep. Cody Vasut, chair of the redistricting panel, said he expects committee action in the coming days, followed by a full state House debate early next week. Specifics of the proposed lines could change as the plan works its way through the state chambers. But it's unlikely that Democrats have enough leverage in the state Legislature — where Republicans are 88-62 in the House and 19-11 in the Senate — to significantly change things in their favor. Faced with similar dynamics in 2003 and 2021, Democrats walked out to stall the Legislature on redistricting efforts and voting restrictions. 'Breaking quorum is a big task, and there's a lot of problems that come with it,' said Lana Hansen, executive director of Texas Blue Action, an Austin-based Democratic advocacy group. 'And I think this situation is particularly volatile because … this [redistricting] is a call from the president of the United States.' Fleeing would likely draw more attention to the brewing redistricting battle, but Abbott could continue to call sessions and the Democrats' absence would stall other business. A quorum break would also be expensive, due to new rules that impose fines for each day a lawmaker has fled, as well as the threat of arrest. Democrats are reportedly fundraising to help pay up if that happens, according to The Texas Tribune. 'In the past, it worked to sort of pause the conversation and start over,' Hansen said of the previous quorum breaks, but she noted that Republicans still got their way. 'At the end of it, it wasn't as successful as we had hoped.' Asked about a potential walkout, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) told reporters Thursday that 'there are a lot of ways to fight.' Jeffries, asked whether he's urging Texas Democrats to break quorum, said ' all options should be on the table ' but deferred to Texas Democrats. If Democrats can't block the GOP efforts within the Legislature, they'll likely pursue legal action as leaders in and out of the state decry the proposal as discriminatory. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), one of the lawmakers whose district would be impacted, called the moves 'part of a long, ugly tradition of trying to keep Black and brown [Texans] from having a voice.' Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) called it 'a power grab to silence voters and suppress votes.' Democrats' chances of success with potential legal challenges likely relies on the fate of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), said Mark McKenzie, an Texas Tech associate professor of political science who has practiced law in the state. A major Louisiana redistricting battle is set to be reheard by the Supreme Court next term, and Republicans are increasingly bullish on chipping away at the VRA. 'I think the Democrats, assuming the Supreme Court doesn't eviscerate the Voting Rights Act … would have a good case, in terms of African American majority districts in Texas and how they'll be impacted,' McKenzie said, noting that they might be harder pressed to argue the same of Latino voters, who have increasingly leaned toward the GOP in Texas. 'Legally speaking, the Democrats are not in a great position,' McKenzie added. The party appears to be gearing up for a political battle either way. 'The current map violates the law, and this congressional map will double and triple down on the extreme racial gerrymandering that is silencing the voices of millions of Texans,' Jeffries said Thursday in Austin. 'We will fight them politically. We will fight them governmentally. We will fight them in court. We will fight them in terms of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Texas and beyond.' House Majority PAC, a House Democratic super PAC, announced a new Lone Star Fund this week. It is hoping to raise millions for 2026 challengers if the lines are redrawn. 'If the GOP and the Trump administration think that Texas is the first state that they should look at doing this in, the place that he's most concerned with losing ground in, then we are in play, and my hope is that national investment will come this way,' Hansen said. 'There's still an opportunity for Democrats in Texas. We just might not be able to help flip to the congressional majority that we would like.' And Democrats may have avenues for offsetting GOP gains in Texas with redistricting efforts in other states. 'There's a phrase in Texas: 'what happens here sometimes changes the world.' Well, this is the case where what's happening here is setting off a cascade effect across the country,' said Jon Taylor, the University of Texas at San Antonio's department chair of political science. The developments in Texas have sparked congressional map conversations in several other states, including in California — where Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has said the Golden State might make its own midcycle changes if Texas moves forward. There's also a chance that Lone Star State redistricting backfires on Republicans. For one, the party may appear more focused on redistricting than on deadly Independence Day floods, another special session agenda item. It may also be hard to predict midterm voting patterns. 'Just because Trump won in 2024 in certain parts and certain areas that are currently held by Democrats doesn't mean that's going to translate to success in a midterm election of '26, particularly a midterm election that, nationally, is expected to be potentially a wave election for Democrats,' Taylor said. 'So you could end up with a situation where you've drawn districts that are supposedly for, you know, friendly for Republicans, and all of a sudden, in a year where the economy is going south, Trump's opinion poll numbers continue to decline, you end up with Democrats winning in districts that were designed for Republicans.'
