Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide Melissa DeRosa is readying a memoir entitled What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis. The book is already making headlines due to one bombshell allegation regarding former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
…he reportedly deliberately held back police forces during the George Floyd protests to save face.
“We learned that a high-ranking member of the police union had reached out directly to the governor that morning with disturbing information: he believed that de Blasio, fearful of more police clashes with protesters going viral on video, was purposefully not deploying additional bodies,” DeRosa writes, according to an excerpt obtained by The New York Post.
“As a result, knowing they were outnumbered, officers were unwilling to take on the looters.”
From The New York Post:
DeRosa recalled a conference call conversation Cuomo had with de Blasio and then-Police Commissioner Dermot Shea in which the top cop reported that he had “only 4,000 officers on duty,” outnumbered by 5,000 protesters.
“The governor’s eyes widened in disbelief at what, to him, amounted to a staggering admission of malpractice. Shea had just confirmed what the governor had been told and feared; the city had deliberately minimized deployment,” DeRosa, the secretary – or chief of staff – to the governor, said.
De Blasio and Shea decided to double the police presence to 8,000 and eventually, after some back and forth, the governor and mayor agreed to impose a curfew to curtail the protests.
At one point, authorities estimated that 450 stores were vandalized throughout the city during the widespread unrest that spring and summer.
“In the city, de Blasio made clear that, despite the deteriorating situation, he neither needed nor wanted support from the state police or the National Guard. The governor kept the channels of communication open, speaking directly with rank-and-file members of the NYPD and their union officials to get their perspective on what was going wrong,” DeRosa, said.
“I told [DeBlasio deputy mayor Emma Wolfe] that, based on conversations the governor was having with law enforcement on the ground, he believed strongly that the NYPD didn’t have enough police officers on the street,” she said.
DeRosa also said de Blasio was influenced by the “far left” whose mantra following Floyd’s killing was “defund the police.”
More over at The New York Post:
Ex-NYC Mayor de Blasio deliberately held back cops during George Floyd protests, new Melissa DeRosa book claims https://t.co/01WkjlnPyk pic.twitter.com/r7N5CHWOQa
— New York Post (@nypost) October 22, 2023
