Fox News anchors Sandra Smith and Trace Gallagher were floored by Zohran Mamdani’s Wednesday press conference in which the Democrat praised police following past comments going viral in which he slammed the NYPD as “racist.”
Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for the next New York City mayor, addressed the shooting in Manhattan on Monday night in which four people were killed, including NYPD officer Didarul Islam. Mamdani visited with Islam’s family following the shooting.
Mamdani also addressed backlash to his past comments on police. The comments were first reported on by The Washington Free Beacon’s Jon Levine. They come from a 2020 episode of the Immigrantly. Mamdani argued police do “not create safety” and argued they shouldn’t respond to domestic violence calls. In a 2020 tweet, the Democrat also called the NYPD “racist.”
Mamdani struck a different tone on Wednesday when he offered thanks to the NYPD for their response to the Manhattan shooting and said his comments were made during a time of heightened tensions around police following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“I want to thank law enforcement for their response to the horrific shooting on Monday and their work in keeping New Yorkers safe,” Mamdani said. “I ask that in this moment we come together as New Yorkers and we remember the four of our neighbors that were killed.”
He added, “The vision we have put forward in
Cutting out of the press conference, Smith called it a “remarkable moment” watching Mamdani praise police.
“A remarkable moment to see this candidate, Trace, walking back his defund the police views that he has shared many times in the past and over the course of years. He walked back those defund police views, he talked about law enforcement in the wake of this shooting, he thanked law enforcement for their actions,” Smith said, noting Mamdani’s “anti-police” past.
Gallagher argued the press conference is a prime example of why so many people do not like politics and its “hypocrisy.”
“I think this is the reason a lot of people don’t like politics because they see this happen. They see that there is hypocrisy that is kind of embedded in the structure of it all,” he said. “And you have to consider the context and the timing on this. He’s going and he’s saying, holding a press conference, he’s accusing people of scoring political points for asking him these questions, and yet he’s holding a press conference trying to score political points.”
Gallagher further noted that Islam became an officer four
“He signed up to join the blue when Zohran Mamdani was saying defund the blue,” he said.
“In his second question he came back with, ‘it’s beyond me that politicians would try to score political points, cheap political points by pointing out his past views,'” Smith added. “And that, as you point out, is a remarkable thing to say when you’re standing here giving a news conference in the wake of all this.”
Watch above via Fox News.