"The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin pressed New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on his "defund the police" stance as well as other rhetoric on Wednesday and asked if he had apologized to New York police officers.
Griffin noted to Mamdani he had previously called for defunding the police but since walked it back. She also said he "called the NYPD racist, anti-queer and a threat to public safety in 2020," but agreed that they deserve an apology.
"How can New Yorkers trust you and not be concerned that consultants are getting in your ear to get you elected, but you still hold all of those positions?" Griffin asked.
Mamdani attributed his backtracking to "growth and understanding."
Alyssa Farah Griffin speaks during ABC's "The View" on May 16, 2025. (Screenshot/ABC)
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"They can rest assured that it isn't consultants in my ear and I think this is another part of, to be a young person looking to lead is also to leave the opening for growth and understanding. And I can tell you growing up in this city, I thought often about safety and justice, and I saw how justice was often left aside," he said.
He mentioned the infamous "Central Park Five" case and the murder of George Floyd as examples.
The democratic socialist argued that when he became a New York City assemblyman, he learned "the ways in which you deliver justice is by intertwining it with safety."
"It can't be done alone," he added.
Democratic nominee for mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters outside the Federal Jacob Javits Building in New York on Aug. 7, 2025. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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"Have you formally apologized to the NYPD?" Griffin followed up.
Mamdani said he was talking to officers "individually."
"These are conversations that I’m having individually with officers and I have appreciated that, because it’s through those conversations with rank-and-file officers that I’ve learned more about the difficulties of this job," he said.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party's mayoral nominee in New York City, speaks to reporters on Aug. 7, 2025. (Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo)
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg praised Mamdani at the end of the interview for "admitting to growing up," which she said was a "great thing."
The co-hosts also pressed the mayoral candidate on President Donald Trump calling him a communist.
"No, I’m a democratic socialist. I believe in dignity for all people," he responded.