New York Mayor Eric Adams blasted city council’s “far-left agenda” after it approved two controversial bills on Wednesday banning solitary confinement for inmates in jails and forcing police officers to report every street encounter, no matter how small.
The embattled mayor, a former NYPD captain, was staunchly opposed to both bills, whose passage he blamed on a “numerical minority” that is “controlling the narrative.”
“This assault on public safety is just wrong,” Adams told WABC radio host John Catsimatidis on his “Cats & Cosby Show” Wednesday night.
“The overwhelming number of people in the city — they support their police. They want their police to do public safety, and not filling out paperwork. That’s the same with the Department of Corrections,” Adams said.
The two bills were slammed by the city’s police and jail guard unions. They were passed Wednesday with a veto-proof majority, meaning they will likely become law.
Adams said that the council’s leftist contingent is “digging in deep” on progressive issues and refusing to budge.
“You have people who have a far-left agenda, who don’t believe in supporting police, and they’re just writing this legislation, and just handing it over to the council people,” he said.
Councilmembers voted Wednesday to ban solitary confinement in city jails. Instead, an inmate will only be separated from the general population if they’ve been involved in a violent incident while in custody.
They separately approved the policing bill, which supporters said would hold police accountable for unlawful stops and will require cops to fill out detailed paperwork for every single person they come across during an investigation — including their race and gender.
Adams’ approval rating has dipped down to a record low of 28% as he faces several challenges — including an ongoing feud with the Biden administration over its handling of the migrant crisis, forcing the city to make significant budget cuts, and an FBI probe into his campaign fundraising.
Hizzoner has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
“We’ve already hit the bursting point. The flow has overflowed us … We are a country of standing up and fighting for what we want,” he told Catsimatidis about his calls on the federal government to cover the city’s cost for hosting the migrants.
The Big Apple has been seeing as many as 4,000 new migrant arrivals each week, he said.
“DC is the center of our national government,” he continued. “It can’t be just Eric taking 10 trips [to Washington]. Lawmakers need to see their constituents, and we need to speak on a federal level.”
When Adams was asked if he thought his criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant situation may have led to the FBI’s investigation into the mayor’s campaign fundraising, he said he “can’t speculate,” adding he’s “just going to stay focused on the mission I have.”
“My legal team is cooperating with the review that’s taking place,” he said. “I need to stay focused and navigate this city out of the crisis that we’re in.”
The FBI is probing whether or not Hizzoner pressured FDNY officials to fast-track permits for a proposed high-rise for government officials from Turkey — a country he has had close ties to since his days as Brooklyn borough president.