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CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Blasts NYC Mayor And Police Commissioner Over Handling Of Threats [VIDEO]

Steve Guest Media Reporter
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CNN law enforcement analyst Johnathan Gilliam insisted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s response to the threat on NYC schools was “ridiculous.”

Appearing on CNN’s “Legal View With Ashleigh Banfield” on Tuesday, Gilliam said, “I’m going to try to keep this as calm as I can because I am furious watching that press briefing by Mayor de Blasio and the Police Commissioner Bratton in New York.”

“I think the response that’s happening in L.A. is appropriate,” explained Gilliam. “I think that they are setting the example for not inciting fear, but showing that they are aware and they are trying to stay ahead of any potential threat, because unless the commissioner here in New York City and Mayor de Blasio know that 100 percent there is no credibility to that threat, they have to take the threat at least somewhat serious.” (RELATED: All Los Angeles Unified School District Schools Closed Due To Bomb Threat [VIDEO])

Gilliam noted that New York City handled the situation completely different than LA suggesting, “What you had here in New York was a mayor and commissioner that were saying, ‘We don’t want to show people to be afraid. We don’t want people to be afraid. We don’t want to show weakness.'” That kind of “rhetoric” makes “people afraid and they make people feel like something is just not right here,” according to the former Navy SEAL.

For NYC officials to downplay the threat as “nothing,” Gilliam claimed, “That is the mentality that is gonna get people killed eventually.”

“I’m not saying that they have to shut the schools down, but you have to empower people, and tell them, it’s better for us to be aware, we are taking precautions, we’re looking into this,” Gilliam said.

Gilliam then laid into the FBI in New York arguing, “Why downplay it? Why do they do this every single time here in New York? When I was in the FBI here in New York, it was constantly downplaying. ‘We don’t have a credible threat. We don’t know for sure.'”

“I find this ridiculous and in comparison to what is happening in L.A., it may be, you know, they maybe going over the top, but I think that they are handling it in a very calm and sophisticated manner out there,” Gilliam insisted.

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