Politics

‘You Give An Inch, They Take A Mile’: Rudy Giuliani Says Letting A Police Precinct Fall Opened Floodgates For Riots

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that officials in Minnesota made a fatal mistake when they allowed rioters to take over a police precinct.

Giuliani explained Monday during an appearance on “Bill Hemmer Reports” that allowing a police precinct to fall signaled to opportunists nationwide that they could run over the police.

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Anchor Bill Hemmer began the segment by referencing President Donald Trump’s phone call with governors across the country, during which he strongly encouraged them to crack down on rioters.

“You would agree with what the president said that ‘most of you are weak, you have to arrest and dominate, you will look like a bunch of jerks.’ Apparently that was some of what was relayed earlier today with Americans governors,” Hemmer said. (RELATED: ‘Almost All In Good Fun’: Rand Paul Takes ‘Festivus’ Potshots At Rudy Giuliani And John Bolton)

“I might not have used such mild language,” Giuliani laughed, but his tone immediately became more serious. “I think if you can’t make a decision to defend the police precinct, you should not be a mayor. When that mayor, who really does not know what he is doing at all, decided to abandon a police precinct, to retreat and to have the forces of lawlessness take over the police precinct and burn it down, he basically enabled the rioters in Minnesota, and he enabled rioters all over the country.”

Giuliani explained that even if the rioters weren’t coordinating with each other from city to city, they were certainly taking cues as they learned through media coverage and social media posts what was working in other places.

“When they saw that they could dominate the police, they have been walking right over them,” he added.

“I heard you say that late on Saturday night during our coverage, and you believe that that was the original sin, when they abandoned that police precinct, they gave the green light in Minneapolis and other cities across America,” Hemmer pressed.

“The tragedy here, Bill, is one week ago we all agreed with each other, this was an opportunity for real unity,” Giuliani continued, noting that pretty much everyone who had seen the viral video of George Floyd’s death had been in agreement that something had gone very wrong. Floyd, who was unarmed and did not appear to be resisting arrest, was pinned on the ground as former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck until he lost consciousness and later died.

“That is an extraordinary opportunity to bring us together, and I think that there are people who didn’t want to bring us together, and I think that they have driven this thing from beginning to end. And we are getting used, and a lot of people are getting used,” Giuliani said.

“They are just going to do more of it! They are going to do more of it! They took over one police precinct, I believe they took over three more,” Giuliani concluded. “What did he think he was going to do, this idiot? Did he think he was going to give them a police precinct, and they would say, ‘thank you, mayor. We like this police precinct, We will do no more violence to your city.’ I don’t know where he came from, certainly not the streets. You give an inch, they take a mile.”