Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that President Obama won’t “go out of his way” to commemorate police deaths the way he does “these incidents that are supposedly racial.”
Giuliani’s comments, made during an appearance on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” referenced recent police killings of black men in places like Ferguson, Mo. and Baltimore, and the shooting of two NYC police officers in Brooklyn.
Throughout his appearance, Giuliani compared the President’s criticism of police to his own actions when he served as mayor in 2001.
“My attitude was you respect the police,” Giuliani said.
O’Reilly interjected and redirected the conversation, asking Giuliani whether he thought Obama was “disrespectful of authority.”
Giuliani said Obama has a history of criticizing the police.
“He has Al Sharpton sitting next to him which is like, which is like how about you carry a poster saying ‘Hate police’ next to you,” Giuliani said.
Giuliani also criticized Obama for not taking the time to honor NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu despite speaking on behalf of black men who were killed by police.
“He doesn’t go out of his way to give that as much attention as he does these incidents that are supposedly racial,” Giuliani said.
The former mayor said Obama needed to tell children of all races to respect police.
“You don’t disrespect a police officer,” Giuliani said. “He’s a symbol of authority. He’s putting his life to risk for you. You owe him respect.”
Giuliani then talked about what he had accomplished in his time as mayor more than ten years ago.
h/t Mediaite