Mayor de Blasio charged Monday that comments President-elect Donald Trump made during the campaign against Muslims and Mexicans contributed to hate crimes in New York City.
“You can’t have a candidate for president single out groups of Americans negatively and not have some ramifications,” the mayor said at a press conference at the First Police Precinct in Lower Manhattan.
“It’s not a surprise. There’s been a huge uptick in hate crimes. It’s very troubling.”
When asked if he blamed Trump directly, de Blasio took a step back.
“Obviously, it’s more complicated than that,” he said. “It’s not linear. Do I blame Donald Trump for using hate speech in his campaign? Absolutely. He did. It’s a fact.”
De Blasio noted that Trump has also been willing to speak out against white supremacist groups.
“A few times recently the president-elect has spoken out against it and he needs to keep doing that,” he said. “The temperature has to be brought down.”