New York lawyer and activist Olayemi Olurin grilled Mayor Eric Adams (D) on Friday morning’s episode of the Breakfast Club and pressed him hard on his 'fear-mongering' about crime in the city.
“Please provide the exact quotes from my speeches because I’m confused. Can you do that,” Adams requested of Olurin after she accused him of spreading fear about crime.
“That you spread fear about the subways?” Olurin responded as Adams again asked for the quotes.
“You have consistently done that since the beginning of your time in office. One of the first things you did was add 1000 officers to the subway, stating that it's unsafe. You and Hochul did this and discussed how dangerous it is. And you recently did that when you deployed the National Guard.”
“But that's not what I asked. My question was, what did I say that promoted fear?” Adams hit back.
Olurin reaffirmed, stating, “You repeatedly say, I could point to a number of videos and quotes and everything from you, but you’ve said repeatedly that the subways are dangerous, that New York is dangerous. You complain about crime relentlessly. So what I’m saying to you is, if you are saying that New York is the safest city, it’s one of the safest big cities in this country, which is true. And you’re recognizing that the subway stations are, in fact, not half as dangerous as they’re presented to be. I’m saying, how do you reconcile how your rhetoric has played into people’s fear?”
“And not just words? I would say the actions, because she’s right,” added host Charlamagne tha God as Adams objected.
“If you put a thousand police officers in the subway twice that in the subway, that doesn’t make us feel safe, we think something’s wrong if you do that,” Charlamagne continued.
“Let me, let me first let me peel back again, because you have to always peel back this stuff, you know, because of often how you are portrayed in the media that I don’t control is how people interpret you. I didn’t put the National Guards in the subway. The governor did,” a flustered Adams replied.
“I know, but I know what you said,” Olurin replied.
“You stood with Governor Kathy Hochul and you supported that decision. You did. And I’m not saying this as someone who’s following social media. I’m saying that as an attorney in the city and an activist who follows everything that you do,” she added.
Adams responded, “Yeah, I’m glad you do. But then you realize how I turned the city around. If you follow everything I do, you realize that…”
Olurin interjected, “I would say no, but we could get to that next.”
Charlamagne jumped in to ease the tension with a joke, saying, “Relax, Mayor Adams, it's gonna be a long day.”
Watch above via The Breakfast Club.
