Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was so incensed by the shooting of two New York City police officers that he interrupted his vacation Monday night to phone into “The O’Reilly Factor” and call for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) resignation.
“He cannot run this city. He’s lost control of the police department and their respect,” O’Reilly told guest host Greg Gutfeld. “They will never come back no matter what he says, because he sided with the protesters, that’s what he did. And he associated with provocateurs and he has disgraced the office of mayor of New York City. He should resign.”
O’Reilly cautioned that Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the gunman who shot his girlfriend Saturday in Maryland before traveling to Brooklyn and fatally shooting Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, was the only person responsible for the deaths.
“No one else has blood on their hands,” he said.
But O’Reilly argued that de Blasio has been “an anti-police individual” over the course of his entire career.
He applauded the NYPD officers who turned their backs to de Blasio when he entered Brooklyn’s Woodhull Hospital for a press conference, then chastised the mayor for comments he made earlier this month in reaction to a grand jury decision in the death of Eric Garner. In an emotional speech, de Blasio had voiced his fear that his biracial son, Dante, may be mistreated by police.
“De Blasio is proud that he told his teenage son that he may face ‘dangers’ when interacting with the NYPD,” O’Reilly said. “What type of responsible father tells that to his son?”
Local police unions also have been sharply critical of de Blasio in the wake of the shooting. Earlier Monday, the mayor urged protesters in the city to halt demonstrations until after Ramos’ and Liu’s funerals.
Watch below via Fox News:
