New York City mayoral candidate George McDonald came out swinging Friday against U.S. Attorney Eric Holder's support of an independent monitor to oversee the NYPD if a judge strikes down its controversial stop-and-frisk program.
"It's hard to understand why in the world they're concentrating on New York City when in their own backyard in Chicago it's unsafe to walk down a lot of the streets there," McDonald told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
Story continues below.
"They ought to be emulating what we do in New York City … to solve crime in the rest of the country. But what are they doing? Just the opposite of that. It boggles the imagination what's in their mind."
In stop-and-frisk, police officers who suspect a person has committed or is about to commit a crime, can stop and search them for weapons or contraband.
The NYPD says the program has been very successful in helping stop crime. But with the majority of those stopped being African-American or Latino, the program has been hit with charges of racism, served with lawsuits, and is now under federal scrutiny.
McDonald said government's intrusion — and Holder's support of it — stands to ruin the morale of the NYPD, who are nicknamed "New York's Finest."
"On my way over here I had a conversation with a police officer, a man of color, and he said these politicians have their heads in the part of the body that we won't share with you," McDonald said.
"I have lived through New York City in the bad old days when I couldn’t let my daughter go to the corner to get a slice of pizza . . . where the police were driving by the guy sitting on my stoop smoking crack cocaine.
"We can get back to those bad old days very, very quickly with this federal interference."
McDonald added that the fact that his Democratic opponents running for position being vacated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg agree with federal oversight of the NYPD smacks of politics.
"[Christine Quinn] is the one that's the sponsor of this independent police monitor bill and wouldn't it be great that the federal government supports her position? You see?" he said.
"And Bill de Blasio, another leading candidate, has the same position. So the Democrats who are running for mayor are being supported by the Democratic federal administration. There's no doubt about it.
"Why would they want to interfere with this success, when people lives depend on it?"
See the Steve Malzberg Show on Newsmax TV each weekday live by Clicking Here Now
You can listen to the Steve Malzberg Show each weekday live from 3-6 PM ET on SiriusXM 244.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.