New York, NY – A new report released by New York City’s Department of Investigation (DOI) revealed that Mayor Bill de Blasio misused New York Police Department (NYPD) resources during his failed 2020 Presidential bid.
The report, which is 49 pages long, detailed the investigation into allegations de Blasio used his NYPD Executive Protection Unit (EPU) officers who were assigned to keep him safe to chauffer campaign staff and family members around and do scut work for his children.
DOI’s report said that in 2018, de Blasio used his NYPD security detail to move his adult daughter – then-23-year-old Chiara de Blasio – out of her apartment in Brooklyn, FOX News reported.
Investigators found that four NYPD officers assigned to protect the mayor helped carry furniture and used an NYPD sprinter van to move a futon and other belongings from Chiara’s apartment to the New York City mayor’s official residence on the Upper East Side, Gracie Mansion.
De Blasio also had his protective detail ferry his adult son, Dante de Blasio, to and from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut on a regular basis, a two-hour drive each way, FOX News reported.
The mayor or his wife, Chirlane McCray, accompanied their now-24-year-old son on a few occasions but most of the time, NYPD officers were chauffeuring de Blasio’s adult son around by himself, according to the DOI report.
The report also said it was common for the mayor to direct EPU supervisors to have members of the unit drive Dante to locations in New York City without either of his parents, FOX News reported.
“The children of protectees are not entitled to use NYPD resources outside the presence of the protectee, absent an independent security determination by NYPD that family members require protection,” the report read.
DOI said that NYPD had recommended a security detail for de Blasio’s immediate family but that both adult children had declined protection.
The investigation also found that the mayor had been misusing his protection detail for more than the convenience of his family, according to the report.
It found multiple instances of EPU transporting the mayor’s staff to various locations, including their homes, and examples of officers helping staffers run errands for de Blasio.
The report also said DOI had found several times the mayor had asked his security detail to drive his friends home when he wasn’t in the vehicle.
The probe also discovered that de Blasio has had his protection detail doing frequent security checks at homes the mayor owns in Brooklyn even though none of his family members currently live in them.
DOI investigators determined that the city had spent $319,794 for de Blasio’s protective detail to accompany him on Presidential campaign trips in his failed bid for the Democratic nomination, according to the report.
The report said the mayor had not yet reimbursed the city for any of the expenses incurred by him personally or by his campaign during his administration.
DOI investigators also noted in the report that the NYPD inspector in charge of the de Blasio’s family’s protection had “actively obstructed and sought to thwart this investigation, frustrating DOI’s efforts to learn the full facts regarding these allegations.”
The report found that neither NYPD nor de Blasio’s staff had maintained any records about how the protection detail was utilized by the mayor or his family members.
The mayor’s office has written off the findings of the DOI probe as bunk.
De Blasio’s office told FOX News on Thursday that the DOI report ignored “the very real threat assessment and concern” about the safety of the mayor and his family.
The mayor’s office specifically cited now-former Sergeant Benevolent Association (SBA) President Ed Mullins’ tweets that included “the Mayor’s daughter’s personal information last June” after she was arrested during the George Floyd riots.
De Blasio’s office also told FOX News in an email that the “January 6 insurrection at the Capital [sic] underscores real and present danger, especially for elected officials who publicly opposed Trump.”
“Intelligence and security experts should decide how to keep the mayor and his family safe, not civilian investigators,” the email read. “This unprofessional report purports to do the NYPD’s job for them, but with none of the relevant expertise – and without even interviewing the official who heads intelligence for the City. As a result, we are left with an inaccurate report, based on illegitimate assumptions and a naïve view of the complex security challenges facing elected officials today.”
DOI is an independent agency that acts in the capacity of an inspector general, the Associated Press reported.
Holly Matkin
