Bratton: 'Ironic' That Muslim Police Officers Are Among Those Protecting Donald Trump In New York
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is calling it "ironic'' that some NYPD officers assigned to a security detail at Trump Tower are Muslim.
Bratton made the remark Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe'' while talking about the importance of building trust in Muslim communities to fight terror.
Bratton has said Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric calling for a ban on Muslims entering the country hurts that effort.
Bratton said the 36,000-officer NYPD has roughly 1,000 Muslim officers. He said some have been posted outside the midtown Manhattan skyscraper where Trump lives to help protect the Republican as he runs for president.
The Trump campaign hasn't responded to Bratton's comments.
President Barack Obama also delivered a scathing rebuke of Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric on Tuesday, blasting the Republican presidential nominee's immigration proposals as dangerous and "not the America we want."
Speaking to reporters after a briefing on the Orlando shooting, Obama said Trump's call for tougher talk on terrorism and a strict ban on Muslim immigration would make Muslim Americans feel betrayed by their government and would undermine American values.
"If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect." Obama said. "And then the terrorists would have won and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen."
The president's remarks were his first reaction to Trump's speech Monday after Sunday's mass shooting — and perhaps his strongest yet on the threat he sees the businessman candidate poses to the U.S. politics and security.
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