Donald Trump

‘Petty and Divisive': Dem Governors, Mayors Slam Trump for Threatening to Withhold Funds From Cities

A file photo of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Democratic mayors and governors have lashed out at President Donald Trump after he issued a memo directing his administration to find federal funds that could be cut from cities run by Democrats including "anarchist jurisdictions," NBC News reported.

Democrats said that the federal government cannot unilaterally withhold funding from their cities and argued that the president’s move was merely an attempt to distract from the more than 180,000 U.S. deaths from the coronavirus pandemic.

"It is another attempt to kill New York City," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters during a late-night conference call. He added that Trump "better have an army if he thinks he’s going to walk down the streets in New York."

Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said in a statement that the memorandum was "illegal" and a "sham."

Trump's memo directs Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought to issue guidance to executive departments and agencies and asks them to list all federal funds provided to New York City, Portland, Seattle and Washington, D.C., specifically. It also directs Attorney General Bill Barr, in consultation with Vought and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, to identify state and local jurisdictions "that have permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities (anarchist jurisdictions)."

Read the full story on NBCNews.com.

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