New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and President Barack Obama have engaged in "hate speech" against the police, says former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Appearing Monday on Fox News Channel's
"Hannity," Giuliani said police officers were being disrespectful to the office when the literally turned their backs on de Blasio Saturday night following the shooting deaths of two of their fellow officers.
But Giuliani said he understands the officers' feelings because of the way de Blasio has spoken about the police in recent months.
"All those comments saying the New York City police department are substantially racist, and that is totally untrue. That hasn't been true for decades," Giuliani said. "I mean, the New York City police department is one of the most diverse police departments in the United States."
"So this whole notion that the police officers are running around trying to kill people of color – I have no idea why the president and the mayor want to perpetuate this," he added.
Giuliani said he has been upset with the tone of elected officials about police even before the killings on Saturday of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu by a man who posted on Instagram he was going to kill two police officers to avenge the death of Eric Garner.
"I consider this hate speech regarding police officers," he said.
He criticized Obama for taking advice from the Rev. Al Sharpton, whom Giuliani accused of hating the police for decades and for causing riots in New York City.
"It's propaganda. It's no different than the propaganda they used to have in the Soviet Union," Giuliani said.
De Blasio waited too late to urge protesters not to be shouting to kill the police, the former mayor said. The proper time would have been when video first surfaced last week with a group of protesters shouting, "What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!"
"The mayor needs to apologize to the police for having defamed them," Giuliani said.