New York Mayor Bill De Blasio Misused City Resources, Probe Report Says

(Bloomberg) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio abused city resources for political and personal reasons, according to a 49-page report by the city’s Department of Investigation. 

The report found that the New York City Police Department spent nearly $320,000 for de Blasio’s security detail to travel on his 2019 presidential campaign trips. The funds haven’t been reimbursed by de Blasio or his campaign, according to the report. 

“I am literally shocked at the number of inaccuracies in this report,” de Blasio said at a press briefing Thursday, noting that the DOI did not turn to the security experts he receives guidance from. “The guidance I have received is from the NYPD -- I’ve never received any contradictory guidance,” he said. 

The investigation also found that de Blasio used city resources to help move his daughter, Chiara de Blasio, from her Brooklyn apartment to Gracie Mansion. The report said her move was “misuse of NYPD resources for a personal benefit, whether it was requested or merely accepted.” The report also said that de Blasio’s Executive Protection Unit drove his son Dante de Blasio to and from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. 

The mayor said that he did not know of the NYPD’s involvement with his daughter’s move and that he is “prepared to do whatever the law requires,” on paying back the allegedly misused funds. A spokesperson for the mayor said the report was unprofessional and failed to contact relevant expertise.

“Intelligence and security experts should decide how to keep the mayor and his family safe, not civilian investigators. 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,”  the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “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.” 

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