Ex-NYC mayor makes two shocking U-turns during chat with Sean Hannity

By ALEX HAMMER, US MEDIA CORRESPONDENT Updated: 20:55 19 Mar 2026

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has admitted to Sean Hannity that he now regrets his part in the city's 'Defund the Police' movement.

De Blasio, 64, made the revelation on Thursday’s 'Hang Out with Sean Hannity' on YouTube.

A $1 billion budget cut in funding for the New York Police Department (NYPD) in 2020 was one of De Blasio's many attempts to remold the city into a more liberal enclave.

De Blasio also backtracked on his old support for then-President Joe Biden's more lax approach to the border as, teasing at first, he said: 'We’re going to have some common ground. Are you ready?' - before dropping the proverbial bomb.

'I don’t like what Biden did with the border,' he said - leaving Hannity visibly surprised.

'Why didn’t you say it then?' the host remarked.

'Because honestly, I didn’t think it was as bad as it was,' de Blasio began. He went on to acknowledge the city's subsequent migrant crisis and how it affected New York's economy.

'Something changed. Obviously, something changed,' he said. 

'We, as Democrats, rightfully deserve that critique.'

Earlier on, De Blasio surprised Hannity for the first time.  

'In retrospect, the whole concept of "Defund the Police" made no sense,' he said.

'It made sense to say, "How can we do better?" It made sense to say, "Hey... We got a lot more for young people to give them positive alternatives." Because that’s good for the police, too. That’s good safety.'

Hannity, amused, couldn't help but note how the two 'were not disagreeing.'

'This is amazing. So far, we're doing good!' the host joked.

'Right?' a relaxed de Blasio replied. 'We’re doing good. 

'So defund was a mistake. And I understand where it came from, but it was a mistake,' he continued.

De Blasio's support for the $1 billion budget cut to the NYPD in July 2020 came at the crux of the movement.

At the time, de Blasio defended it, claiming he was 'very comfortable we struck the right balance.'

His successor ended up being former NYPD officer Eric Adams, who served just one term before being voted out of office last year.

The city's new mayor, Democrat Zohran Mamdani, has also walked back his old support for the 'Defund the Police' movement, which he championed as a state assemblyman in 2020 during de Blasio's second term.

He has since indicated a preference to keeping the NYPD headcount as is. The then-mayor-elect outright said in November: 'I will not defund the police.'

With more than 36,000 police officers, the NYPD has roughly three times as many sworn police officers as the next-most, Chicago, which also aggressively made cuts during the pandemic.

Within a year of being elected - and stripping the city’s police budget of $80 million - then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked the federal government for additional law enforcement resources to clamp down on rampant crime.  

She was denied a second term in 2023.