Dan Bongino clashed with New York BLM leader Hawk Newsome during an interview Saturday night. The fiery exchange came in the wake of Newsome’s comments last week toward Mayor-elect Eric Adams who has vowed to bring back NYPD’s plainclothes anti-crime unit to combat the surge of violence in the city.
“If they think they are going back to the old ways of policing then we’re going to take to the streets again,” Newsome said, Law Officer reported. “There will be riots. There will be fire, and there will be bloodshed.”
Bongino and Newsome had a heated exchange about rioting and vandalism in New York City linked to BLM in the wake of police use-of-force encounters. Eventually, the Fox News host called the BLM leader a “coward” for refusing to condemn the riots, the New York Post reported.
Bongino, a former NYPD officer and secret service agent, asked Newsome if he condemned the “riots and burning down buildings” that have taken place after police-involved incidents, which notably escalated in NYC last year.
“No. What I’ll say is, I understand when a police officer unjustifiably kills someone, why people lash out. I understand that completely,” Newsome said, adding: “I’m not going to condemn, nor am I going to condone it.”
Bongino retorted, calling him “cowardly” and not being able to answer questions when put on the spot — despite talking a “lot of junk.”
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“Do you condone violence or you condemn violence? You’re all over the place. Just condemn violence and burning of buildings down. How hard is it?” the former cop said.
Newsome made a ridiculous comparison between BLM protests and the U.S. response after 9/11.
“OK, so when Osama bin Laden attacked the World Trade Center, did you say America should deal with it peacefully?” Newsome said, prompting Bongino to argue the terrorist attacks had nothing to do with rioting in NYC, according to the Post.
Newsome responded: “OK, I’ll give you this. I don’t condone it, I don’t promote it, but I will not condemn it.”
He then cut the interview short, telling Bongino: “You’re trying to bait me.”
Newsome is no stranger to volatile comments. Last year he said “If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it,” Law Officer reported.
