Mayor Bill de Blasio did not reimburse the city for his security detail travel expenses during his presidential campaign, totaling over $300,000, according to a report released Thursday by the Department of Investigation.
It also found that NYPD resources and personnel assisted in helping de Blasio’s children, Chiara and Dante de Blasio, move belongings and travel.
During Chiara’s move from her apartment to Gracie Mansion, the report found that an NYPD sprinter van was used to transport some of her belongings and that at least one Emergency Protection Unit member, the team responsible for the security needs of the mayor within the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau, helped move furniture into and out of the sprinter van, which the report said was "a misuse of NYPD resources for a personal benefit, whether it was requested or merely accepted."
Multiple instances were confirmed in which EPU detectives drove Dante de Blasio to or from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and around New York City, without the mayor or first lady present in the vehicle, according to the report.
The report raised questions over whether Dante, as an adult, required a security detail, saying that while the NYPD Intelligence Bureau believed both should have full-time protection, both he and Chiara declined assigned protection as adults. According to the report, after declining, “Dante’s use of NYPD resources was determined by his personal preferences and the availability of personnel, rather than any risk assessment.”
The report stated that the security detail was also found to have transported mayoral staffers, as well as guests of the mayor without de Blasio present in the vehicle, and that the detail also assisted staffers in running errands for the mayor.
"There was a culture that treated the detail as if they were staffers in City Hall or the mayor's office as opposed to what their role actually is, which is to ensure the personal protection of the mayor and, if necessary, his family," said Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett.
During the mayor’s presidential run, the city spent $319,794 for the security detail’s travel on campaign trips, according to the report, which added that that neither de Blasio nor his campaign has not reimbursed the city for the expenses. The report also said that campaign staffers were also occasionally transported by EPU members. Both of these uses reflect a use of NYPD resources for political purposes, according to the report.
The DOI also found that for about a year, the security detail has conducted security checks at houses owned by the mayor in Brooklyn, where neither he nor his family members currently reside.
Additionally, an NYPD inspector in charge of the First Family’s security detail - identified in the report as Inspector Howard Redmond - actively obstructed and sought to thwart this investigation, according to the DOI.
"Specifically he refused for months to provide his City Hall-issued phone," Garnett said. "Actively obstructed and sought to thwart this investigation."
The DOI said that allegation has been referred to the Manhattan DA.
Mayor Bill de Blasio called the report “unprofessional” and said there were a number of inaccuracies in it during his press briefing on Thursday.
He also criticised the investigation for not interviewing security experts like NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller, who he said are in charge of these decisions.
“Take this report with a big grain of salt,” de Blasio said. “A lot of the details are inaccurate. A lot of the suppositions are inaccurate. The guidance I have received is from the NYPD. I've never received any contradictory guidance. I have followed all guidance to the letter.”
Appearing on “Inside City Hall” Thursday night, Garnett pushed back against the mayor’s statements from the morning.
“Frankly, for the mayor, who is head of every city agency, to question DOI’s professionalism and integrity, it really undermines every other investigation we have going right now, or in the future,” Garnett told political anchor Errol Louis. “I think it’s really inappropriate, and I’ve yet to hear any identification of the claimed factual inaccuracies.”
The mayor said Dante's rides to Yale were a matter of security, though the report found that the NYPD made no threat assessments related to Dante.
"There was real concern. And the notion that when he was going back and forth, it was an extension of the normal protection," Mayor de Blasio said.
At one point, de Blasio said the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection proved public officials like him are routinely in danger, even though the report focused on incidents that took place in 2019.
"We all assumed that public servants were safe, and their families were safe. We don't have that assumption anymore," he said.
City Hall Press Secretary Danielle Filson called the report "inaccurate" and "based on illegitimate assumptions" in a statement.
"Intelligence and security experts should decide how to keep the mayor and his family safe, not civilian investigators," Filson's statement reads. "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. 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."
As part of his defense, de Blasio pointed to his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, who routinely traveled around the country. But Bloomberg, a billionaire, often had access to private transportation, including his personal plane, meaning the city didn't cover the cost of that travel.