Trump signs and NYC candidates opine on cash bail, a flashpoint in response to antisemitism

The candidates are reacting to Trump’s executive order on Monday that could cut federal funding to New York. The order threatened states that limit the use of cash bail in lower-level criminal cases.

The White House is likely to target New York, citing cases in the city when suspects were released without bail and subsequently accused of committing another crime.

If Trump decides to revoke federal grants, the NYPD could lose $200 million. Jessica Tisch, the Jewish NYPD Commissioner who has won praise from across the political spectrum, met with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi yesterday afternoon. She reportedly told Bondi that violent crimes in New York are at a record low and the city does not need National Guard troops, which Trump sent into Washington, D.C. and is threatening to send to other cities.

As governor, Andrew Cuomo eliminated cash bail for misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies in 2019. While many progressive Jewish groups have stood by bail reform, we covered debates over the law among New York Jews after a suspect in a series of synagogue attacks was released without bail in 2021.

Gov. Kathy Hochul made several changes to Cuomo’s original law, and his opponents in the mayoral race are jumping on his record. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa said Cuomo’s bail reform “has been a disaster for New York,” while Mayor Eric Adams said “the former governor made a terrible mistake.”

Meanwhile, frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, whose party opposes cash bail, continues to insist that he is the only candidate who will stand up to Trump. “We have seen that the best way to fight Donald Trump is to do exactly that. It’s to fight him. It’s not to cower, it’s not to collaborate, it’s not to call him,” he said, taking a shot at reports that Adams has cooperated with Trump and Cuomo has talked to him on the phone.