AL FIRES BACK AT DON
‘I believe there’s a God that sits higher than’ him: rev
The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a soaring rebuke to President Trump on Saturday for branding him a “troublemaker” — and vowed to keep fighting for the firing of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo.
Invoking Scriptures, Sharpton warned the president that the black church taught him not to back down from a fight with the rich and powerful.
Trump “is mad at me because I fought when others wouldn’t fight, he’s mad at me because I stood up when others didn’t stand up,” Sharpton told an emotional crowd at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. “He’s mad at me because I believe there is a God that will fight my battles and there is a God that sits higher than the White House.”
Sharpton called Trump’s attacks a badge of honor for a fellow New Yorker.
“They remember you in other parts of the country for putting your name on buildings. We remember your for the [Central Park] Five,” Sharpton intoned, referring to the black teens who were cleared in the rape of a white jogger in Central Park. At the time of the rape, Trump called for the death penalty for the teens, who were later cleared.
An overflow crowd packed the National Action Network headquarters, and supporters repeatedly rose to their feet to cheer on Sharpton.
The rally was billed as a show of support for the civil rights leader just days after Trump denounced him on social media as a “con man” who hates cops and whites.
“Keep your hands off the Rev. Al Sharpton. He is ours,” said state Sen. Brian Benjamin (D-Harlem). “He is not the con man, Donald Trump. You are the con man.”
The rally quickly pivoted to the case of Pantaleo, the NYPD cop who killed Eric Garner with a chokehold on a Staten Island street in 2014. A department judge urged Friday that the city should fire Pantaleo.
Garner’s daughter Emerald Snipes-Garner angrily addressed Pantaleo directly: “You’re not a police officer, you’re a murderer … we’re coming for you.”
The grieving daughter reminded the cop that he is still alive and walking free — unlike her dad. “Pantaleo, your family is here, they can see you,” she said. “I will never see my father again.”
Flanked by city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and other political allies, Sharpton promised to lead mass rallies until Pantaleo is ousted from the NYPD.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill has 10 days to weigh the recommendation to fire Pantaleo and opposing pleas by the police union to leave him on the force. Mayor de Blasio has urged patience as the disciplinary process plays out.
Williams called it “frustrating” that New York’s liberal agenda is being sidetracked by a case that he called open and shut.
“In a progressive city with a progressive mayor, we have … to focus on simply firing a man who choked a man on video,” Williams said. “Simply fire Pantaleo.”