Governor Accuses Trump of Defunding the Police – Drops Bombshell

Man in suit and glasses at a press conference — Photo: lev radin / Shutterstock

Kathy Hochul just accused the Trump administration of “defunding the police,” and the Department of Homeland Security answered with a number of its own that changes the whole story.

Quick Take

Governor Hochul says Washington is withholding 40 percent of New York’s counterterrorism funding, worth $87 million.
She claims the missing money threatens bomb squads, FDNY communications, transit security, and intelligence sharing.
The Department of Homeland Security fired back, saying New York is “manufacturing a funding crisis” while sitting on $300 million already awarded.
Federal judges have already ruled against DHS in earlier rounds of this same fight, ordering money restored.

Hochul Puts A Dollar Figure On Her Accusation

Governor Hochul stood with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on September 1, 2026, and said the federal government owes the state $87 million in counterterrorism funding. She called it 40 percent of what New York should be getting under federal homeland security grants. Hochul framed the shortfall as President Trump “defunding the police,” a phrase built for headlines and cable news chyrons.

The governor’s office says New York already received $100 million after a federal judge ordered partial relief, but nearly $87 million is still outstanding almost a year after the fight began. State officials tied the missing money to specific jobs: intelligence operations, transit hub security, equipment, and training for police and sheriffs across New York.

What The Money Was Supposed To Cover

Local reporting laid out the stakes in concrete terms. The Urban Areas Security Initiative grant was set to drop from about $156 million to $92 million, with New York City alone losing $55.6 million. The State Homeland Security Program faced a $37.6 million cut, including $11 million earmarked for the city. Hochul’s team says the fallout hits 12 bomb squads, FDNY communications gear, hazmat teams, and the New York State Intelligence Center.

Those are real programs with real budgets, not abstractions. But naming the line items doesn’t prove intent. It shows what the state says is at risk, not why the federal government slowed the payments in the first place.

DHS Says New York Is Telling Only Half The Story

The Department of Homeland Security did not stay quiet. A DHS statement said Hochul was “manufacturing a funding crisis” because New York has not spent $300 million in grants it already received. If accurate, that claim reframes the entire fight. It suggests New York’s real problem may be slow spending and grant management, not a federal refusal to pay.

This is not a minor footnote. It is a specific, named counterclaim from the agency itself, and it deserves equal weight to Hochul’s press conference. A state demanding more federal cash while leaving $300 million unspent is a legitimate question taxpayers should ask, regardless of party.

This Fight Has A Long, Messy History

This is not the first round. Reporting from last September described a prior cut reaching $187 million before President Trump reversed part of it following Republican pushback. Separately, federal judges in New York and Rhode Island have already ruled against DHS in related cases, calling the withholding of transit security money “arbitrary, capricious and a blatant violation of the law” and ordering roughly $34 million restored. Those rulings matter because they show courts, not just Hochul, have found problems with how some of these cuts were handled.

🚨 KATHY HOCHUL SAYS TRUMP IS “DEFUNDING THE POLICE” — BUT HERE’S THE PART SHE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO FOCUS ON.

Hochul is attacking Trump over $87 million in federal counterterrorism funding that New York says is being withheld.

Meanwhile, Hochul has been working closely with… pic.twitter.com/nO4FxBmwjm

— Reverend Jordan Wells (@WellsJorda89710) September 2, 2026

Numbers have shifted throughout this saga, from $86 million to $87 million to a $187 million reduction to $100 million restored. That drift does not erase the underlying dispute, but it does make it harder for the public to pin down exactly how much money is actually missing right now versus already settled by court order.

What Conservatives Should Watch Here

Counterterrorism funding should never be a political football, and if courts have found unlawful conduct in past rounds, that is worth taking seriously regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. At the same time, a state government demanding new money while an agency says $300 million in prior awards sits unspent is not a detail to wave away. Accountability has to run in both directions, and New York owes taxpayers a clear accounting of its own grant spending before Albany points fingers at Washington.

The honest read is that this is a genuine legal and administrative dispute, tangled up with immigration politics and a mayor’s race, dressed up in the most inflammatory language possible. “Defunding the police” makes for a great soundbite. It does not, on its own, settle who is actually responsible for the delay.