Hochul pushes back on rumors she was asked to leave slain NYPD officer’s wake

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) pushed back on rumors that she was asked to leave a slain New York Police Department (NYPD) officer’s wake, saying nobody told her to after being confronted by a mourner on Friday. 

“We always ask: ‘Would the families like us there?’ If the families say, ‘No, this is the time for our personal family grieving, we don’t want a politician there,’ we don’t go,” Hochul said on Saturday during an Easter event, according to Politico. 

“In this case, we asked. We were told the family is welcoming. We always check, and they said to come, and I went. And no one told me to leave.”

Hochul attended NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s wake on Friday. Diller was shot Monday in Queens at close range, prompting more calls for Hochul and the state to address the issue of bail reform. 

During her attendance, she was confronted by a man whom the New York Post identified as a Diller family member. The man was Diller’s uncle, according to the outlet, citing one source. 

He had a tense conversation with Hochul as she was leaving, according to the video that later went viral. 

“People will do what they’re going to do for their own reasons, and I will remain convinced that it was the right thing to do,” she said Saturday. “I would do it again, and that’s my job. My job is to be there when people need me. If they need to talk to me, and they all needed to talk to me, my job is to listen.”

Hochul also said she is pushing to reverse the bail laws in the state of New York and reiterated the importance of being at the wake. 

“I think everyone knows my positions on the bail laws,” Hochul said. “I’m the one who’s been trying to make the changes to go back to where it was.”

Former President Trump attended Diller’s wake on Thursday.