In a new executive order, President Donald Trump threatened Monday to withhold federal dollars from communities, including New York, that offer cashless bail. 

The move was met with pushback from New York’s top leaders, and sparked debate on the campaign trail for New York City mayor. 

Signing the order in the Oval Office Monday morning, the president argued that cashless bail policies are a threat to public safety. “No cash. Come back in a couple of months. We’ll give you a trial. You never see the person again,” he said.

What You Need To Know

  • In a new executive order signed Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal dollars from communities that offer cashless bail, arguing the policy poses a threat to public safety 

  • New York’s bail reforms, which first went into effect in 2020, aimed to address income disparities in the criminal justice system by eliminating bail for lower-level crimes while still allowing it for more violent offenses, including — despite the president’s suggestion to the contrary — murder 

  • A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul accused Trump of not understanding how New York’s law works and noted the many modifications that have been made to the reforms in the years since it was initially enacted
  • The candidates for New York City mayor sparred over the executive order.

In a press release that accompanied the order, the White House put New York front and center, highlighting a handful of stories where suspects in New York were released without bail and were subsequently accused of committing another crime. 

Since going into effect in 2020 in New York, bail reform has been a flashpoint in state politics. 

The policy aimed to address income disparities in the criminal justice system by eliminating bail for lower-level crimes while still allowing it for more violent offenses, including — despite the president’s suggestion to the contrary — murder. 

Republicans attacked the 2020 policy, and the political backlash has been attributed to helping them secure wins in several elections since. 

While the president argues that cashless bail is a threat to public safety, Ames Grawert, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said there is little evidence of a connection between the bail reforms and crime rates. He recently published an analysis of the impact of cashless bail on public safety.

“It seems very clear that when we’ve seen crime trends increase or decrease on the national level, there’s something else going on. It’s not about changes to bail reform in a single state or even a handful of states,” Grawert said. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul accused Trump of not understanding how New York’s law works and noted the many modifications that have been made to the reforms in the years since it was initially enacted.

“New York has not eliminated cash bail. His reckless threat to withhold federal funds would only undercut law enforcement and make our communities less safe,” spokesperson Jen Goodman wrote. “The fact is Governor Hochul changed New York’s bail laws so violent offenders are held accountable, and as a result rearrests are down. New York now has one of the lowest violent crime rates in six decades.”

NYC mayoral candidates respond

On the campaign trail for New York City mayor, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a proponent of the bail reforms, railed against the president’s executive order. 

“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 Monday. 

Mayor Eric Adams, who has repeatedly leaned on Albany to update the bail reforms during his term in Gracie Mansion, used the president’s order as an opportunity to criticize Andrew Cuomo, who, as governor, signed the initial bail reform law. 

“Our revolving-door system of dealing with violent offenders must be addressed. I think the former governor made a terrible mistake with how they did bail reform,” Adams said. 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Cuomo responded by defending the bail reforms and dismissing any notion that Adams is the “law and order” candidate in the race. 

“As New York has cash bail for violent offenses, and repeat offender arrests have been decreasing, it’s clear that the drafters of this executive order don’t know the facts about New York’s law,” Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi wrote. “But it doesn’t matter as it’s very likely that this order – like many of this administration’s EOs – won’t stand up in court.”