New York's mayor blasts Sessions' 'soft on crime' statement

A NYPD police department vehicle is seen in Times Square (OlegAlbinsky)

NEW YORK – New York City's mayor and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions are battling over a Department of Justice statement accusing the city of being "soft on crime."

The department said Friday in a statement New York "continues to see gang murder after gang murder, the predictable consequence of the city's 'soft on crime' stance."

The statement was part of an ongoing dispute between Republican President Donald Trump and cities including New York over immigration policy.

Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH'-zee-oh) calls the "soft on crime" characterization "absolutely outrageous."

He wonders why Sessions would "insult the men and women who do this work every day, who put their lives on the line and who have achieved so much?"

The Department of Justice says the mayor's policies "are hamstringing" the police.