CBS New YorkTIER 2High
The federal response to the Sept. 1 Hochul-Mamdani demand for $87M in withheld counterterrorism funds arrived the same evening. The White House referred CBS New York to DHS, and a FEMA spokesperson said Hochul is "manufacturing a funding crisis despite New York sitting on more than $300 million in UNSPENT federal homeland security funding," adding that New York has historically received allocations "significantly ABOVE risk-based formulas." The statement did not dispute that $87M of the $187M Trump said he would restore in October 2025 has not been sent. The $300M unspent figure is a DHS/FEMA characterization; the state has not published a reconciliation and we have not independently verified it (see fact_checks). Separately, CBS pressed Hochul on whether an undocumented immigrant with a DWI conviction should be able to stay; she declined a yes/no, saying enforcement should prioritize assaults, murders, rapes and burglaries and that she would "look at the circumstances of an individual case."
MediaiteTIER 2High
On Sept. 1 President Trump posted the Aug. 28 photo of Hochul in a black headscarf at the Islamic Cultural Center School in the Bronx, wrote that Hochul, "considered the Worst Governor in the Country," was "working hard to get the Arab Vote," tied it to congestion pricing hurting her "especially [with] the people for whom she wears the hijab," and closed: "The whole thing is CRAZY!" It escalates the four-day-old controversy from conservative influencers and members of Congress to the president, three weeks after Trump boosted Blakeman at a law-enforcement rally. Hochul's office has said she wore the headscarf as a gesture of respect, consistent with past practice, and that she respects 9/11 victims while rejecting anti-Muslim hatred. Snopes rated the "wore a hijab" framing a Mixture because her hair was visible.
New York Jewish Week / JTATIER 2High
Blakeman's first public entry into the headscarf story: a social-media post depicting Hochul in the head covering, accusing her of "political pandering" he called "especially tone-deaf" less than two weeks before the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, responded on X: "There are far too many political leaders exploiting the 9/11 anniversary to (re)normalize Islamophobia — and it's disgusting." Blakeman, who is Jewish, has campaigned heavily on antisemitism and public safety. The same JTA item notes Hochul's campaign has her at a MET Council Rosh Hashanah food-distribution event in Brooklyn on Sept. 2 with Comptroller Mark Levine and Council Member Lincoln Restler. Blakeman's post is documented only through JTA's account; the post itself was not retrieved for this entry.