Eric Phillips, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary, is being criticized after he tweeted a couple of times about sending a bill to cover the cost of a recent threat-related evacuation at Trump Tower.
The guest hosts of MSBNC’s show 'Morning Joe' recently called the tweets of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s press secretary “pathetic” and “embarrassing.”
The controversy began when Trump Tower was evacuated on Tuesday due to a suspicious backpack which was later found to contain toys.
Sean Spicer, who will serve as press secretary for the incoming administration, tweeted soon after, “Back to work here at Trump Tower after a false alarm. Thanks NYPD.”
Eric Phillips, de Blasio’s press secretary, wrote back to him, “No problem. We'll send you the bill.”
His response triggered an attack by another Trump insider, Dan Scavino, to which Phillips replied, “That's not very nice, Dan. But about that bill...work on it with us?”
Phillips also included a link to a Wall Street Journal article about millions in federal funds being allocated for security at Trump Tower.
On Wednesday, 'Morning Joe' recapped these exchanges, with Willie Geist stating afterwards, “It’s just pathetic. It’s just sad that we’ve reached that point where there’s a bomb scare in the lobby and you tweet something cute about it.”
Co-host Mike Barnicle agreed, saying, “Yeah, it’s embarrassing for the de Blasio administration. Embarrassing.”