Lester Holt calls out Donald Trump on stop-and-frisk in NYC

Donald Trump reiterated his call for a national stop-and-frisk policy to curb crime in the nation’s inner cities, insisting that African-Americans and Hispanics are “living in hell” because of gun violence.

But when debate moderator Lester Holt pointed out that stop-and-frisk tactics employed by the New York Police Department had been ruled unconstitutional because they unfairly targeted blacks and Hispanics, the Republican presidential nominee vigorously disagreed.

“No, you’re wrong,” Trump interrupted. “It went before a judge who was a very ‘against-police’ judge. It was taken away from her, and our mayor — our new mayor — refused to go forward with the case. They would have won on appeal.”

In fact, the controversial police tactic was ruled unconstitutional in August 2013 by U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin. The administration of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg appealed, prompting the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend the order and call for a new trial, though it ultimately declined to vacate the order. Eventually, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration dropped the appeal.

Still, Trump argued that something needs to be done about gun violence — at one point declaring that “we have to take guns away from these people.”

“These are bad people,” he declared.

(Cover tile photos: Rick Wilking/Reuters, Joe Raedle/Getty Images)