James Clarifies Remarks Regarding Her Involvement In Dasani Series

During an interview last night on Inside City Hall, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James was asked about having Dasani Coates, the 11-year-old girl who was the subject of a New York Times series on homelessness in New York City, stand next to her during her inaugural speech yesterday.

Host Errol Louis specifically pushed James on the conditions of the Auburn Family Residence homeless facility in James' old City Council district in Brooklyn, which sheltered Coates and her family for years, including the period the Times followed Dasani for its profile.

This was their verbatim exchange (it starts about 2:30 into the clip):

Louis: The exposé in the New York Times cannot have been the first time you heard about conditions there.

James: No. And obviously, the exposé, I was aware of it and had a little something to do with it, and in fact had established a task force on Auburn and the conditions continued. So we worked together to basically put on the front page of the New York Times the face of poverty in the City of New York. So for far too long I have been standing on the steps of City Hall and crying into the wind. So it took the face—it took Dasani's face— to transfix a city, if not a nation, to focus on homelessness moving forward. And clearly she is no longer in Auburn, but she is my new "BFF" and I am looking forward to working with her.

Several outlets have since reported that the Times' denied that James had any involvement in bringing Coates' story to their attention. This afternoon James released a statement clarifying her remarks:

“I have been proud to be a leader in calling out the challenges of homelessness in general and the Auburn facility in particular," she said. "I’ve been involved in a taskforce on Auburn and participated in multiple demonstrations outside the facility, along with housing and community advocates. I commend the New York Times for highlighting this important issue on their front page but, to be clear, I was not a source behind the New York Times’ feature on Dasani and did not intend to imply so.”

James brought Coates up to the stage for the final three minutes of her fiery inauguration speech, holding her hand and referring to her as her new "BFF" [Best Friend Forever].

Below is video of that part of James' speech: