Friday’s morning’s breakfast was held without 15 Muslim leaders. They told the mayor in a letter that they disagree with his position following a series of articles by The Associated Press exposing the police department’s methods. The AP series detailed police department efforts to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer. Bloomberg has defended the tactics.

At the breakfast, Bloomberg quoted his father as telling him that “discrimination against anyone is discrimination against everyone.”

He also said: “We have to keep our guard up, but if we don’t work together we won’t have our own freedoms.”