California mayor's hot mic catches candid exchange after audience sends meeting off rails

By Fox News · Fox News

A live microphone exposed a behind-the-scenes conversation between Sacramento's mayor and vice mayor as they discussed whether disruptive protesters could be barred from future city council meetings after a heated immigration-related debate descended into chaos. "We should go over this disruptions thing, because if we want to ban somebody in the future, like to take them out, we have to point out specifically…" Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes is heard saying. "I know, but the city attorney said we can't do that," Mayor Kevin McCarty replied. "We did it last time," Talamantes responded. GOP SENATORS RALLY AROUND NEW DHS PROPOSAL TARGETING SANCTUARY CITIES: 'SHOULD PAY A PRICE' "We can't," McCarty said, shaking his head. "I spent my first six months going over this. I wanted to give people, like, probation, like, you can't come…" Talamantes then appeared to realize the microphone was still live and quickly reached over to switch it off before continuing the conversation, according to the publicly available city council livestream reviewed by Fox News Digital. The awkward exchange unfolded Tuesday after Sacramento City Council recessed and ordered the public removed from the chambers following repeated disruptions during a fiery debate over the city's continued participation in a regional intelligence-sharing center. The confrontation escalated after Talamantes defended accepting federal funding for the Central California Intelligence Center, or CCIC, arguing Sacramento's sanctuary city policies and immigrant protections made the city better suited to oversee the grant than other jurisdictions. "The city of Sacramento is a sanctuary city," Talamantes said during the meeting. "If we don't pass these dollars, other counties will apply for these dollars, they will get those dollars and we will have no safeguards to protect our immigrant communities here in Sacramento." Dozens of speakers had earlier urged the council to reject the agreement, arguing the intelligence center…