Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on WCBS 880

May 10, 2017

Paul Murnane:  It’s 7:53 am, and the big news is that the Grammys will return to New York City next year.

Wayne Cabot: On the news line to talk about that the Mayor of New York City, good morning Mr. de Blasio.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, how you doing?

Cabot:  Doing fine. Before we get to the Grammys of course we have the big news that broke late yesterday about the President firing his FBI Director. I remember you saying during the campaign you were shocked when James Comey reopened Hillary Clinton’s email investigation. What do you think now?

Mayor: Look, I think there were missteps during the campaign, but that pales in comparing to what we’re seeing here. I give Comey credit for the fact that he was asking the right questions, did the Russians meddle in the US elections, did they try to subvert our democratic process, that is the heart of the matter and he was fired for perusing that investigation.  That’s unacceptable, and obviously a huge parallel to what Richard Nixon did during Watergate and that’s not a very sympathetic parallel for Donald Trump so we need – look if Comey is no longer there we need a special prosecutor, it’s as simple as that.  We have to figure out what happened with the Russians, and if Trump is going to this extent to avoid that investigation all the more reason there needs to be a special prosecutor.

Cabot: But there were so many complaints about Comey’s behavior, you know in the days before the election, and for the Democrats now to be renewing the call for a special prosecutor, to be so upset about it. I mean do the President’s supporters have something when they point to that?

Mayor: It’s a good question, look I think there were complaints on both sides about what Comey did during the investigation. Here’s what’s so sad about the whole thing all the noise about Hillary Clinton and her emails, you know there was never any negative impact on the nation because of the way she handled her emails, and Comey singlehandedly, you know, created lot of that dynamic with the way he handled the final days of the election. But that’s water under the bridge compared to the bigger question. We’ve never seen a foreign country try to intervene in our elections in the way that the Russians may have here and there’s a lot of evidence so far to suggest it was a very systematic  effort. They may have gone and tried to do it in other places like France after that. We have to know. So to me it’s less important did Comey handle things ideally during the 2016 election, it’s more important that we’ve got to get an answer. Comey is gone now, we need a special prosecutor, no one else, I mean I think we can all agree on this, if there’s not a special prosecutor those Senate and House committees aren’t  going to do it and we’ll never know unless someone looks into this. 

Cabot: We’ve got Mayor de Blasio live on the news line here at WCBS at 7:55 am. I know you called with some good news about the Grammys.

Mayor: Very good news. For the first time in 15 years, New York City is getting the Grammys back and we’re going to get the Grammy ceremony. It is such an important thing for this city, the economic impact alone could be upwards of $600 million dollars for our economy. And look, we’re the music capital of the world and it hasn’t been right, from my point of view, that we haven’t had the Grammys in 15 years. We worked very hard on this to get it back and it’s going to be fantastic for New York City.

Murnane: What we’re hearing is that it’s not going to be just a one night thing; that they might be here and they may be taking over the area around Madison Square Garden for a period of days. I thought I read one report, it might be 10 or 11 days.

Mayor: Look these things have gotten bigger and bigger, you know these major, major events and that’s why the projected economic impact is $600 million dollars. This is fantastic for New York City and it will showcase all we have to the world. Look, we are the birthplace of hip-hop, the birthplace of salsa in America at least, the birthplace of punk music, you know we have this incredible musical history. I, you know, all due respect to LA I think the Grammys belong here if you’re talking about where the most extraordinary music has been made over the years. And, you know, now we get to showcase all of that.

Cabot: By the way, happy birthday. Let me be the last to say it.

Mayor: Well you know what, you are very kind and I’ve got to tell you, 56 years old and counting my blessings every day.

Murnane: Mayor Bill de Blasio we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us here on WCBS and we’ll talk again soon we hope.