Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on WOR 710

May 10, 2017

Todd Schnitt: Mayor, welcome back.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Len, Todd – it’s good to be back.

Len Berman: How good is it exactly, Mayor?

[Laughter]

Mayor: You guys – you guys got a lively thing going on in the morning. So, I’m feeling good about this, Len.

Schnitt: Well, thank you. Listen, we got to dive right in obviously. A lot to talk about. I know you’re very excited about the Grammys coming back. And this just broke that James Comey is going to be a presenter at the Grammys next year.

Berman: That’s a good idea, you know.

Mayor: Let me tell you. First, on the good news – the Grammys coming back to New York City. This is huge – first time in 15 years. You know, we are the music capital of the world. It, in my point of view, made no sense that the Grammys hadn’t been here in a long time. We worked really hard to get them back. And here’s the good news for all New Yorkers – we expect the impact on our economy, of having the Grammys here, we think it’s about $600 million.

Berman: Wow.

Mayor: So, jobs and a lot of opportunity created by it. But look also, showcasing – we all have to be proud as New Yorkers. We’re the birthplace of salsa, the birthplace of hip-hop, the birthplace of punk – at least in America – the birthplace of so many great musical figures. And we should be the center of the universe when it comes to music. So, having the Grammys will just make that clear to the whole world.

Schnitt: Well, you look at the history of music, and I don’t know if you ever watched the cable series, it only lasted for one season, but “Vinyl” was so good. And you know the history of the Brill Building – the music and the acts that came out of that building in the city. It’s really amazing.

Mayor: It is. And you know what? Because there’s so much happening every day in New York City, we sometimes don’t take a moment to recognize all that we mean to this country and this world.

But the amount of talent in this city and the way that the artists that came out of this city have changed music and changed our culture, it’s just unbelievable. And look, God bless LA and we got a little competitive thing going with LA, that’s okay. But when it comes to music, there’s no comparison. This is the center of the music universe right here.

Berman: Congratulations, Mayor.

Schnitt: Quickly – the Barclays Center, apparently, made a pitch but it’s going to end up at MSG. And can I ask, if you don’t mind, why is the Post giving you a hard time that you blew off a 9:00 am presser. Would you like to address what the Post wrote?

Mayor: I don’t pay a lot of the attention to the New York Post. And so much of what they write isn’t accurate to begin with. We announced this the way we thought made sense working with our partners. The important thing is – you know it’s funny, when they write about, how did you announce something. That’s not the issue. The issue is we won the Grammys.

[Laughter]

This is going to have a $600 million impact on our economy and it’s a great victory for New York City. And for 15 years we didn’t have it. It took a lot of work to get it back, and I want to give a lot of credit to my team including our Media and Entertainment Commissioner, Julie Menin, who worked so hard on this. That’s the news not how do you announce it.

Berman: Alright, congratulations on that, Mr. Mayor. And of course, the big breaking news yesterday with the President firing the FBI Director – love to get your take on that.

Mayor: Look, it’s unconscionable from my point of view. I have my differences with how James Comey handled the 2016 election himself, but that pales in comparison to what we’re talking about here.

I think there’s a lot of evidence – a lot of evidence, and even Republicans are concerned about whether Russia changed the course of the United States election. We’ve never had – in 240 years in this republic – we’ve never had a situation where a foreign nation reached into our electoral process and possibly determined the outcome.

We need to know what happened. And James Comey, to his credit, was pursuing that question with integrity. Now that he’s gone, we know that it’s not going to be looked into the way it should be by House or Senate committees. We need a special prosecutor right away because you know I’m thinking back over everything I’ve seen in public life. There’s no parallel of a situation where a foreign country had this much impact.

And if we don’t get to the bottom of it, we literally won’t know whether our [inaudible] subverted again in the future.

Schnitt: Yeah, but to assume that just because Comey was fired that this investigation shrivels up and blows away, I think is ludicrous. You have US Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia, subpoenas were issued – we found out last night that subpoenas were issued to associates of Flynn.

This investigation, by and large Mr. Mayor, is being conducted by career DOJ employees and FBI. It doesn’t disappear. Even if there’s suppression, you’re still going to have whistleblowers that if there’s something there, it’s not going to be suppressed; it’s going to come out. So, I think – like Chuck Schumer, for instance. Chuck Schumer is outraged but he wanted Comey fired over the whole Hillary Clinton mess back in July and of course the late letter to the Senate back in October just before the election.

Mayor: Look, I, again, I’m not happy about how 2016 was handled. There’s no question about that. And I have huge questions about why all that information leaked out of the FBI during the election. There’s big issues here. They should be looked into unto themselves because the FBI is supposed to be politically neutral.

But this is something even bigger because this comes down to the question of whether our democracy is being undermined. Now, I agree with you. I think you’re making a central point.

Are there career people who will pursue an investigation with integrity? Absolutely. Are there whistleblowers who would come forward if they have information about Russian interference in the election and it was suppressed? Absolutely.

I believe those two things but that’s a different question than whether there’s going to be a systematic and full investigation. What we’ve seen from Jeff Sessions in particular suggests a hyper-partisan approach to being Attorney General.

You know, Attorney General is one of those roles that over the years that was considered above the fray and if not non-partisan was considered one of the key roles in government where you’re supposed to think beyond the boundaries of your current administration.

Sessions has been hyper-partisan. I think it’s fair to say he’s not going to be encouraging the President to choose an FBI Director who is independent.

So, I think your point is fair but I still think given the magnitude of what could have happened here – imagine that we find out that Russia actually systematically and effectively altered the course of our election. That would be one of the biggest news stories in the history of this country. We need to know it. And if not for a special prosecutor, how are we going to get to that answer?

Schnitt: Would you hire Comey?

Mayor: In what? To be the special prosecutor?

Schnitt: No, I’m saying – no, in the City of New York. Listen, you might have an opening soon with the prisons issue. Maybe you can offer Comey a gig.

Mayor: Look, I think James Comey has done a lot in his career and that is – that speaks for itself. I’m talking about what we got to do right now to get to the bottom of this. Again, anything about Comey, his [inaudible] 2016, what he did in 2016 pales in comparison to whether another country systematically affected the outcome of our election.

I think this is one of the biggest issues to hit this country in decades and it has to be treated as such.

Berman: Mayor, I know we’re out of time. I just would love to get a yes-no. Do you think the whole sanctuary city controversy with the President is going to wind up in court over New York City?

Mayor: I think it is likely to if they attempt to withhold funding we’re going to go to court. We feel very strongly we will win. We think the constitutional basis for what the President is trying to do is absolutely inadequate. And we’re doing what will protect our people.

And the bottom line – my administration, Bloomberg’s administration, Giuliani's administration all did the same thing. We did not ask people for documentation status when our police encountered someone. And that’s part of how we kept this city safe. We got police and communities, including immigrant communities working together. We’re the safest big city in America.

If Jeff Sessions would just talk to Jimmy O’Neill and understand that, they would realize that what they’re trying to do with their executive order will actually make us less safe.

Schnitt: One last question – last time you spoke to [inaudible]?

Mayor: It was before the inauguration.

Schnitt: Got you.

Mayor: And we had a couple of conversations back then. And you know, I’m very disappointed in the things he’s done in terms of the impact they’re having on New York City. But I would always welcome a dialogue with anyone if I could help them to understand that their policies are hurting people in New York City.

Schnitt: Okay. And it’s not going to be six months before we have you on again, right?

Berman: I hope not.

Mayor: I guarantee I’m coming back soon.

Berman: Thank you, Mayor. We really appreciate it.

Schnitt: Thank you.

Mayor: I appreciate it. Alright guys, you have a good one.

Berman: Congratulations on the Grammys, too. Congratulations.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Take care.