Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on CNN's New Day

December 7, 2015

Alisyn Camerota: President Obama using a primetime address to the nation to make his case for his strategy against ISIS. New York City, of course, is among the U.S. cities threatened by ISIS, so here to talk about the president’s speech and so much more, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for being here.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: You’re welcome.

Camerota: So the president last night tried to quell the anxieties of Americans. Americans are very nervous about what they’ve seen in Paris and San Bernardino, as are New Yorkers. We feel as though not only are we a target, but people are living here already that mean to do us harm. Did the president successfully quell those anxieties?

Mayor: I think he laid out a very clear plan. I think he spoke a lot of truth that needed to be spoken, as well. He made clear that ISIS wants to see internal division in this country, wants to see a negative attitude towards the Muslim community in this country and that kind of division actually making us less safe. The president pointed out we need to be muscular in our approach to ISIS overseas – we need to disrupt and ultimately destroy them – but we need to keep our internal cohesion. We can’t have Americans turning against Americans because then we’re doing ISIS’ bidding.

Camerota: But in terms of his strategy, the plan that you say he’s successfully laid out, I mean after Paris and San Bernardino among other things, it doesn’t feel as though ISIS is contained. And in fact, a new intelligence assessment delivered to the White House, commissioned by the White House and delivered to them before San Bernardino, says that they predict ISIS will spread throughout the globe. It doesn’t feel contained. So how is his strategy working?

Mayor: Well, I don’t think any of us would say they are quote-unquote “contained” at this point. I think there’s a lot of work –

Camerota: Well, the president has said that.

Mayor: In the past, and he obviously has made clearer now that there is a lot of work to do and that they must be totally defeated – I couldn’t agree with that more. They must be totally defeated, and I think we have the tools to do it, but it will take a global coalition. It will take working closely with Muslim-Americans here and Muslims all over the world who don’t believe in ISIS’ terror any more than anybody else does. So there’s a game plan there that I think makes a lot of sense – very muscular elements, but remembering at the same time that we have to keep a clear connection to Muslim-American communities and Muslims all over the world.

Camerota: Did he spell out well enough how to work with Muslim communities in terms of fighting extremism?

Mayor: It was a beginning. Obviously it was a very basic speech, but I think the point was clear – don’t fall into the pattern of demagoguery and division, because we need the alliance on the ground in those communities to do the work. I was at a mosque on Friday night here in New York City, and what did I see? Hundreds of Muslim-Americans talking about their appreciation for our police, who keep them safe, their appreciate for this nation, and their desire to be allies in the fight against terror. That’s what we have to foster more and more.

Camerota: Gun control.

Mayor: Mhm.

Camerota: Is the president right to make this San Bernardino case an example of the need for more gun control?

Mayor: Absolutely. These pieces go together. We have terrorists who are on the no-fly-list, who are not allowed on our airplanes, but they can walk into a gun shop and buy a gun legally in America. The guns used in California were legally purchased, which is why we need to divest in gun manufacturers. Public sector pension funds all over the country put investments into the very gun manufactures who then market assault weapons that are available on the open market. And terrorists and criminals and people with mental health problems buy them all the time, not just for acts of terror like we saw in San Bernardino, but for these horrible campus shootings as well. It’s time for public pension funds, which ultimately are controlled by the people, to divest in those gun manufacturers and teach them a lesson using the power of the wallet.

Camerota: But California has the strictest gun control laws in the nation. These terrorists in San Bernardino had a bomb-making – a pipe-bomb-making factory in their house. How does any of that apply – how does gun control apply to the terror that we saw in San Bernardino?

Mayor: They used Smith & Wesson assault weapons and other weapons. Those, for example, are – that’s a public corporation that pension funds all over the country invest in. Therefore, we’re all made party to it in one way or another. As opposed to what I propose and New York City has begun to do through out pension funds – get our money out of there.  We’ve seen plenty of examples in the past where pension funds acted and it really had a big impact on the market. Get our public money out of those companies, change their behavior, convince them – you know the only people they should be making assault weapons for? Our military and law enforcement. And if we can change the behavior of those companies and those guns are not on the market – let’s go to the root of the problem – then you have a chance to deal with these issues much more effectively. Law enforcement should not have to come up against terrorists with that kind of weaponry. It’s as simple as that. 

Camerota: Can we talk about your beef, your ongoing squabble with Donald Trump? He has said unkind things about you. He tweets things about you being a horrible mayor. What is this based on?

Mayor: Look, I don’t care what he says about me. Here’s what I’m concerned about – he goes before a Republican Jewish group the other day and starts using age-old horrible stereotypes of Jewish people out loud, and the kinds of stereotypes that have undercut the Jewish community for centuries. He says Muslims should be put on a list. We don’t put people on a list – we don’t put whole populations of people on a list in the United States of America, in a democracy. What he’s saying is corrosive to our democratic values. It’s dangerous. And I’ll call him out, and I think more and more people are saying, you know what? It used to be to some people entertaining – it’s not entertaining anymore, it’s dangerous.

Camerota: You know, the Anti-Defamation League looked at the things that he was saying, the stereotypical things that he was saying in front of the Jewish crowd, and here’s what they said: “After having carefully reviewed the speech, we do not believe that it was Donald Trump’s intention to evoke anti-Semitic stereotypes. He has made similar comments about spending his own money on the campaign, and not asking for money from donors, to many other groups.” Why do you think that people give Donald Trump – are willing to give him a pass on some of the things that you’re not willing to give him a pass on?

Mayor: I can’t speak for other people. It was unmistakable – the coding in that language was unmistakable. And it’s not the first time he’s done it. And I think, ultimately, the American people will reject it. I think some people get worried about taking on a political leader who seems to be ascendant, but history tells us you’ve got to stand up if someone is undercutting American values, if someone is trying to divide. He’s clearly trying to divide – let’s not mince words about it. He is clearly trying to divide. You know, some of the analysis lately about how much of his language is us-versus-them, talking about our fellow Americans – that doesn’t make us stronger, that doesn’t make us more cohesive. So it’s time to say that, in fact, what Donald Trump is doing in one way or another is doing the bidding of our enemies, because we – our enemies, in particular ISIS, wants to see the American people divided, for example, against the Muslim-American community. That’s the ISIS game plan, and what Trump is saying is falling right into that game plan.

Camerota: Mr. Mayor, great to see you. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Camerota: Thanks so much for coming into New Day – always a pleasure.