Transcript: Mayor Adams Calls in for Live Interview on 77 WABC's 'Cats & Crosby'

September 6, 2024

John Catsimatidis: Well, we are back and we are privileged today to have the mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams. And Mr. Mayor, give us a report, I mean, there's so many things happening, where the heck are we?

Mayor Eric Adams: First of all, if things were not happening, would we be in New York?

Catsimatidis: We would be very bored if it wasn't happening, we'd move to Mayberry, North Carolina.

Mayor Adams: Yeah, no, listen, there is a lot that's happening, and one of the things that has basically led up the coverage is the interaction with SDNY, some of my leadership. We're going to do what I've done my entire life, follow the law, comply with the law, and whenever there's an inquiry, turn over the information that's requested, and that is what we are doing, and I've instructed all of my team to do the same thing.

What surprises me is how people forget what makes our country great, and we are great because of this word called due process. Let the process play out, and that's so important to do so, and that is what I am doing as the mayor, but we're moving the city forward and we're going to continue to do what's right.

Catsimatidis: And we have Governor Paterson here with us. Governor, you have a question.

Former New York Governor David Paterson: So, Mr. Mayor, you know, John last night was speculating about the fact that you were really the first elected official in the country to object to the placement of migrants in your city or, you know, for other elected officials…

Catsimatidis: Not getting help, at least.

Former Governor Paterson: And not getting any help from the federal government, and John was surmising that perhaps a lot of these investigations and these mischaracterizations of you have come from that, and I've been surprised. I made the comment that if that's true, the fact that you stood up and continued to make those points, even when you were yourself getting retribution for it, made you a hero. Now, there's a person who works here who thinks that was a terrible thing for me to say, so I'm going to repeat it. That would make you a hero.

Mayor Adams: And I still believe in the principles of this country, and I believe that one has the right to protest the right. And I will hope that none of what's taking place is attributed to me fighting on behalf of the city. That's what I was elected to do, and I believe that we've done an amazing job with the migrant asylum seeker crisis, and we need to really allow people to work, and I think that would really turn this crisis into an opportunity.

Catsimatidis: Mr. Mayor, there's reports out that anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of the arrests being made is migrants that just came over, and my argument was, maybe you as mayor can make a determination that the bail bond law does not apply to them.

Mayor Adams: I wish I did have that power and authority, as well as a power and authority to modify our sanctuary city law. I don't believe if a person commits a violent felony act that we should not coordinate with ICE to have that person removed from our country after they served their time. It's unfortunate that that law that was in place under Mayor Koch, under Mayor Bloomberg, but in the previous administration they altered it, and under no circumstances are we allowed to coordinate with ICE.

I think that's a mistake. The City Council is refusing to change that, and I just believe that you can't have people who come to the country and harm innocent New Yorkers like we saw with the individual who raped a young girl, and we saw a young woman raped under the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, shooting a police officer. It's not acceptable. We know that the overwhelming number of migrants and asylum-seekers that come here, they come here to pursue the American dream, but that small number that is creating violence and havoc on our city streets, they should not be allowed to stay in our city.

Catsimatidis: I agree. I mean, Mr. Mayor, my opinion, you should just do what you have to do and let them complain. Let them sue you, and five years from now we'll settle the lawsuit. Rita, you wanted to say something.

Rita Cosby: Yeah, and Mr. Mayor, I want to ask you, what are we doing in New York City to keep New York City safe? And I'm talking about schools, just because there's been this horrible school shooting. We were just talking about the one in Georgia. The father, it ends up, gives the kid the gun, but there's so many concerns about keeping kids safe, and I saw a story that last year in public city schools, it was 4,000 items were seized, 300 weapons. What are some of the things we're doing to keep the city safe and our kids safe especially?

Mayor Adams: That's so true, Rita. Number one, those items you saw included guns and knives and razors. Because we have scanning schools and schools where we can do those checks, wand schools, it allows us to identify these objects before it harms innocent people. We can knock on wood. We didn't have any shooters inside our schools last year, but most importantly, we have school safety officers that are really committed and dedicated.

When I was campaigning, I don't know if any of you remember, there were many candidates that were talking about removing school safety officers out of schools, and I said, not while I'm mayor. We're going to make sure that we give our children the protection that they deserve and that the children ask for. That's what people are missing. When I had my youth town hall, the young people were saying, we want to build a strong relationship with our police officers, and we want our school safety agents in the schools with us.

Cosby: Mr. Mayor, this is just breaking. Just a few minutes ago, that a man has been arrested planning an alleged plot on New York City at a Jewish center on the October 7th anniversary, of course, which was the attack of Hamas on Israel. Do you know anything about it? And obviously, this is very concerning.

Mayor Adams: No, it is. And I'm going to reach out to the team at the NYPD and find out what's the update. I'll speak with Commissioner Weiner, who's our Intelligence commissioner. But we must keep in mind that there's a reason they use the terminology of sleeper cells. They wait for us to get comfortable and relax. Remember the attack on the World Trade Center 1, there were several years before we saw the collapse of World Trade Center, the second attack. And so we have to remain vigilant. And when you talk about the role of the police, it's not only monitoring parades and doing the other activity, but we still have to stay focused on New York City being a target for terrorism.

Cosby: Yeah, absolutely.

Catsimatidis: Judge Weinberg?

Judge Richard Weinberg: Mr. Mayor, it will be commended for doing a great job in trying to keep our city safe. It will be commended for attacking antisemitism and for protecting Jewish students and Jewish population throughout the city. So I thank you very much.

Catsimatidis: Are things under control in the universities right now, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor Adams: Our goal is we met with university heads and we gave them our support on what we believe they should be doing. We were proactive over the summer. We were not waiting for the school year to start before we started zooming in. There was a heavy training that was conducted online for individuals which were attempting to just continue to radicalize our children with this antisemitism, anti-Americanism.

But we're going to remain vigilant. This is the greatest country on the globe. And we're going to make sure that all students in general, but specifically our Jewish students, have a right to go to these institutions of higher learning without being harassed or in any way abused.

Cosby: You know, Mr. Mayor, I'm curious, too, your thoughts, because I know Nassau County passed the mask ban on protesters saying, you know, and a lot of them are obviously at these anti-Israel protests. What do you think? I mean, because we are starting to see them come up, you know, in Columbia and some other universities. What are your thoughts about for New York City on that?

Mayor Adams: Well, cowards wear masks. I don't care if it's the KKK of yesteryears or if it's those who are burning flags and calling hate and death to America, death to Jews, death to other groups. That is the role of a coward. And I think just as they did on Long Island, I believe we need to do the same.

We had a mask ban rule here in the state. It was lifted due to COVID. I think we need to revisit it and put it back in place to stop these cowards from being on our streets doing some of the disorder that they see, that we're seeing. And it leads to a lot of the criminality. A lot of people that are wearing masks on the streets are committing crimes. It takes us longer to apprehend them. And this has been used to commit so many crimes. And I think we need to put the ban back in place.

Cosby: And before we let you go, I have a song because your birthday was just a few days ago and John's birthday is tomorrow. So we're going to play a little Happy Birthday.

Two men that we love, the mayor and John Cats, in honor of both of you guys. Happy belated birthday, Mr. Mayor.

Catismatids: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: …Hardworking virgos.

Cosby: That's for sure.

Catismatids: We'll catch up soon.

Cosby: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

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