00:009.30 in New York, and all of America is going to be watching this city in 15 days.
00:05Got over two weeks to go until Election Day, and the gloves between the three candidates
00:09for mayor are officially coming off.
00:13This is about the future of New York and saving New York City.
00:18Curtis Sliwa is not an alternative.
00:21He is not a viable candidate.
00:23You vote for Curtis, you may as well vote for Zoran Mandami directly.
00:27As we heard from Andrew Cuomo, it's, oh, elect me, and I'll save you from Zoran Mandami.
00:31They created Zoran Mandami.
00:34They got to live with Zoran Mandami.
00:36I'm the only one who can beat Zoran Mandami.
00:38I won't be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo who will call you to ask how to win this election.
00:43I can do those things on my own.
00:45Here are the three candidates.
00:47A recent Fox News poll found that Mamdani has a commanding 24-point lead over Andrew Cuomo
00:53with likely voters, 52-28, Sliwa comes in third at 14%.
00:58Andrew Cuomo, former governor, running as an independent, is here now.
01:02Thank you, sir, for your time today.
01:03Appreciate you coming on.
01:05Fifteen days and the clock's running.
01:07Appreciate you coming on today.
01:08Critics of your campaign say it has lacked energy.
01:13That has lacked imagination.
01:19Time's running down.
01:20How do you change that in two weeks?
01:24Good to be with you, Bill.
01:25I don't think it's, I don't think those accusations are fair.
01:31We are out there.
01:32I'm out there every day in every community.
01:34I'm at the opening of an envelope.
01:37And I think when New Yorkers start to focus on this race, they're actually going to focus
01:42on the facts.
01:43And it's very clear what is happening here.
01:47This is still an ongoing civil war within the Democratic Party where you have this extreme
01:53radical left.
01:56That's what Zoran Mandami represents.
01:59They are socialists.
02:01They are anti-business.
02:03They are anti-police.
02:04They're anti-law and order.
02:07They are anti-Israel.
02:09And I am a quote-unquote moderate Democrat.
02:14I want to create jobs.
02:16I want to enforce the law, improve the quality of life.
02:21Also, I have the experience and the record and the competence to actually do the job.
02:27I was governor for 11 years.
02:28I was housing and urban development secretary under Bill Clinton.
02:31I was attorney general.
02:33I know how to govern.
02:34And the far left doesn't even think about how to govern.
02:39You know, Zoran Mandami never had a job.
02:43Thirty-four years old, he's been an assemblyman.
02:45He passed three bills, worst attendance record in the New York State Assembly.
02:48They don't get that being mayor means you have to operate, you have to manage.
02:55Any given morning, there could be a storm, there could be a shooting.
02:59God forbid there could be a terrorist attack.
03:01So it's that civil war on the Democratic side.
03:05Okay.
03:05Now, I want to run through a number of things here.
03:07So give me a chance to get in there and we'll cover a lot of ground here, okay?
03:10The city's budget's roughly, what, $120 billion?
03:14Mandami suggested in the debate last week he wouldn't have cut anything.
03:18What would you cut from $120 billion?
03:21Yeah, well, Mandami is a socialist Democrat.
03:28His answer is always the same.
03:30Tax business, tax the rich, raise taxes, raise taxes, provide everything free.
03:38Free transportation, free food, free, free, free.
03:41New Yorkers know there is no free.
03:43You keep taxing businesses and wealthy people in New York City.
03:48There will be nobody left, Bill.
03:51They're leaving already.
03:53They've been leaving since COVID.
03:55So that's exactly wrong.
03:57I was governor for 11 years.
03:59My fiscal discipline, we had a 2% growth cap.
04:03My budget wouldn't go up more than 2% year to year for 11 years,
04:07which is lower than the growth under Republican governors.
04:12So I get fiscal discipline, and we have to live within our means.
04:17The answer is not raising taxes in New York.
04:20It's ridding the budget of the waste and abuse that is in it.
04:26So you see some waste in the budget.
04:28You weren't specific on that, but you pivoted to taxes.
04:32So I'll ask you, will you commit right now that you won't raise taxes on New Yorkers?
04:37Yeah, we can raise taxes, Bill.
04:39We can't.
04:40But they have been raised to a level where we're not competitive.
04:47Post-COVID, people have mobility.
04:51You are now competing geographically in a way you never did before.
04:56As I said, I was the HUD secretary.
04:57I worked with cities all across the nation.
05:00You now have cities competing.
05:01New York is competing with Texas, with Florida, South Carolina.
05:08And people will shop economics.
05:13And if New York City is too expensive, crime is a problem, quality of life is a problem,
05:20you lose the competition.
05:22So, no, you can't raise taxes, make the city safer, make it more affordable, reduce taxes.
05:28He is a Democratic Socialist.
05:31You want to run New York City.
05:33Do you consider yourself a capitalist?
05:35Yes.
05:39Plain and simple.
05:41There was a suggestion that you had a...
05:42I'm an American.
05:43Yeah, there was a suggestion recently that you had a hard time answering that question.
05:47I just want to make sure it's clear.
05:48Let's move on to this.
05:49You told the New York Post over the weekend you would keep the police commissioner, Tish James, in her job.
05:55Mamdani has not gone that far.
05:58But at the end of last week, he met with an imam in Brooklyn, a local Islamic leader,
06:03who had ties to the terror attacks at the World Trade Center in 1993.
06:08He said people are picking on him because of his faith.
06:12What do you suggest from that visit?
06:14What do you take away from that?
06:16Why do you do it?
06:18Yeah.
06:20Mamdani, it's simple.
06:22Let's keep it simple here.
06:25He is a Democratic Socialist.
06:28Democratic Socialists believe in defunding the police.
06:32Those words came out of his mouth.
06:35That the NYPD is wicked, corrupt, racist, a threat to public safety.
06:41We should abolish jails.
06:44We should stop enforcing misdemeanors.
06:47We should legalize prostitution.
06:49This is his platform from his mouth.
06:53No exaggeration.
06:56You couldn't make that up.
06:58That's who he is.
07:00He's anti-Israel.
07:02So, yes, he has leaned into the anti-Israel issue so heavily, it was probably the strongest reason why people voted for him in the primary.
07:15Young people, because he's a socialist and this is utopia, and because he's anti-Israel.
07:23So he doesn't shy away from anti-Israel, he leans into it.
07:27He will not denounce globalized intifada, which means kill all Jewish people.
07:33Bill, if that's about anyone else, kill all black people, kill all Italian people, there would be an outrage.
07:40But kill all Jewish people, that's okay.
07:45Okay, so there is the debate on Wednesday night.
07:49You're going to have another opportunity going face-to-face with him on this.
07:52You'll also have an opportunity with Curtis Lee.
07:54We talked to him on Friday.
07:56He was here on our program.
07:57He says he's not getting out.
07:58He says you go out and find the votes if you want to win.
08:01He said something similar.
08:03Nate Freeman on Sunday.
08:05Roll this from that show online.
08:07This is the result of the Democrats' self-destruction.
08:11So I'm supposed to help them?
08:14How come they don't help themselves?
08:17Andrew Cuomo failed everybody in that primary.
08:20He even admitted it.
08:21Now he's basically saying, I can't win without Slewa votes.
08:25Where are your votes?
08:27Go out, get your own votes.
08:28Give you a chance to answer that.
08:29But last week, the New York Times also reported that Eric Adams was ready to endorse you.
08:35Have you spoken to Eric Adams?
08:37Do you expect that to happen?
08:40Okay, second question.
08:42First, the Curtis Slewa was put on.
08:48Nobody voted for Curtis Slewa.
08:50He was put on the ballot by the Republican chairpeople.
08:55He's a perpetual mayoral candidate.
08:58He's really a shock jock on local radio.
09:01He's never been in government.
09:03He has no relevant experience.
09:06He runs basically a defunct organization that is highly troubled and problematic.
09:12So, but he does take a certain number of votes.
09:18And to that extent, he is a spoiler.
09:21I believe he's ultimately irrelevant because he's not a viable candidate.
09:26And I don't people think, I don't think people are going to throw away their vote bill.
09:29It's between me and a socialist and you pick it.
09:32I've heard that before, but just cut through it in an instant time.
09:35We've got about 30 seconds left here.
09:36Will Eric Adams endorse you, yes or no?
09:41I've spoken to the mayor and we're still talking.
09:44Okay, last question.
09:46President Trump told Maria over the weekend he has not made a decision on endorsing.
09:50Would you want that endorsement?
09:52Would that help you or hurt you in this race?
09:54I'm running as an independent, so I wouldn't ask for President Trump's endorsement.
10:02I don't want to accept endorsements like that.
10:06I think President Trump is analyzing the polls and he says Cuomo is the only person who has
10:12a chance to beat Mondami, which is what the polls say.
10:16And he says Curtis Sliwa basically is inconsequential, which is also what the polls say.
10:21Governor, thanks for coming on.
10:23A civil war within the Democratic Party.
10:25That might be where we're headed.
10:27We'll see you in time.
10:28Thank you, sir.
10:28We hope to speak again over the next two weeks.
10:31Thank you for coming on.
10:32Thanks, Bill.
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