City of New York, NY
05/02/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/02/2024 10:32
Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on CNBC's 'Squawk Box'
May 2, 2024
Andrew Ross Sorkin: Hundreds of people arrested at college campuses in New York City and across the nation. The NYPD was called in on Tuesday night after protesters occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia's campus and has since arrested protesters at City College and Fordham University.For the remainder of the semester, all classes and final exams will be fully remote at Columbia. New York City Mayor Eric Adams joins us this morning. Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining us. Before we get into sort of where we go from here, what is what is the state of play in the city at around the universities that we've just been talking about in your mind?
Mayor Adams: The state of the city is stable, and we continue to thrive, as I say, over and over again. We have the finest Police Department on the globe, and we see that every day when they execute ways of allowing people of the right of a democracy to protest but send a clear message that if you break the law, there will be actions taken.
Ross Sorkin: When you look at what's happened at Columbia and you think about to the extent there are leadership lessons, there's a lot of folks who say it's needed to be nipped in the bud much earlier. Others say talk about freedom of speech and the like that this should have been allowed to continue.
Where do you stand? If you were to look back even over the last several weeks and you could, you could rewind time, what do you think should have happened?
Mayor Adams: I clearly fall on the side of the importance of protesting. I protested as a youth. I even protested as a police officer after taking off my uniform. I joined those issues that were important to me.
When protests cross across the line and go and goes into an area of violence, destruction of property, that is no longer protest. That's not what democracy is about. That is chaos and we're not going to accept that in a city. That's what we saw on Columbia. When you're doing the reflection, clearly, I stated over and over again, you have to must have a zero tolerance. When the first tent went up, we should have removed it. Hats off to the Fordham University president.
That was the mindset she took. She did not allow this to go several days. She took decisive action and the Police Department collaborated with them.
Ross Sorkin: Do you think the president of Columbia should remain the president of Columbia?
Mayor Adams: That's up to the board. I think that she's handling the academics, achievements of the institution. The board would have to evaluate. I don't think any of these presidents knew something like this can evolve at this level. Now is the time to look at it as a teaching moment. The experts that understand how to maintain a disorder should be advisors and they should take the input from them. That's what I believe you're seeing more and more now.
Ross Sorkin: Now that you've made these arrests, I imagine there's investigations going on. How much of this do you think is organic, meaning that students on their own have taken to these protests? How much do you think this is outside agitators, if you will, professional protesters that are trying to create these moments?
Mayor Adams: That's such an important question that you're asking because that's the question that we've been asking every day. Now I use the analogy that if you have a group of students who have the energy to see change, but you have one professor or one teacher who's giving them misappropriate or misinformation on how to do that, you could disrupt that entire classroom and that entire moment of energy. That is what we're seeing here.
People are asking, is it 50 percent outsiders? What's the percentage? It doesn't matter the percentage. We know based on our intel and evidence that there are individuals who are instructing students to do bad things and they are participating in some illegal actions. That is what we're focused on. One of the persons or individuals involved, a husband was arrested for terrorism. We cannot downplay the desire of hijacking of this entire rightful protest and using terrible ways to move this agenda forward.
Ross Sorkin: What do you think is happening? On a very personal level, what do you think is happening on these campuses? I ask, by the way, and I should commend you, one of the things you did at Columbia, and it's a great moment if people haven't seen it, where you took down one of the Palestinian flags and you put up an American flag and you said you take it, this was personal for you. What do you think is happening underneath all of this on these campuses?
Mayor Adams: The actual person who took it down was Commissioner Daughtry. I really commend him, communicating with him that we have to send the right signal. Being mayor is not only substantive, passing budgets and et cetera, but it's symbolic. I really, I am concerned from what I'm seeing, what I'm reading and what I've been talking to my colleagues. I'm concerned about a real targeted approach to radicalize our young people, using some of the despair that came out of COVID, using the loneliness, isolation.
This is what radicalization can do. I believe some of these steps we're seeing across America is similar to some of the things we saw in other countries. We need to pay attention. Anytime a poll that states only 18 percent of 18 to 34 year olds do not feel this, is extremely excited about this country and love this country. That should be a wake up call for us. What is our farm team looking at? What is our Triple A team looking at, using the sports analogy? Who is coming up through the ranks and how do they feel about this country?
Ross Sorkin: You have been outspoken about this, but there have been a whole number of people in the Democratic Party that have not. We have not really heard directly from President Biden, at least to be nearly as vocal as you have.
There's a fascinating article in The Wall Street Journal this morning. It says Biden needs to learn from the Democrats disaster in 68. The lesson of that tumultuous political summer is clear. The fireworks may be on the party's left, but the votes needed for victory are on the right. What do you say to President Biden and to other members of the party that haven't been as outspoken as you?
Mayor Adams: These guys have political strategies that are quite smarter than I am. I don't… I don't understand all the strategies that were going [in]to a national election. I could communicate what people are feeling here in the city because I'm among them. I'm on the subways and walking the streets. I'm talking to people and I hear how concerned they are about the future of their children, the future of their families, and we need to address those issues in a very real way. I'm a blue collar mayor. I say it over and over again. I have a blue collar approach to life.
Joe Kernen: You made the point, mayor, that you don't just pass budgets, that you're the symbolic leader as well. You're just New York City. These are occurring everywhere now. It just seems really important for President Biden to symbolically calm everyone down, maybe, or give everyone a pep talk or whatever you want to look at.
He looks like he's held hostage by the same strategists that you said, are smarter than you about doing things. I'm not so sure. Those strategists, we're not sure exactly how to handle, Prime Minister Netanyahu. We're not sure about a lot of this. A lot of it seems to be based on worries about either getting votes or losing votes in November with certain parts of the population. That's not what we what we need right now.
Mayor Adams: I think our country is at a very pivotal, important place. We are resilient as a country and as a city. We're going to display that resiliency. You can get through a war. The casualties and the devastation could be a long term impact. I think we're in a place right now where we need to really focus on our children and families and not allow people to take them off the course of what this great country has to offer. This great city has offered.
Ross Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, I want to pivot just because one of the other issues that a lot of business leaders in New York specifically are focused on. Frankly, actually, business leaders around the country are focused on, is the border and immigration, illegal immigration, of course, being the key here. Where do things stand in the city and where do things stand between your relationship, frankly, and the Biden administration on this issue?
Mayor Adams: Well you're seeing here we're still managing. I think we're in the area of 194,000 migrants and asylum seekers that have entered New York City. We put in place very real ways of managing this crisis. Because of the programs we put in place, over 65 percent of them have continued on with their journey.
Many people who are entered through the borders are paroled in legally. I think we have to address the work aspect of this, and we need to control this crisis and turn it into opportunities. We all know that there are many municipalities that are decreased in population. They're looking for workers. I think when someone comes across the border, we should assign them where they're going and tell them here's where America needs you.
Stay there for three years, work, be part of the society. Then you could travel throughout the country and live wherever you want. The way we're doing it now, we're allowing the crisis to control us and not that we should be controlling the crisis and turning it to opportunities.
Ross Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you for joining us, as always. We look forward to talking again very soon.
Mayor Adams:Thank you.
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