Speaker 1: All right, folks, I need you all to stop what
Speaker 1: you're doing and listen up. You know I love this
Speaker 1: time of year, right. The NBA season is a full
Speaker 1: swing and with all its action going on, The Stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith Show wants to make sure you take advantage of
Speaker 1: it all. That's why we've partnered with Prize Picks, the
Speaker 1: best place to win cash while watching sports. The app
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Speaker 1: I'll give you my picks for three of tonight's NBA
Speaker 1: matchups to Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, the Sacramento
Speaker 1: Kings and the Dallas Mavericks, and of course the Detroit
Speaker 1: Pistons and the Utah Jazz. First up, We'll look at
Speaker 1: Homa Cities. Shay Gill Just Alexander score more or less
Speaker 1: thirty one and a half points with a brother's average
Speaker 1: at thirty two. Why the hell would I say he's
Speaker 1: going to score less. You see what the hell he's
Speaker 1: been doing. You see the show that he's been putting on.
Speaker 1: Anytime he's going up against brothers. This brother shows up
Speaker 1: and he's gonna against Houston to night, So I can't
Speaker 1: underestimate that. Okay, I'm gonna go with more. It's Shaye
Speaker 1: gil Just Alexander SGA, my MVP last year, my MVP
Speaker 1: this year. That's who I'm going with. Next up with
Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley scored more or less than
Speaker 1: sixteen and a half points. I'm gonna go with more
Speaker 1: for a couple of reasons. Number One, this brother's been flowing.
Speaker 1: Number Two, Detroit Pistons have been flowing, Motown, Motor City.
Speaker 1: They've been doing their thing. JB. Bickerstaff is my coach
Speaker 1: of the year. JJ Reddick is doing a good job
Speaker 1: along with a couple of others. We can't ignore what
Speaker 1: Kenny Atkinson is doing in Cleveland. With the best record
Speaker 1: in basketball but the Detroit Pistons were fourteen and sixty
Speaker 1: eight last year. They had a twenty eight game losing streak.
Speaker 1: They wore horrible and look at what bicker Staff has
Speaker 1: done for pretty much the same damn team. I got
Speaker 1: to go with that. Hell right, That's one of the
Speaker 1: reasons I said more. Let's go to the next one.
Speaker 1: It'll be Dallas Mavericks Klay Thompson. Well, he scored more
Speaker 1: or less than sixteen and a half points. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go with more because all Clay gotta do is hit
Speaker 1: about three or four three's, which he will easily do.
Speaker 1: It's what he can do. Okay, I'm gonna go with that.
Speaker 1: Right now, you don't have Luca Doncic holding on to
Speaker 1: the ball. Anthony Davis ain't healthy, so he ain't in
Speaker 1: the lineup. Gaff of eight there to throw the ball
Speaker 1: to either. It's really about Kyrie, PJ and Clay, so
Speaker 1: I might as well assume he's gonna score more than
Speaker 1: sixteen and a half points more as an answer to
Speaker 1: this question. Finally, with Sacramento Kings, Malik Monk scored more
Speaker 1: or less than eighteen and a half points. I like
Speaker 1: Malik Monk I like him a lot. Now, I liked
Speaker 1: him with de Aaron Fox together he got zach Lavine
Speaker 1: there with the mar Deroza. I think he's getting in
Speaker 1: the way of Malik Monk a little bit, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But I'm still gonna go with more
Speaker 1: because the brother's got that kind of potential. We know
Speaker 1: what he brings to the table, especially when he's healthy.
Speaker 1: And Sacramento obviously they gotta get themselves going. They gotta
Speaker 1: be in the mix, all right. Therefore, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with more for Malik Monk. So you see it right here,
Speaker 1: s g A Clay Tom said Malik Beasley, Malik Monk, more, more,
Speaker 1: more and more. Why do I say that? Because we
Speaker 1: talked about prospects. We never say lies. My name is
Speaker 1: Stephen A. Smith, and I approved this message. Now, normally
Speaker 1: I'm joking about that, you know what I'm saying. I'm
Speaker 1: just getting into my political mode having for with y'all,
Speaker 1: except today I don't have to. I could be quite serious.
Speaker 1: Why because I've got the former governor of New York
Speaker 1: coming in the house to talk to your boy. That
Speaker 1: says it all a lot of stuff to get into
Speaker 1: and who better to get into it with the right
Speaker 1: now than the one and only Andrew Cuomo in the
Speaker 1: house right here on the stephen A. Smith Show. Need
Speaker 1: I say anymore? Actually I will, but you'll see in
Speaker 1: a minute. Welcome to the latest edition of the Steven
Speaker 1: Nix Smister, coming at you over the digital areas of YouTube,
Speaker 1: and of course iHeart Radio as I love to do
Speaker 1: at the very least three times a week naturally, as
Speaker 1: I'm nearing or are now the eclips over one point
Speaker 1: one million subscribers. Can't thank y'all for the love and
Speaker 1: support enough you've been giving me on YouTube. Can't thank
Speaker 1: you for the love and support you've been giving me
Speaker 1: over iHeartRadio with the millions of downloads we've received over
Speaker 1: the last few months. Keep the love coming, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna keep on coming. We've got a lot to get
Speaker 1: into today, especially considering who I'm who's taking time out
Speaker 1: of this very busy schedule to talk to me, The
Speaker 1: one and only Andrew Cuomo, the fifty sixth governor for
Speaker 1: the State of New York. He's decided to pursue the
Speaker 1: mayor's seat in New York City after three and a
Speaker 1: half year exodus from the world of politics, looking forward
Speaker 1: to talking to him about his vision for now, in
Speaker 1: the future, in New York City and beyond. You don't
Speaker 1: want to miss that conversation. Before we get in all
Speaker 1: of that, I got some sports stuff to get to,
Speaker 1: so bear with me, please, because I gotta get started
Speaker 1: with the NBA where don't look now, but the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Lakers have climbed all the way up to the
Speaker 1: top two seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers swept
Speaker 1: two games against the Clippers Friday and Sunday. The Lakers
Speaker 1: have now won six straight games and twelve of the
Speaker 1: last fourteen. There's six and two With Luka Doncic in
Speaker 1: the lineup and Lebron James is putting up numbers reminiscent
Speaker 1: of his MVP season. The Lakers on a roll and
Speaker 1: many are starting to wonder if they can win the West.
Speaker 1: I'm here to tell you they can win the West.
Speaker 1: But it's not just because of Lebron James. It's not
Speaker 1: because you're expecting and anticipating that Luka Doncic's gonna go berserk.
Speaker 1: It's because of the way the Lakers are playing defense.
Speaker 1: That brings us to JJ Reddick. Did you know that
Speaker 1: over the last six and a half week, the Lakers
Speaker 1: are the number one defensive team in the NBA efficiency wise,
Speaker 1: number one. That is special. Nobody anticipated that. So we
Speaker 1: got to give love where it's due. Respect where's do it?
Speaker 1: We gotta start contemplating whether or not the Lakers gonna
Speaker 1: d come out of the West. Now, when I think
Speaker 1: about Okace, I'm thinking about Shay Gil just Alexander, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about Jayalen Williams. I'm thinking about Ched Holmgren and
Speaker 1: Isaiah Hartenstein. I'm thinking about the brothers that they got
Speaker 1: playing on that squad. Youthful, exuberant athleticism, three point shooting ability,
Speaker 1: shot blocking ability, defensive prowess. They've got like nine different
Speaker 1: categories that they're number one in. All of those things
Speaker 1: play a role. The question is will their youth get
Speaker 1: the better of them, particularly going up against some more
Speaker 1: experienced teams there, I say the Los Angeles Lakers. We
Speaker 1: look at Memphis, they struggle shooting the ball. We look
Speaker 1: at Houston, they're too young. We look at Denver they
Speaker 1: don't have a bench. We look at the Clippers, we
Speaker 1: see what the Lakers have already done to them. We
Speaker 1: look at the Phoenix Suns. They're non existent. They've lost
Speaker 1: like twelve of their last fourteen. Despite Kevin Duran and
Speaker 1: Devin Book are both averaging over twenty six points a game.
Speaker 1: They can't win a game to save their damn life.
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Timberwolves are winning games, but do you really
Speaker 1: really wonder whether or not Anthony Edwards is gonna have
Speaker 1: the help he needs from a Rudy Gobert, from a
Speaker 1: Jewis Randall and others to really make some noise out
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference. And of course there is the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks who everybody believes could make some noise. But
Speaker 1: then again, Anthony Davis and Daniel Gafford is out. When
Speaker 1: are they coming back? And when they do come back,
Speaker 1: how ready are they going to be. There's a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of things to point too throughout the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: And we can't forget the Golden State Warriors either, Steph
Speaker 1: Curry and Jimmy Butler, those boys whole bunch of things
Speaker 1: to point too. But here's the bottom line. The Lakers
Speaker 1: got Luca, they got Lebron, and now they got a defense.
Speaker 1: Damn they can take the West. They really really can.
Speaker 1: Now forgive me for transitioning to another NBA topic, but
Speaker 1: I want to follow up on the conversation from last week. Well,
Speaker 1: Lebron James wondered why anyone would want to be the
Speaker 1: face of the NBA. James essentially blame the media for
Speaker 1: being critical of the players in the game who are
Speaker 1: compared to the legends in the sport. I gave my
Speaker 1: thoughts on the issue last Friday, and then my buddy
Speaker 1: the Godfather, the one and Only Michael Wilbon from PTI,
Speaker 1: part of the Interruption, weighed in on the subject himself.
Speaker 1: Take a listen to what my man Wilbond had to say.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of layers here, and there's some stuff
Speaker 2: I might agree with him. And I watched Channing Fry
Speaker 2: have this rant and it was insightful, and I disagree
Speaker 2: with Channing, who I know and like tremendously. And if
Speaker 2: I was sitting with Channing and or Lebron, I would say.
Speaker 3: Hold on for a second.
Speaker 2: First of all, we live in a world now in
Speaker 2: which those guys are particularly Lebron, they know how to
Speaker 2: use and manipulate social media.
Speaker 3: But it goes both ways.
Speaker 2: It cuts both ways, and that's where a great part
Speaker 2: of the negativity is all right, so you.
Speaker 1: Engage in this.
Speaker 2: We live in a world that is largely negative, having
Speaker 2: nothing to do with sports. That that's the world we
Speaker 2: live in, and you live in it. And in Lebron's case, though,
Speaker 2: when you've been praised justifiably, you've earned the praise and
Speaker 2: the hundreds of millions of dollars that started as you
Speaker 2: were eight years old, when you put a crown on
Speaker 2: your head, do you actually believe that the rest of
Speaker 2: us are just in your kingdom to serve you. Sorry,
Speaker 2: there's criticism that comes with that. There's comparison that comes
Speaker 2: with that. I don't know that Lebron feels this way
Speaker 2: because I haven't asked him. I'd like to ask him,
Speaker 2: is he referring to the constant comparisons of Michael Jordan?
Speaker 2: Because if he doesn't like that, too, damn bad. The comparison,
Speaker 2: the constant attention, that's how you get all that money.
Speaker 2: It doesn't come from fannies in seats. It comes from
Speaker 2: attention and eyeballs and viewership and listenership and all of that. Tony,
Speaker 2: and I just wonder, really, do you think that we're
Speaker 2: supposed to just be there in public relations terms went
Speaker 2: out on your payroll when out there just to praise you.
Speaker 1: Do I need to say any more? Do I need
Speaker 1: the sanny damn Moore? He said it right there for you.
Speaker 1: We're not on Lebron James payroll, but guess what, we
Speaker 1: damn sure help elevate his payroll because by talking about
Speaker 1: him so much and praising him and recognizing him and
Speaker 1: popularizing him, it's facilitated him making money. There is no
Speaker 1: question that he is one of the greatest players ever
Speaker 1: and he deserves all the credit for that. We didn't
Speaker 1: train for him, We didn't you know, we didn't provide
Speaker 1: his nutrition, We weren't the ones in the weight room
Speaker 1: like he was taking care of his body, spending more
Speaker 1: than a million and a half dollars a year on
Speaker 1: taking care of his health. All of that stuff is
Speaker 1: absolutely positively true. But in the end, by talking about him,
Speaker 1: by prioritizing him with our coverage, we've assisted in that.
Speaker 1: But we're hating because God forbid that you had to
Speaker 1: audacity to unmitigated gall or say that one player out
Speaker 1: of the thousands upon thousands of players that have played
Speaker 1: in the NBA throughout its history be better than Lebron James.
Speaker 1: All we do is talk shit about him. That's what
Speaker 1: he says. I'll tell you what's talking shit about him,
Speaker 1: calling his ass too sensitive, that's what's talking shit about him,
Speaker 1: which I just did because it's true. Before I say
Speaker 1: anything else, a word from my sponsors. Al Right, everybody,
Speaker 1: listen up with all the big time sports action that's
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Speaker 1: let's get to boxing, because I'm sick and tired of
Speaker 1: talking about Lebron where many fans were stunned Saturday night
Speaker 1: after Javonte Tank Davis left Barclay Center with a majority
Speaker 1: draw against mister Lamont Roach. For those that don't know,
Speaker 1: the undefeated Davis was a heavy favorite against Roach, and
Speaker 1: many fans were stunned when Davis took a knee in
Speaker 1: the middle of the ninth round and retreated to the
Speaker 1: corner to have his team wipe his face with a towel. Now,
Speaker 1: taking the knee and fight a fight is usually scored
Speaker 1: as a knockdown, and you should have been scored that way.
Speaker 1: It should have been scored that way. How would a
Speaker 1: fight continued without Roach being credited with knocking down Davis.
Speaker 1: Here's how Davis explained the move during the post fight interview. Listen, Tank,
Speaker 1: you voluntarily took a knee midway through this fight. It
Speaker 1: was not rule a knock down. What happened to me?
Speaker 1: Took it? I just got my hand done.
Speaker 3: Two days ago, and she picked grease in my shit.
Speaker 1: So the shit was like, you.
Speaker 4: Know, like when you sweating their things like that and the.
Speaker 1: Grease come in my face.
Speaker 3: They brought my eyes type shit. Now, why y'all.
Speaker 1: Boring like I'm saying bullshit like this is real facts.
Speaker 1: Come on, man, look at my hair. I just got
Speaker 1: my she done.
Speaker 4: But it's all cool, man, you know, you know, I
Speaker 4: get they love you and then they hate you, turn
Speaker 4: around that love you again.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Well, as it pertains to
Speaker 1: Javonte Tank Davis, when the hell has anybody been hating
Speaker 1: on you? He's thirty and oh or twenty eight KOs
Speaker 1: Who the hell was hating on Javonte Davis? Am I
Speaker 1: missing something? It certainly wasn't anybody that I've seen in
Speaker 1: media or whatever. And I know that sounds like a
Speaker 1: bullshit excuse to a lot of people. You know, you
Speaker 1: got your head done and she put too much grease
Speaker 1: in the hair and all of this other stuff. But
Speaker 1: it's Tank Davis. So guess what, ladies and gentlemen, I'm
Speaker 1: believing him. You're thirty and oh or twenty eight KOs.
Speaker 1: He took a knee, got up, walked to the corner
Speaker 1: had his face wipe and teeing right back. I'm believing him.
Speaker 1: I didn't see him hurt or anything like that. I
Speaker 1: get that part. I saw him hurt when he got
Speaker 1: popped with a counter from Lamont Roach, and he stumbled
Speaker 1: backwards because he got hit with a shot while throwing
Speaker 1: a punch in an early round. So I'm certainly not
Speaker 1: gonna do that. Here's the important point to mention. All
Speaker 1: of us got to stand down and give Lamont Roach
Speaker 1: an apology. I thought that brother was gonna get beat
Speaker 1: down because I saw a dude that was a bantamweight champion.
Speaker 1: I said, why are you moving up to fight this guy?
Speaker 1: Why is Javonte Davis taking this fight? This guy's too small?
Speaker 1: What the hell is going on? He was a featherweight champion.
Speaker 1: You a lightweight? What the hell is going on? Why
Speaker 1: would you take that fight? I didn't understand it. What
Speaker 1: I didn't know is that once Lamont Roach stepped into
Speaker 1: the ring, he would be the bigger fighter. What I
Speaker 1: didn't know is that once he was in the ring
Speaker 1: and looked like the bigger fighter, he fought like the
Speaker 1: bigger fighter. Because ladies and gentlemen from opening bell he
Speaker 1: walked right to Javonte Davis, walked right to him and
Speaker 1: stayed in his face all night long. If he backed
Speaker 1: up at all, ladies and gentlemen, it was five percent
Speaker 1: of the time. The other ninety five percent of the time,
Speaker 1: he walked right to Javonte Davis. Javonte Davis caught him
Speaker 1: with some good shots. He took it and then gave
Speaker 1: it back. Body punches, counter punching, left hook, straight right.
Speaker 1: This brother Lamont Roach can fight, and he's beautiful defensively
Speaker 1: as well, and seemed completely unfazed and undeterred by Tank Davis,
Speaker 1: a knockout artist. And I'll give Javonte Davis credit for this.
Speaker 1: Usually when a champion is undefeated who gets in a
Speaker 1: fight like that finds himself with a majority drawer, with
Speaker 1: people questioning whether or not he legitimately won, it's usually
Speaker 1: the promoters and the audience that's calling for a rematch.
Speaker 1: Javonte Davis, who had been alluding to retirement, immediately said
Speaker 1: let's do it again. Let's get it going, no problem
Speaker 1: at all. I give him credit for that, because guess
Speaker 1: what I wanted to see, Javonte Davis versus Chakor Stevenson.
Speaker 1: I wanted to see him against Tali Lemonchenko. I wanted
Speaker 1: to see him against Ryan Garcia in a rematch. I
Speaker 1: wanted to see him against Tiafimo Lopez. Ladies, gentlemen, None
Speaker 1: of them deserved the shot ahead of a rematch for
Speaker 1: Lamont Roach. None of them. And check out Lamont Roach's tweets.
Speaker 1: I don't know, he said, if you meaning, if you
Speaker 1: mean pushing, my contract already signed and set for the
Speaker 1: immediate rematch, because you put that in there just in
Speaker 1: case you lost. Only reason we don't fight is because
Speaker 1: you scared. Javonte Davis comes back to our hours later
Speaker 1: and say no more. I'm pushing for the rematch. This
Speaker 1: is what we love when it comes to boxing. This
Speaker 1: is what we love to see. It's me against you, baby,
Speaker 1: And next time, you know what, maybe I ain't gonna say.
Speaker 1: Gavontae Davis wasn't ready. He looked pretty ready to me.
Speaker 1: It's just that Lamont Roach was ready. We didn't see
Speaker 1: this brother, y'all. We've seen him now. Lamont Roach. Remember
Speaker 1: that name, because if he beats Tavonte Tank Davis in
Speaker 1: a rematch, he will instantly become a household name coming up.
Speaker 1: He's a former New York governor who resigned in the
Speaker 1: middle of sexual harassment allegations. Now he's trying to get
Speaker 1: back into politics by making a run the New York
Speaker 1: City mayor. I've got the one and only Andrew Cuomo
Speaker 1: up next right here on a Steven ax Smim show.
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Speaker 3: New York City is the greatest city in the world.
Speaker 3: There is no other place like it. And as in life,
Speaker 3: we have had times when we are at our shining best,
Speaker 3: and there are times when we struggle and endure great hardship.
Speaker 3: But we also know that we can handle a crisis
Speaker 3: because we have. Did I always do everything right in
Speaker 3: my years of government service, of course not. Would I
Speaker 3: do some things differently knowing what I know now. Certainly
Speaker 3: did I make mistakes, some painfully, definitely, And I believe
Speaker 3: I learned from them and that I am a better
Speaker 3: person for it. And I hope to show you that
Speaker 3: every day. It won't be easy, but I know we
Speaker 3: can turn the city around, and I believe I can help,
Speaker 3: and that is why I announced my canda to seat
Speaker 3: today for Mayor of New York City.
Speaker 1: My next guest served as the fifty sixth Governor of
Speaker 1: the Great State of New York from twenty eleven until
Speaker 1: his resignation in twenty and twenty one. After three and
Speaker 1: a half years out of the spotlight. He's aiming for
Speaker 1: a political comeback. Please welcome the former Governor of the
Speaker 1: Great State of New York, the one and only Andrew Cuomo.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show, sir, how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm doing very well. Good to see you, and the
Speaker 3: pleasure is mine.
Speaker 1: Pleasure is mine as well. First things first, I have
Speaker 1: to congratulate you on a beautiful blue suit. You look
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot better than your brother Chris.
Speaker 1: I just want to get out of the way. I
Speaker 1: want to get out. Get that out of the way first, Okay,
Speaker 1: anything that's me.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying the heck of a lot, But thank you.
Speaker 1: I got you. You know that seventeen there was a
Speaker 1: seventeen minute of video on Saturday where you announced that
Speaker 1: you was running for the mayor of New York. Why
Speaker 1: is now the right time to return to politics in
Speaker 1: your eyes?
Speaker 3: Sir? Well, you know I wasn't planning on returning to
Speaker 3: politics leaving I was. I did my tour of duty
Speaker 3: and then some I was housing a Urban Development secretary
Speaker 3: in the Clinton administration for eight years, New York Attorney General,
Speaker 3: I was governor, and then I found out there was
Speaker 3: something called life, you know, after working in public service
Speaker 3: so hard all my life, and I was I had
Speaker 3: a good few years, spending time with family, doing some traveling.
Speaker 3: I was enjoying myself. But I am really worried about
Speaker 3: what's happening in New York City. Frankly, not just New
Speaker 3: York City, cities all across the nation. But I'm worried
Speaker 3: about what's happening New York City. And I was HUT secretary.
Speaker 3: As I mentioned, I know cities. I know the trajectory
Speaker 3: of cities, and the trajectory is not good for New
Speaker 3: York City. You know, post COVID people can be anywhere
Speaker 3: st even they don't have to be in a city.
Speaker 3: It's not like the old days where you're captured. They
Speaker 3: can move, they can do remote work, they can do zoom.
Speaker 3: And if you can stay home and do that, well,
Speaker 3: then maybe you can move to North Carolina. You can
Speaker 3: move to Florida, you can move to Colorado. So the
Speaker 3: dynamics have changed, and then the quality of life in
Speaker 3: New York City has really deteriorated, and you're paying a
Speaker 3: lot of taxes to be here. You put those factors
Speaker 3: together and it is a bad situation for New York
Speaker 3: and it has to turn around, and has to turn
Speaker 3: around quickly.
Speaker 1: How do you think it got to this point of
Speaker 1: your estimation over the last few years. What would you
Speaker 1: attribute it to the state of affas in New York.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question, Stephen, and I think it's
Speaker 3: something the Democratic Party has to think about and reflect upon.
Speaker 3: Put COVID aside, okay, because COVID was a transformation nationwide,
Speaker 3: worldwide societal transformation. But there's been a shift in philosophy
Speaker 3: here in New York City and other cities. But you've
Speaker 3: had this move starting in about twenty twenty, an anti
Speaker 3: police movement. Right, cut the funding for the police. Police
Speaker 3: are bad. We have thousands fewer police today than we had. Well,
Speaker 3: that has consequences. You cut the police. Don't be surprised
Speaker 3: when crime goes up. You cut the police. Don't be
Speaker 3: surprised when people are afraid to go into the subways
Speaker 3: because of the rate of crime. We have a mentally
Speaker 3: ill homeless problem. People who are mentally ill, dangerously mentally
Speaker 3: ill to themselves and to others. There's been a philosophy
Speaker 3: change where we don't enforce the law the same way,
Speaker 3: and frankly we do know in a favor right because
Speaker 3: if a person is mentally ill, the wrong thing to
Speaker 3: do is actually leave them on the street. The right
Speaker 3: thing to do, quote unquote, right thing to do is
Speaker 3: to get them the help they need. So there's been
Speaker 3: a philosophical change. They call it quote unquote progressive. I
Speaker 3: think there's anything but progressive. I think it's regressive, and
Speaker 3: I think that's contributed to it.
Speaker 1: You've been on the record and you've tackled the progressive
Speaker 1: side on quite a few occasions in your career. You know,
Speaker 1: that's a matter of record. What makes you believe that
Speaker 1: you're going to be equally, if not more so successful
Speaker 1: as the mayor than you were as governor tackling not
Speaker 1: just the issues, but those people who obviously support issues
Speaker 1: that you may not support, even on the left.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well let's separate the two issues, all right. First
Speaker 3: of all, took on the progressives. I believe I am
Speaker 3: a progressive, right, that word progressive has been distorted and
Speaker 3: misused that's not a new term. That's not the term
Speaker 3: they came up with a few years ago. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Speaker 3: I have a great poster Franklin Delano Roosevelt for Progressive Government.
Speaker 3: FDR actually took it from Eddy Roosevelt, who talked about
Speaker 3: progressive government. So progressive government has been established. My father
Speaker 3: was a progressive. Barack Obama was a progressive. Bill Clinton
Speaker 3: was a progressive and man. To look at the word
Speaker 3: it stated for making progress, not this theoretical, abstract argument
Speaker 3: for the sake of argument. Make progress. As governor, I
Speaker 3: made progress past marriage equality first, big state, changed the
Speaker 3: whole conversation in my fifteen dollars highest minimum ways in
Speaker 3: the United States of America. So no one did the
Speaker 3: progressive things that we did, and we got them done.
Speaker 3: New La Guardia Airport, new moynihand train station, et cetera.
Speaker 3: So making government work, making progress, that's what the progressive
Speaker 3: is all about. It's not about being anti police. It's
Speaker 3: not about leaving mentally ill homeless people on the street.
Speaker 3: It's not about being anti Semitic. We have this DSA
Speaker 3: which spews anti semitism, which just releases a toxic chemical
Speaker 3: into the environment. That's not progressive in my mind.
Speaker 1: You know, I asked just a couple of a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago, the Mayor of New York, Steric Adams was
Speaker 1: here in studio with me, and I asked him a
Speaker 1: question pertaining to you and the possibility of going up
Speaker 1: against you in light of some of the things that you'vecomplished.
Speaker 1: You brought it up marriage Equality Act twenty eleven, fiscal reforms,
Speaker 1: infrastructure modernization, gun control Legislation twenty thirteen, the minimum wage,
Speaker 1: increase in paid family leave. All of these things under
Speaker 1: your umbrella as governor of New York, just to name
Speaker 1: a few. So going up against you you would be
Speaker 1: a formidable foe, to say the least, because he intends
Speaker 1: to run for reelection. Of course, I want you to
Speaker 1: watch my question to him and how he responds. Take
Speaker 1: a look. Let's think positive. Yes, Let's say these allegations
Speaker 1: are gonna go away. Your issues campaign, you know, fraud
Speaker 1: and campaign finance, all of this stuff we're gonna throw away.
Speaker 1: With all of that, it's you against Andrew Cuomo for
Speaker 1: the mayor of New York. I'm a sports guy like competition.
Speaker 1: I mean, what kind of prediction would you put forth,
Speaker 1: if you got if you had yourself, if you found
Speaker 1: yourself in a position where you were going up against
Speaker 1: Andrew Cromo for the mayor's position, for the his honors
Speaker 1: position in the City of New York.
Speaker 4: Well, listen, I think that me and this is how
Speaker 4: I run my life. I'm not running against Andrew Cuomo
Speaker 4: or any of the other candidates. I'm running against myself
Speaker 4: play my best game. If I play my best game,
Speaker 4: it doesn't matter who's in the race, because there's other
Speaker 4: candidates in the race. And what I've learned in electoral
Speaker 4: politics right now, we're in the preseason. You know, we're
Speaker 4: not in the playoffs. When you're in the playoffs, your
Speaker 4: game has to be different. You could be great, you know,
Speaker 4: in the season, but when you get in the playoffs,
Speaker 4: let's see what you're made of.
Speaker 1: Now, Andrew ccomo, we know about the allegations that have
Speaker 1: been levied against Mayor Adams. We know that the DJ
Speaker 1: stepped in took the case from the southern state of
Speaker 1: New York, and the criticism that he has received in
Speaker 1: light of just a lot of people are accusing him
Speaker 1: of sort of being in bed with the Trump administration.
Speaker 1: How much of a role if any did that play
Speaker 1: and you deciding to join this race to capture the
Speaker 1: mayor seat in New York.
Speaker 3: City, Yeah, Stephen, it didn't really. I've been watching what's
Speaker 3: been happening to New York City and what's going on
Speaker 3: and this new philosophy that has taken over in New
Speaker 3: York City, besides from the mayor, frankly, what the other
Speaker 3: candidates have been saying. And I agree with the mayor.
Speaker 3: You know, it's not about anyone else. I'm here to
Speaker 3: tell voters what I think I would do and what
Speaker 3: I think the problems are, and my record and my
Speaker 3: experience of actually getting things done, which is everything. You know. First,
Speaker 3: it's interesting when it comes to the government, people don't
Speaker 3: factor and experience. Right. If you hire a plumber, you
Speaker 3: want to make sure the plumber has experience. You hire
Speaker 3: a landscaper. The landscaper has experience. But you can hire
Speaker 3: a chief executive who never ran anything before. Right, So
Speaker 3: let's talk about experience. Let's talk about a record of
Speaker 3: getting things done. And you just started to go through it.
Speaker 3: I don't think there's been a governor in modern political
Speaker 3: history that has accomplished more things than I have accomplished,
Speaker 3: and that's what's getting it done is about right, It's
Speaker 3: about getting it done, making change. Let people feel this progress,
Speaker 3: improve my life, is what they're saying. And then juxtapose
Speaker 3: that with this with the other candidate's just saying they're
Speaker 3: anti cop. They've allowed this homeless, what I think is
Speaker 3: just a human tragedy to continue and go on. The
Speaker 3: affordability crisis. They can't figure out how to build affordable housing.
Speaker 3: It's bricks and mortar. You put them together, and you
Speaker 3: put another stack, and then you have affordable housing. You know,
Speaker 3: there's this incompetence and apathy that is pervasive, and that's
Speaker 3: what's turning people off. Let's go progressive government, Okay, make progress,
Speaker 3: do something right. It goes. It comes back to queens. Steve,
Speaker 3: that's right, do something for me. Let me see some results.
Speaker 3: You either produce or you don't. And I'm a producer.
Speaker 1: You are a producer. You're a three term governor. You
Speaker 1: were in line to be to get a fourth term,
Speaker 1: all right, which I think would have Todd Rockefeller for
Speaker 1: the record in New York State or potentially to be
Speaker 1: president of the United States. But obviously there's a couple
Speaker 1: of things that derailed you. One of the things that
Speaker 1: came to mind was the whole nursing home crisis in
Speaker 1: the after you know, during COVID, and how there was
Speaker 1: the deaths were understated, and it was under your administration,
Speaker 1: and you took hits for that. Explain that to our
Speaker 1: audience right now. How much culpability and blame do you
Speaker 1: believe you deserved and what role do you believe that
Speaker 1: ultimately played in you ultimately departing from the governor's position
Speaker 1: for the New York to State of New York.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let's go back COVID nineteen. First, it was a
Speaker 3: situation like we had never seen before. Obviously, none of
Speaker 3: us and no one really knew what to do. I
Speaker 3: had the best health officials on the globe, Stephen working
Speaker 3: with us, because New York had COVID first and worst
Speaker 3: right because the flank the planes were bringing it from
Speaker 3: Europe to New York for months and nobody knew. So
Speaker 3: I had the best health officials that you could get,
Speaker 3: but nobody really knew what to do. And the worst
Speaker 3: manifestation of COVID was in the nursing homes. And this
Speaker 3: was a horrific situation and God forbid anyone should ever
Speaker 3: have to go through this again. In the nursing homes,
Speaker 3: we had to close visitation because we were afraid more
Speaker 3: people would bring in the IRUs, so you couldn't visit
Speaker 3: loved ones. And you had many people dying in nursing
Speaker 3: homes because obviously COVID prayed on the week and the
Speaker 3: immune compromised, and that was nursing homes. So you had
Speaker 3: people dying in nursing homes. They couldn't see their family,
Speaker 3: even though they were at the end of their life.
Speaker 3: The families couldn't say goodbye. I mean, it was just
Speaker 3: as painful a human situation that you could imagine. And
Speaker 3: I lived it. I was there. It traumatized me, It
Speaker 3: traumatized many. The health officials were making the best decisions
Speaker 3: that they could. I believe that federal officials, the state
Speaker 3: officials were making the best decisions they could. They were
Speaker 3: trying to figure out what the right quarant team period was.
Speaker 3: At first they said it was seven days and then
Speaker 3: they could release people the nursing homes or back home.
Speaker 3: Then they extended it later on. I believe everybody was
Speaker 3: doing everything they could, and they just didn't have enough
Speaker 3: knowledge but then, surprise, surprise, there was an election year
Speaker 3: and it became very politicized, and the Republicans blamed the
Speaker 3: Democrats and the Democratic governors, and the Democrats blamed the Republicans,
Speaker 3: and the President wasn't doing enough. And then there were
Speaker 3: lawsuits and they were investigations, and the Department of Justice investigated,
Speaker 3: The Manhattan District Attorney didn't investigation, the Attorney General did
Speaker 3: an investigation. Everybody did an investigation, and at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, everybody comes to the same basic conclusion,
Speaker 3: which is everyone did what they could, and the health
Speaker 3: officials did what they thought was right at the right time.
Speaker 3: But many people died in nursing homes the bottom bottom
Speaker 3: line for the state of New York. And to cut
Speaker 3: through all the politics, they then count how many people
Speaker 3: died in nursing homes per one hundred. Okay, so it's
Speaker 3: apples and apples, big states, most states. For every one
Speaker 3: hundred people in nursing homes, how many died State of
Speaker 3: New York is number thirty eight, which means only twelve
Speaker 3: states had a lower rate of death than New York.
Speaker 3: And that is saying something, Stephen, because you know, we
Speaker 3: had it first and other states had months to prepare.
Speaker 3: It just fell out of the sky for New Yorkers.
Speaker 3: But though the federal numbers the rate of death in
Speaker 3: nursing homes, we ranked number thirty eight. I would liked
Speaker 3: to be number fifty, but thirty eight. Only twelve states
Speaker 3: had a lower rate of death. I think that says
Speaker 3: New York officials. Health officials not only did their job,
Speaker 3: but did it well.
Speaker 1: But respectfully, sir. They seemed to be coming at you
Speaker 1: because they used the word undercounted, and what they said
Speaker 1: was that it was undercounted because at that particular moment
Speaker 1: in time, your star had ascended to another level. You
Speaker 1: were given the daily press conferences with COVID nineteen and
Speaker 1: what was transpiring. You were the most articulate voice in
Speaker 1: a lot of people's eyes. On the rest. It got
Speaker 1: to a point where people the only person people wanted
Speaker 1: to hear from more than you was DoD Anthony Vauci,
Speaker 1: and that's because they were hoping he would come up
Speaker 1: with a vaccine for ground out loud. I mean, it
Speaker 1: got to that point and that's where the word politicized
Speaker 1: or politicization came into play because they felt that for
Speaker 1: political purposes, you had undercounted, and to that as you
Speaker 1: reflect on that, was that a mistake in anyway? Was
Speaker 1: there anything that you could look back on and say,
Speaker 1: maybe I should have done something different to make sure
Speaker 1: they couldn't come at me with those accusations.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Two quick points. First, on the undercounting. Did New
Speaker 3: York undercount? Now, when all the counting is done, right,
Speaker 3: it's over. It's been over for years. All the counting
Speaker 3: is done. People died in nursing homes, people died outside
Speaker 3: of nursing homes. People who are in nursing homes and
Speaker 3: went to hospitals and died, people who died. All the
Speaker 3: counting is done, That's where the thirty eight number comes from.
Speaker 3: So undercount, overcount, that's where the thirty eight comes from.
Speaker 3: With number thirty eight, only twelve states did better? What
Speaker 3: could I have done differently? In retrospect when it became
Speaker 3: political Stephen, then I partially resented the politicalization of it,
Speaker 3: if you will. We were doing everything we can we
Speaker 3: could at that time to save lives, and now you
Speaker 3: want to play politics and you want to start with
Speaker 3: a Department of Justice investigation in the middle of this crisis,
Speaker 3: I did resent the injection of politics, and I was
Speaker 3: probably not as communicative as I should have been because
Speaker 3: I thought it was political and I resented the as
Speaker 3: I said that politics was entering what was the most
Speaker 3: significant crisis of a generation. So I would say that that.
Speaker 1: Was January of twenty twenty one. In February of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, that's when the cascade of sexual harassment allegations
Speaker 1: came in your direction and people were accusing you of
Speaker 1: sexual harassment. I think they were like eleven different allegations
Speaker 1: levied against you. And then March of twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: state legislators begin in impeachment investigation. You've spoken about that
Speaker 1: on several occasions. As you've reflected upon that, you also
Speaker 1: hit it, if not flat out said you thought that
Speaker 1: was being politicized as well as you reflect on that, now,
Speaker 1: what are your feelings reflecting back on that point in time.
Speaker 3: Well, that was about three years ago, right, Stephen, And
Speaker 3: sometimes time brings out the truth. I said at that
Speaker 3: time that, as you said, correctly, so number of women
Speaker 3: made claims about inappropriate behavior. A report was issued. I
Speaker 3: said that was a political report. It was politically motivated
Speaker 3: and politically done. It was also a hyper political time,
Speaker 3: if you remember. But I said it was a political report.
Speaker 3: That was three years ago. Since then, everyone and their
Speaker 3: brother has investigated those claims, literally to the tune of
Speaker 3: millions and millions of dollars, and nothing has come from
Speaker 3: any of them. So time brings out the truth. I
Speaker 3: said at that time it was political, and three years later,
Speaker 3: millions of dollars later, in terms of people investigating complaints,
Speaker 3: nothing has come from any of those complaints. You know,
Speaker 3: my opponents want to talk about the past because they
Speaker 3: don't want to talk about the present, and they don't
Speaker 3: want to talk about the city and the condition that
Speaker 3: the city is in and what they have done to
Speaker 3: the city with this anti cop reduction of the police force.
Speaker 3: We've gotten to a place in New York City, Stephen,
Speaker 3: people don't even apply for the job to be police
Speaker 3: officer anymore. That's how much we have devalued the police
Speaker 3: and diminished the police. New Yorkers today just walk past
Speaker 3: homeless people who are clearly mentally ill. They walk past
Speaker 3: them like they don't see them. You know, it's really
Speaker 3: a horrific state of affairs.
Speaker 1: I want to get a bit more personal, if that's
Speaker 1: entirely possible from this perspective. I'm from Queens, New York.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously you are as well. And my parents
Speaker 1: grew up Cuomo fans. Mario Cuomo, your lad dad, God
Speaker 1: rest his wonderful soul. What a phenomenal governor he was
Speaker 1: for the state of New York and what have you.
Speaker 1: Everybody loved the Cuomos. And I'm thinking about his years
Speaker 1: of service, and I'm thinking about your years of service.
Speaker 1: How did it make you feel to have to depart
Speaker 1: from office in that fashion? And how long did it
Speaker 1: take you to get to a point where you dare
Speaker 1: I say, was your old self again to some degree
Speaker 1: in terms of wanting having a fervor for politan, a
Speaker 1: passion for politics again? Talk about what that did to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, look, my father was my hero, right. I
Speaker 3: started in politics with my father. I was in my twenties.
Speaker 3: I was his campaign manager for his campaign to govern
Speaker 3: to become governor. I was twenty four to twenty five
Speaker 3: years old, and I was his advisor all through his term.
Speaker 3: He then helped me in my campaign and he was
Speaker 3: an advisor to me until we lost him. I would
Speaker 3: say that he would have advised me to do what
Speaker 3: I did at the time, because public service comes first,
Speaker 3: and you had this political fervor that you referred to,
Speaker 3: and the legislature, you know that, especially at that time,
Speaker 3: any claim of any sexual impropriety took off like fire
Speaker 3: through dry grass, right, And as you mentioned, the legislature
Speaker 3: was talking about impeachment, and there is no real impeachment
Speaker 3: process in New York, So you would have entered into
Speaker 3: a period of chaos that we like, that was like
Speaker 3: nothing we had ever seen before. Okay, And that is
Speaker 3: the last thing my father would have ever suggested that
Speaker 3: I do. It's about public service, it's about the state.
Speaker 3: If this is going to cause chaos and stop the
Speaker 3: government from funk, then step aside so the government can function,
Speaker 3: because the government and public service comes first. That's the oath,
Speaker 3: that's the value, that's the priority. That's what he would
Speaker 3: have said. He would have said, step aside and then
Speaker 3: go figure it out and find out the facts. Because
Speaker 3: when they announced the report, I hadn't even heard of
Speaker 3: the women that they were mentioning. So I wasn't even
Speaker 3: in a posision to defend myself because I hadn't even
Speaker 3: heard of a lot of these women, right, so he
Speaker 3: would have said, step aside, let the government function. Then
Speaker 3: do your work and get out the facts, which we did.
Speaker 3: And then if you he would have said, I think
Speaker 3: in this moment, I think he would have said, New
Speaker 3: York cities and trouble. You know how to do this.
Speaker 3: You've proven you can do this. The right thing to
Speaker 3: do right away from Queens, there's the right thing. You
Speaker 3: can't define it, but you feel it in your gut,
Speaker 3: you feel it in your heart, your soul. The right
Speaker 3: thing to do is to step in and be helpful,
Speaker 3: because I spent my life doing this, and making change
Speaker 3: in government isn't easy, and it's not for the fainth
Speaker 3: of heart, Stephen, it is not. It is hard to
Speaker 3: make change, and you get this opposition from every angle.
Speaker 3: You go to change a light bulb in New York
Speaker 3: City and there's going to be a committee that opposes
Speaker 3: the changing of light bulbs.
Speaker 1: Happen to you.
Speaker 3: So it's not for the fainth of heart. But I
Speaker 3: know how to do it. And I think he would say,
Speaker 3: the city's in trouble, and you have an obligation to
Speaker 3: step up.
Speaker 1: If that had not happened, would you have run for president?
Speaker 3: If if no, I would get a big show like
Speaker 3: you have.
Speaker 1: I don't think is small. So it's climbing. It's climbing, but.
Speaker 3: Big show, sir.
Speaker 1: I got to ask you right now. Some have said
Speaker 1: we do not need a return of a Cuomo. They've
Speaker 1: questioned whether or not you're someone who can be trusted
Speaker 1: as a voter in New York City. To them, you
Speaker 1: say what.
Speaker 3: Well, I say, it depends on what you want. If
Speaker 3: you want someone to play nice with the other politicians,
Speaker 3: go along, get along, don't ruffle any feathers, don't really
Speaker 3: make any change. Just talk about making change, propose things,
Speaker 3: but leave things alone, continue the status quo. I am
Speaker 3: not your guy. That's not what I do. If what
Speaker 3: you're saying is, or what the voter says is, I'm
Speaker 3: worried about New York. I think the city's in trouble.
Speaker 3: I'm anxious. I'm anxious about the subways. I'm anxious about
Speaker 3: the crime. I'm anxious about the homeless, mentally ill on
Speaker 3: the streets. I'm anxious that there's no affordable housing. I
Speaker 3: can't afford to live here. I'm getting priced out of
Speaker 3: New York. I need someone who can actually get something done.
Speaker 3: I'm tired of these politicians promise, promise, promise, and then
Speaker 3: nothing changes. And I want someone who has proven their
Speaker 3: ability to actually make things happen. Then I'm your person.
Speaker 1: The governor is the leader of a state. The mayor's
Speaker 1: the leader of a city. You've been the leader of
Speaker 1: the state of New York for three terms. The mayor's
Speaker 1: position as opposed to pursuing a return to the governor.
Speaker 3: See, well again, I wasn't considering pursuing returning period. I
Speaker 3: was enjoying my life. I was going to go fishing
Speaker 3: and make fun of my little brother. You know, that
Speaker 3: was my plan. So I am It's not that I'm
Speaker 3: getting back in politics. To me, Steven, New York City
Speaker 3: at this moment is in trouble, and I think I
Speaker 3: can help because I've done this all my life and
Speaker 3: I know these issues and these problems, and I know
Speaker 3: how to make a change. So it's about helping New
Speaker 3: York City in this moment. It's not about me wanting
Speaker 3: to re enter politics. Generally, it was how do I
Speaker 3: help in this moment? And look, I am Queen's and secretary.
Speaker 3: I was in every state in the United States. Literally,
Speaker 3: I've worked with cities all across the nation. I've worked,
Speaker 3: I've been in twenty two countries. There is nothing like
Speaker 3: New York and I love it. I mean I just
Speaker 3: love it. I love everything about it. It is who
Speaker 3: I am. It made my father, it made my grandfather,
Speaker 3: It's in my blood. And to see it suffering and
Speaker 3: to see it declining. Look, my father, your father handed
Speaker 3: you New York City and said, this is a gift
Speaker 3: that I am leaving you, beautiful New York City. Everybody
Speaker 3: around the world wants to come here. I'm leaving it
Speaker 3: to you. I'm putting it in your hands. And they
Speaker 3: placed New York City in our hands. In turn, we
Speaker 3: are going to turn around and hand New York York
Speaker 3: City to the next generation. And I want to make
Speaker 3: sure that I hand over to my children, my three girls,
Speaker 3: a New York City that is at least as good
Speaker 3: as the New York City that I inherited. And really
Speaker 3: I would like to hand them in New York City
Speaker 3: that is better. That for me, is what this is
Speaker 3: all about. I've been up, I've been down, I've been
Speaker 3: all around. I was going to the rumors for president,
Speaker 3: rumors for this, rumors for that. It's all garbage. At
Speaker 3: the end of the day, Stephen, what did you accomplish?
Speaker 3: What difference did you make in people's lives? What exists?
Speaker 3: But for you being here, that's what it's about. And
Speaker 3: I believe if I can make a difference in New.
Speaker 1: York, how are you going to pull us off with
Speaker 1: the Trump administration in a White House? How would you
Speaker 1: pull that off for New York City?
Speaker 3: Well, Donald Trump is from New York City, and he
Speaker 3: knows our problems here. He knows we need federal help.
Speaker 3: I dealt with him as governor. Remember, so there was
Speaker 3: a lot of back and forth. He's another one from Queens. Yes,
Speaker 3: he is three of us Queen's boys. So I dealt
Speaker 3: with him as governor. He knows our situation, he knows
Speaker 3: the situation in New York City. It is his hometown.
Speaker 3: I think that he wants New York City to appreciate him.
Speaker 3: I think he thinks there's an opportunity for him to
Speaker 3: do good things in New York City. And really we
Speaker 3: have to see what he does, what posture President Trump takes.
Speaker 3: And if you want to be an optimist, you say
Speaker 3: he's going to say New York is his hometown, then
Speaker 3: he wants to help, and to be honest, I've been
Speaker 3: on the right side of President Trump. I've been on
Speaker 3: the wrong side of President Trump. So I think it's
Speaker 3: up to the President and it's up to the posture
Speaker 3: that he declares visa the New York You know, what
Speaker 3: does he do with the budget, what does he do
Speaker 3: with medicaid? What does he do with the housing money?
Speaker 3: Because the federal government is entirely impactful on New York. So,
Speaker 3: so I think it's up to him and what he
Speaker 3: does and will respond to that.
Speaker 1: What would a Cuomo administration in New York City and
Speaker 1: the mayor's seat, How would that differ from the present
Speaker 1: state of affairs with the Adams administration, or at least
Speaker 1: the perception that the Adams administration has now with the
Speaker 1: White House. How would the Cuomo relationship with the White
Speaker 1: House be different in your estimation?
Speaker 3: Well, I think what happened with the Adams administration is
Speaker 3: a very particular set of circumstances and facts. Right, you
Speaker 3: went to a clip of Mayor Adams. This is I've
Speaker 3: never seen this unique situation where the mayor was facing
Speaker 3: a criminal situation that was federal and the President then
Speaker 3: worked with him on those federal charges. So I don't
Speaker 3: know that we ever see that again. But that is
Speaker 3: a truly unique situation that Mayor Adams and President Trump had.
Speaker 1: Do you believe he's severely compromised being the mayor right
Speaker 1: now because of his situation, which makes it obviously easier
Speaker 1: for you to compete against them for the upcoming election.
Speaker 3: Well, you would have to ask Mayor Adams that question.
Speaker 3: I know it's a complicated transaction that they entered into,
Speaker 3: But how the mayor feels about that, whether or not
Speaker 3: he's constrained by that, that's a question for Mayor Adams
Speaker 3: to answer.
Speaker 1: You've been known as a government when you were in
Speaker 1: the governor's seat, You've been known as somebody you would
Speaker 1: ruffle feathers to get things done. You were sterned, you
Speaker 1: didn't play any games. You were about your business, you
Speaker 1: wanted to get things done, and you didn't give a
Speaker 1: damn whether you made friends or enemies along the way.
Speaker 1: Do you believe you'd have to be more of that
Speaker 1: person to get things done in New York or less?
Speaker 3: Well? I think it's a good question, and it's one
Speaker 3: I've thought about. We got a lot done, and as
Speaker 3: I said, Stephen. There is no easy way to get
Speaker 3: big things done. LaGuardia Airport, they opposed me more. In
Speaker 3: the hand train station there was opposition. Second, having subway,
Speaker 3: there was opposition. Right bridge happens a bridge, it was opposition.
Speaker 3: By definition, you go to build anything and there's going
Speaker 3: to be opposition. If you faint from that opposition, or
Speaker 3: if you're a politician and you say, look, I don't
Speaker 3: want any opposition. I want everyone to like me because
Speaker 3: I want everyone to vote for me, which by the way,
Speaker 3: is a posture of most politicians. Then you get nothing done,
Speaker 3: and you've had generation if, the generation if, the generation
Speaker 3: of people getting nothing done. And that's why the people say,
Speaker 3: I don't believe any of these guys. They run for office,
Speaker 3: they promise everything and then they do nothing. Look outside,
Speaker 3: what do you see that is new and different? So
Speaker 3: I purposely was very productive and I purposefully pushed through projects.
Speaker 3: And was it hard to get it done? Yes? Did
Speaker 3: I ruffle feathers, no doubt. Can you do these things
Speaker 3: without ruffling feathers? I do not believe you can. I
Speaker 3: do not believe you can. And I've been in federal government,
Speaker 3: city government, state government. I don't believe you can. Having
Speaker 3: said that, I think in retrospect, could I have been
Speaker 3: more patient? Yes? And did I become impatient with the
Speaker 3: bureaucracy and with the local politics and the obstacles. Yes,
Speaker 3: I did become impatient because I could see so clearly
Speaker 3: what we could get done but for these bumps in
Speaker 3: the road. And I did become impatient. And as my
Speaker 3: grandmother used to say to me when I was young, bargenzia,
Speaker 3: bargenzia in Italian patients, patients, And I think I would
Speaker 3: bring more patients to the job. I would hope to
Speaker 3: be as productive, but with.
Speaker 1: More patients productive. As a governor, had folks fantasize it
Speaker 1: about you being a president of the United States of America,
Speaker 1: which obviously is a loftier position the mayor, even being
Speaker 1: the mayor of New York City. There are those out there,
Speaker 1: Yes they are critics, but there are also those who
Speaker 1: fervently support you that may wonder is that seat too
Speaker 1: small for Andrew Cmo because of who he is and
Speaker 1: who he has been and who we aspired for him
Speaker 1: to be. What do you say to people that have
Speaker 1: that question about you.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna bring a big seat to the office, Steve,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have a big seat. I'm not see I say. Look,
Speaker 3: I have one goal, which is trying and succeeding in
Speaker 3: making a difference for New York City today. And by
Speaker 3: the way, as I said in my announcement video that
Speaker 3: you played, this is not going to be easy, right.
Speaker 3: Hiring more police, getting the mentally ill off the streets,
Speaker 3: dealing with a migrant situation, cleaning up the subways, building
Speaker 3: affordable housing. None of this is easy. This is all hard.
Speaker 3: So that's the job at hand. That's the focus, right,
Speaker 3: run with blind blinders on. That's all I'm focused on.
Speaker 3: That's all I want to do. If I do that,
Speaker 3: I'm happy.
Speaker 1: What would be your number one priority as mayor of
Speaker 1: New York With all the issues that you highlight as one,
Speaker 1: is there one issue that stands out above the crowd.
Speaker 3: Public safety? Public safety? Public safety. If people don't feel safe,
Speaker 3: nothing works. Nothing works. If you don't feel safe. You
Speaker 3: don't go to the restaurant. If you don't feel safe,
Speaker 3: the tourist doesn't come to go to the place. If
Speaker 3: you don't feel safe, if you don't come into the office,
Speaker 3: you stay home and you do remote work. So you
Speaker 3: have to feel safe. That's why the old expression public
Speaker 3: safety is job won for government. It's true, you have
Speaker 3: to feel safe, and that is the foundation for everything else.
Speaker 1: What does that mean more police officers? What does that
Speaker 1: mean exactly?
Speaker 3: Part of it is more police officers, and part of
Speaker 3: it is a change in the philosophy that we understand.
Speaker 3: If you don't enforce rules, you have chaos. Right, nobody
Speaker 3: wants to see anybody go to jail. Nobody. And by
Speaker 3: the way, I closed more prisons than any governor in history.
Speaker 3: All right, so nobody wants to see anybody go to jail.
Speaker 3: But you go too far to the other extreme. You
Speaker 3: know that pendulum swings too far to the other extreme. Well,
Speaker 3: we don't want anyone to go to jail. Well, then
Speaker 3: you have chaos. And that's what we have on the
Speaker 3: streets now, in my opinion.
Speaker 1: What about the issue of immigration, I mean that in
Speaker 1: some people's eyes, that can tie into it, certainly in
Speaker 1: Trump's oys, because that's one of the things he wanted
Speaker 1: Adams to address, which is why the DOJ presumably intervened
Speaker 1: with the case against Adams of crying out loud. How
Speaker 1: high on your priority list is the immigration issue? In
Speaker 1: New York City.
Speaker 3: Well, fortunately it's going to be lower because the numbers
Speaker 3: are going to drop. You know, in my opinion, I'm
Speaker 3: a Democrat. The President Biden and the administration mishandled the
Speaker 3: migrant problem. If you were me, what caused the election,
Speaker 3: I would say between inflation and the migrant problem. Probably
Speaker 3: the migrant problem too. Yes, there was no plan. They
Speaker 3: knew what was going to happen. When you open the border,
Speaker 3: you turn on the fawcet what's going to catch the water?
Speaker 1: What happens?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm just going to turn on the force and
Speaker 3: see what happens. Now. So that problem spilled over, pardon
Speaker 3: upon to cities. The governors put people on buses. It
Speaker 3: was a tremendous burden on New York City. Twelve billion
Speaker 3: dollars if you believe anyone's numbers in this town, was
Speaker 3: spent on the migrants. But Trump has closed the border.
Speaker 3: That number is dropped. The number of migrants in the
Speaker 3: city is dropping. So I think that issue is of
Speaker 3: new migrants is going to be dropping. The deportation issue
Speaker 3: will be rising, but that's a different issue.
Speaker 1: Andrew Cuomo, if you win and you are elected the
Speaker 1: mayor of New York City? Is that the beginning for you?
Speaker 1: We could say it's a new beginning, But I guess
Speaker 1: what I'm asking is you stepped away. You talked about
Speaker 1: how comfortable you were while you were away, But now
Speaker 1: that you're getting back into the mix, can people expect
Speaker 1: you to stick around for a very, very long time
Speaker 1: or is it just a priority to fix New York
Speaker 1: City and then go into the sunset and hang out
Speaker 1: with your brother and try to compare suits with one
Speaker 1: another something? What's the deal?
Speaker 3: First of all, my brother doesn't wear a suit, you know,
Speaker 3: he I don't know what he wears. He wears like
Speaker 3: those Hawaiian flower shirts. Uh. And I don't know why
Speaker 3: you don't mention it when you're on the show with him,
Speaker 3: because he's clearly and what is that with the rolling
Speaker 3: up the sleeves, you know, either buy a short sleeve
Speaker 3: shirt or leave this shirt alone.
Speaker 1: He's trying to throw his muscles and that he's ready
Speaker 1: to He's ready to throw down. That's what he's trying
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 3: That's what he trying to say. Yeah, but you're there.
Speaker 3: You have to say, give me a break when you
Speaker 3: roll down your sleeves because you're starting to annoy me.
Speaker 1: So you're getting on him about rolling up the sleeves.
Speaker 1: You're getting on me for not getting on him. You're
Speaker 1: getting on both of us.
Speaker 3: Even you have to push back on him. You have
Speaker 3: to push back on him. He keeps coming. He's a
Speaker 3: queen's boy. He's half a queen's boy. He's half queen's
Speaker 3: half openy. You're so uh, Look, I take I've been
Speaker 3: through a lot, and I now take everything with two
Speaker 3: grains of salt. Right, I was a cabinet secretary, hut
Speaker 3: secretary in line for the presidential I was attorney general,
Speaker 3: I was governor, rumored to be running for president. My
Speaker 3: father was going to run for president. You know what,
Speaker 3: it's all with two or three grains of salt. That
Speaker 3: doesn't mean anything. At the end of the day. The
Speaker 3: only thing that matters is what did you accomplish? Did
Speaker 3: you maximize your opportunity in public service? Did you actually
Speaker 3: give it your all? Did you make sure you made
Speaker 3: life better for people? And where you're successful after that,
Speaker 3: well you're good to your family, where you're good to
Speaker 3: your friends, and the day is over. So that's what
Speaker 3: I'm looking to do.
Speaker 1: Forgive me for sneaking in this one last question. But
Speaker 1: you talked about the body and administration making a mistake
Speaker 1: with immigration and open borders. Was there anything else you
Speaker 1: think they did wrong that drastically affected the state of
Speaker 1: affairs that you're lamenting about the city of New York.
Speaker 3: Well, the migrant problem affected New York York in a
Speaker 3: dramatic way. And I think heard the Democratic Party all
Speaker 3: of course the nation number two. I think the way
Speaker 3: they handled President Biden running for president. I think the
Speaker 3: way the Democratic Party said President Biden's fine, he's great.
Speaker 3: Everybody came out of that White House and said, thumbs up.
Speaker 3: I just met the president. He's great, he's doing well,
Speaker 3: he's stronger than his staff. And then the president shows
Speaker 3: up at the first debate, and I think the American
Speaker 3: people say, you know, you deceived us. And then Vice
Speaker 3: President Harris has to come in late and is now
Speaker 3: running a truncated race and she has to tiptoe around
Speaker 3: President Biden and his policy. So I think inflation migrants,
Speaker 3: the way people saw President Biden and felt they were
Speaker 3: deceived by the Democratic Party, that for the Democratic Party
Speaker 3: to be saying we think President Biden should be president
Speaker 3: for another four years. I think that hurts the Democrats,
Speaker 3: and then practically I think Vice President Harris having so
Speaker 3: little time hurt the Democrats.
Speaker 1: As the fifty six governor of the great state of
Speaker 1: New York, I think the one thing all of us
Speaker 1: can undoubtedly acknowledge we can't deny is that if there's
Speaker 1: a problem, you know how to fix it. And now
Speaker 1: you're trying to be the mayor of New York City.
Speaker 1: Wishing you nothing but the best, sir. You know there's
Speaker 1: always a home here anytime you want to talk. I'm
Speaker 1: happy to have you on the show. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for taking such time out of your busy schedule,
Speaker 1: and congratulations on campaigning for the mayor's position for the
Speaker 1: state or for the City of New York. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Sir, Andrew Cuomo.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. Steven pleasure coming up.
Speaker 1: House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries tweeted at wall On X
Speaker 1: this weekend, and it had nothing to do with politics.
Speaker 1: I'll get into that and react to the common you
Speaker 1: just heard from former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with
Speaker 1: yours truly. That's next right here on a Stephen A.
Speaker 3: Smith Show.
Speaker 1: Don't go away. What's up, everybody? Stephen A Smith here.
Speaker 1: Recently we made news because the great Bill O'Reilly announced
Speaker 1: a tour that's coming nearest to you in the very
Speaker 1: very near future. Get your tickets now for this. It's
Speaker 1: called Three Americans Live, March thirtieth at Live Nation's Flag
Speaker 1: Star at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. Don't
Speaker 1: miss the very first show as myself, Chris Croonomo, and yes,
Speaker 1: that man Bill O'Reilly take our different ideas, our different backgrounds,
Speaker 1: our different beliefs across the country to demonstrate that respectful,
Speaker 1: meaningful and even fun conversation. Those are the things that
Speaker 1: make America as great as it should be. The show
Speaker 1: will be spirited, unscripted, and all three of us will
Speaker 1: let it fly as we discuss the topics everyone is
Speaker 1: thinking about these days. There'll also be questions from the
Speaker 1: audio we're not running. Tickets are officially on sale now
Speaker 1: with pre sale code USA at three Americans Live dot com.
Speaker 1: VIP packages are available with the opportunity to meet and
Speaker 1: take photos with myself and both those fellas. That's Three
Speaker 1: Americans Live, March thirtieth at the Westbury Music Fair on
Speaker 1: Long Island. Additional dates in cities to be announced. Don't
Speaker 1: miss it. Trust me, you'll get a kick out of it.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Before we get to Minority Leader Hakim Jeffrey's tweet,
Speaker 1: I want to react to the conversation you just heard
Speaker 1: with me and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who
Speaker 1: just announced this week in a bid to run for
Speaker 1: New York City mayor. First of all, any allegations that's
Speaker 1: levied against any politicians involvement sexual harassment or anything like
Speaker 1: that is something serious and we should never summarily dismiss it.
Speaker 1: We have an obligation to throw that fa out there,
Speaker 1: and that's just the truth. But we also have to
Speaker 1: take into account the fact that he intimated at the
Speaker 1: time that it was politicized. These things happened and took
Speaker 1: place through August of twenty twenty one. Practically every case
Speaker 1: was dropped by January of twenty twenty two. Now, this
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the actual women who alleged
Speaker 1: inappropriate behavior on the part of Andrew Cuomo. I'm speaking
Speaker 1: strictly about how things can get politicized. Why did everything
Speaker 1: go away once he was out of office so quickly? See,
Speaker 1: we got to start asking ourselves that question. And here's
Speaker 1: the reason why nothing should be minimized. And I get that,
Speaker 1: and I want everybody to understand the importance of that.
Speaker 1: But these are some dire freaking times in our nation.
Speaker 1: We got problems all over the place, and what we
Speaker 1: have to do moving forward, in my opinion, is to
Speaker 1: make sure that we as a society don't cave in
Speaker 1: to anything being politicized at the expense of our well being.
Speaker 1: When we consider crime in the streets, when we consider
Speaker 1: the immigration issue, when we consider inflation and a host
Speaker 1: of other things going on that plague us as a society,
Speaker 1: and how these things need to be fixed, we got
Speaker 1: to make sure that the best people for the job
Speaker 1: or in office to do the job. I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you what I heard from Andrew Como while he
Speaker 1: was giving one answer after another, didn't duck one issue.
Speaker 1: This is what I heard. I heard a man saying,
Speaker 1: look at my record, look at my record, And when
Speaker 1: you look at his record, I gotta tell you it's
Speaker 1: hard to ignore it. I'm just calling it up here
Speaker 1: because it's necessary because I wrote some of the stuff down,
Speaker 1: or I charted it down here. Marriage Equality Act twenty
Speaker 1: eleven fiscal reforms, infrastructure modernization, LaGuardia Airport reconstruction, Manahan Train Hall,
Speaker 1: Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge replace the Agent Tapense bridge to
Speaker 1: improve Hudson River crossings, Gun control legislation twenty thirteen, minimum
Speaker 1: wage increase and paid family leave to fifteen dollars an
Speaker 1: hour towards that environmental initiatives, et cetera, et cetera. The
Speaker 1: man ain't playing. You know what Andrew Cuomo is really saying,
Speaker 1: or what he really said without saying it. There's an
Speaker 1: adult coming to the room. People can talk about what
Speaker 1: they want to do. I'm talking about what I've done.
Speaker 1: And I found myself saying, well down, how many governors
Speaker 1: have won three terms? He did. He was en route
Speaker 1: to a fourth unless he walked away to run for
Speaker 1: the presidency. That's how popular he was, That's how successful
Speaker 1: he was deemed to be. So what I peeled from
Speaker 1: all of this he is an adult in the room.
Speaker 1: And if Eric Adams is going to win back the
Speaker 1: mayor seat for New York City, he's going to have
Speaker 1: a fight on his hands. This man was the governor
Speaker 1: of New York for three terms. He's just three and
Speaker 1: a half years removed from it, not three decades. Andrew
Speaker 1: Como's not playing. He's coming, and New Yorkers are watching
Speaker 1: and listening, and don't be surprised if they go to
Speaker 1: the pole in favor of him. Mayor Eric Adamson's in
Speaker 1: the world of trouble, and I'm not talking about legally
Speaker 1: with Trump hovering over him. I'm talking about competition for
Speaker 1: the mayor seed of New York. Andrew Cuomo is coming,
Speaker 1: and I don't believe it's gonna stop there. It's all
Speaker 1: I got to say for now. I'll have more to
Speaker 1: say in the days, the weeks, and the months to come.
Speaker 1: Before I get on out of here. Let me get
Speaker 1: to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his tweet, because y'all
Speaker 1: gotta see this. It's official. Stephen A. Smith. The Johnny's
Speaker 1: as in the Saint John Redstorm are taking us back
Speaker 1: to the mullin Berry Jackson era with Luis Zubi Richmond
Speaker 1: and I'm all for it. Hashtag final four and I
Speaker 1: pumped the breaks, Minority Leader, could you please pump the breaks?
Speaker 1: I think that's going a little bit too damn fall
Speaker 1: I enjoyed your time on the show. I like talking
Speaker 1: to you. But let's not get out of hand here.
Speaker 1: The Saint John's Redstorm that ain't walter Bury, Chris Muller
Speaker 1: and Mark Jackson. I don't see a Final four now.
Speaker 1: Rick Patino's got them playing some damn good basketball. But
Speaker 1: I've seen Alabama, I've seen Auburn, I've seen Florida. That's
Speaker 1: just the SEC. SEC basketball is taking over the SEC.
Speaker 1: They've shoved football aside in that scc t cochin the
Speaker 1: national championship. But nothing's better than March Madness. And I
Speaker 1: do suspect that Saint John's could potentially make some noise
Speaker 1: either way you slice it. I'm a flow with the
Speaker 1: minority leader here because Rick Patino has done a hell
Speaker 1: of a job. He really has, and it's no surprise
Speaker 1: they brought him there to restore what the late great
Speaker 1: lu Connoseca once built at Saint John's and Queens, and
Speaker 1: I'll be damned Rick Patino has done it already. That
Speaker 1: is a reason to be excited. Ikeeme Jeffrees, I get it.
Speaker 1: Queen's in the building. I get it. That tip of
Speaker 1: this edition to the Stephen Aatesmiths Show. I hope y'all
Speaker 1: enjoyed it and thanks again to the former Governor himself
Speaker 1: of the Great State of New York, Andrew Cuomo in
Speaker 1: pursuit of the mayor's seat of New York City, really
Speaker 1: really appreciated his time. Hope y'all did as well. Until
Speaker 1: next time, Stephen, they signed an off He's in love.