3 additional prosecutors involved in Mayor Adams corruption case resign

Ask The Mayor: April 2025

Turn to Tara: PFAS toxins found in tri-state water supply

Trump official urges criminal probe of New York attorney general, who calls request 'retaliation'

City pauses composting fines for smaller buildings until the end of the year

Rep. Nydia Velasquez heads rally to support Social Security

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News 12 Staff

630BXpowerandpolitics2_2024-06-30-13-23-34

Welcome back to power and politics. As we get back to our conversation with John Murtaugh to dive deeper into the outcomes on primary night, Tuesday, John, let's get back to the conversation. How do you think these candidates are now reflecting on the results? And is there anything that they need to keep in mind as they continue their camp, uh their campaigns rather through the general come November? Well, I'm gonna put it this way. Unfortunately not. And, and what I mean by that is, look, I, I understand the realities of blue districts versus red and blue states and blue cities versus red states and red cities. Um, but there has to be some frustration that basically in, in the New York City. Um, and certainly in the Bronx and Brooklyn, uh last Tuesday was election day. Uh there will be effectively no races, any incumbent who won a primary or a challenger, uh, or two, you know, George Latimer, for example, who won a primary last Tuesday night knows that come January, they're going to Albany or they're going to Washington. That's just the political reality. Um And that's not necessarily a good thing. It's not necessarily a good thing that there aren't. I mean, I'm old enough to remember when there were still some moderate republicans, uh on Manhattan Island, for example, or in the Bronx who could win an election in those areas. Uh So, you know, and even if they didn't always win, they certainly kept the Democratic candidate on his or her toes. And there's a value to that, there's a value to that competition. Now does the fact that this is a presidential election year and we're going to talk about the debate in just a minute. But first on a local level, do you think that will shape the messaging from these candidates from now to November? Or is it really just smooth sailing? I, I think it's pretty much smooth sailing. I think we have to be realistic about that. Um The, the presidential year, obviously, turnout is always greater in a presidential year. Uh But again, New York as a state is not going to be in play in November. I don't think any sober realistic analysis by anybody would say that Donald Trump could somehow win the state of New York, it won't happen. Um So, so yes, the presidential year is obviously important every election support, but a presidential year is important in a presidential year is unique in politics and certainly the turnout as I said will be greater. But at the end of the day, I don't think it's going to have a dramatic effect on the issues or the candidates in New York State and certainly in New York City come November. Yeah. Speaking of the build up to November part of that for presidential candidates, of course, is a debate which we saw play out on Thursday night between Presidents Biden and Trump and it was quite the experience. Everyone's talking about it today. What was your reaction to what happened on that debate stage? Uh, I shocked might be too strong a word. Um I will admit to surprise. Uh I'll also admit freely that, uh, anyone who knows me knows, I'm not a fan of Donald Trump. Um, and in this case, uh was, and will, would be and will be a supporter of the Democratic ticket. Uh But it certainly was disconcerting to see President Biden's performance last night, we all saw him in the, the Union a couple of months ago. He delivered a powerful speech and indeed, today, I caught a few minutes of him about an hour ago at a live rally and he looked animated and terrific, but there's no getting around the fact that last night he looked like an old man, uh, shuffling around on that stage, losing his train of thought, uh, obviously fed and prepared with talking points that he couldn't quite deliver. He couldn't quite get straight. Uh Now the fellow at the other podium, I spent an hour and a half telling outright lies to come and that's not terribly helpful to the American people either. But it's going to be an uphill battle for President Biden to deliver this election for the Democrats in November after that performance. And, you know, I don't think we can expect to see dramatically better performances going forward. It's a tough call in politics, particularly with about four months left. But I have to say as much as I like Joe Biden, I'm in that group this morning and this afternoon, that's wondering how the Democratic Party can have a sober, serious conversation with the White House and figure out a path forward. Well, it seems like there have been reports that there are some democratic advisers who are now lobbying for Biden to perhaps step aside and abandon the re election effort. What do you think is the likelihood of that happening? And how would that play out? O obviously, I think that's less likely than it is more likely. Um I it's a difficult thing to do. It's a difficult conversation to have. Um, you know, in a, I'll, I'll do a little history lesson but in a very, very obviously different context. Uh I tell people, uh Senator Barry Goldwater and I'm going way back. He was the 1964 Republican presidential candidate, but Barry Goldwater has a footnote to history that a lot of people don't give him credit for as a sitting Republican senator in 1974. He was the first leader of the party who got in the car went up Pennsylvania Avenue, sat across the desk from Richard Nixon and said, Mr President, it's over for the good of the country. You need to step aside. Now, obviously Richard Nixon and his problems are vastly different than this Joe Biden situation. Uh But my point is that it's going to take party elders and party senior states, men and women that Joe Biden likes and respects who have the gumption to sit down and say President Biden for the good of the country. Maybe there's another way we have to go. Maybe there's another direction for the, for the, for your legacy and for the good of the country. You have to think long and hard about whether this is uh whether we should move forward here or not. Then of course, you've got to figure out who another candidate might be. Would it be Gretchen Whitner from Michigan? Might it be, uh I I've heard today about Wes Moore, the governor of, of Maryland who has a tremendous resume. Uh And of course, we hear Michelle Obama's name. That's sort of a, a dream for some people. Um But these are all risky moves and long shots. Yeah, it's already been quite the ride during this election cycle in 2024. It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here. John Murtaugh, a pleasure to have you back with us here. And thanks again for being with us on primary night itself to unpack these results. Thank you, Amanda Greece.

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Earlier this week, I spoke one on one with Mayor Eric Adams about combating crime and a new report that claims the NYP Ds shot spotter technology is only right 13% of the time I'll begin by following up on that report. We just mentioned released by the controller that highlights some inaccuracies in the shot spotter technology. What did you think about those findings? II, I think that uh the uh controlling his team, uh they may have good intentions but they don't understand how the shots uh spotter operates. And, you know, oftentimes you will go to the scene and a person of use you, you won't have the shell casing or you won't have the person that's there that discharged the weapon. And so that may uh play a role and impact it. But we, we found that this is an amazing tune too and I think that we need to listen to the police experts and they did rigorous uh reviews over this tool. And if the police are telling us this is a great tool. Uh I don't think a clerical re uh review of it is going to be the analysis that we need. So, here in the Bronx recently, we have seen several violent attacks on Bodega and Delhi workers at least three within a week's span. We just got word that tonight several Bodegas will be equipped with those panic buttons. And do you support that approach? Any plans for the city to expand on that effort? Oh, yes. And I was in the Bronx last night, I visited uh one of the victims who was struck with a hammer. Uh She has three Children. Uh Thank God that she survived. The attack is on is unimaginable that if something would have happened to her, she would have three Children, uh that had to be uh cared for. Uh I support, I think of the Bodegas Association of Nano Mateo and the all the representatives. I think the panic button uh is a great tool that should be used and we look forward to coordinating with that and I want to be clear in the Bronx murder is down 20%. Burglaries are down and grand lawy also are down. The overall crime is up by 0.5% but we're not trying to give people stats when they want to feel safe. Uh We know that the police are out there working hard to make sure we get many of these repeated violent offenders off our streets. You mentioned Fernando Mateo and I believe he specifically called for a return of Stop and frisk in the wake of these attacks on Bodega workers. Is that something that you would consider? Well, it's a tool that is still used. Um, oftentimes when people think of stop and frisk, they think of the abusive way it was used. Uh And you know, I testified in federal court and the judge mentioned my testimony as part of a ruling ruling Floyd against the New York City Police Department. You use the TOS properly, you witness a substantial decrease because precision policing is the way that we want to go. That's all for this week on power and politics.

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Recapping a busy primary night in New York City.

Power & Politics: Unpacking primary night in New York City

Recapping a busy primary night in New York City.

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