LIVE: NYPD Commissioner Identifies Person of Interest in UnitedHealthcare CEO Case

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NYC Mayor Adams Holds In-Person Media Briefing on UnitedHealthcare CEO Case Suspect at 1:30 p.m. ET on Dec. 9.
Good afternoon.
And I'm joined here today by our Chief of Detectives and the Police Commissioner
and Chief of Department because we have a strong person of interest in the shooting
that shook our city last week. The CEO Brian Thompson of United Healthcare was the victim
of a senseless act of violence. Our officers have been working around the clock. Many of them
did not go home to pursue this individual. It was crucial that we were able to remove him
off the streets of America and we were going to seek him out no matter where he was at the time.
And so this is a strong person of interest. The Police Commissioner and Chief of Detectives
will go over where we are right now in the investigation. He matches the description
of the identification we've been looking for. He's also in possession of several items
that we believe will connect him to this incident. How did we do it? Good old-fashioned police work.
The Chief of Detectives and the Police Commissioner made the decision to release as much
of a photo that we had at the time. We sent it across the country and someone, a McDonald's
employee, did something we ask every American to do. If you see something, say something,
but most importantly, do something. And they did. And because of that, we believe we have a strong
person of interest to deal with this case. I want to now turn it over to the Police Commissioner
of the City of New York, Commissioner Tish. Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, everyone.
Earlier this morning in Altoona, Pennsylvania, members of the Altoona Police Department
arrested Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old male on firearms charges. At this time, he is believed
to be our person of interest in the brazen, targeted murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United
Healthcare, last Wednesday in Midtown Manhattan. The suspect was in a McDonald's and was recognized
by an employee who then called local police. Responding officers questioned the suspect,
who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S.
passport. Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on his person, as well as
a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder. They also recovered clothing,
including a mask consistent with those worn by our wanted individual. Also recovered was a
fraudulent New Jersey ID, matching the ID our suspect used to check into his New York City
hostel before the shooting incident. Additionally, officers recovered a handwritten document that
speaks to both his motivation and mindset. NYPD detectives are en route to Pennsylvania
as we seek to interview the subject further. This apprehension is thanks to the tireless work of the
greatest detectives in the world and, of course, the strong relationships we have with our local
law enforcement partners. On every level, local, state, and federal, we all serve the same public
safety mission. And this case, which captured the attention of an entire nation, is another example
of how connected we are and how important it is to work together, share information, and pursue
every lead. For just over five days, our NYPD investigators combed through thousands of hours
of video, followed up on hundreds of tips, and processed every bit of forensic evidence,
DNA, fingerprints, IP addresses, and so much more to tighten the net. We deployed drones,
canine units, and scuba divers. We leveraged the domain awareness system, ARGUS cameras,
and conducted aviation canvases. And our detectives also went door to door,
interviewing potential witnesses and doing the good old-fashioned police work that our
investigators are famous for. This combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology
is what led to this result today. And we must also acknowledge the instrumental role the media
and the public played in this case. The images that we shared with the public were spread far
and wide, and the tips we received led to the recovery of crucial evidence. We should never
underestimate the power of the public to be our eyes and our ears in these investigations.
This is the third time in three weeks that a member of the public has seen something and
said something and done something that led to a high-profile arrest. The triple-stabbing homicide
in Manhattan, the gunpoint robberies in Queens during which an NYPD officer was shot, and now
this. Now the case will continue through the criminal justice process. And while we are proud
of today's accomplishment, we must of course remember that a family is in mourning. I want
to again extend my sympathies to Brian's family, his co-workers, and all who knew him. Finally,
I want to thank the women and men of the NYPD, especially our Detective Bureau personnel,
with a strong assist from our intelligence analysts. We also thank the SAC of the FBI's
Criminal Investigative Division, Leslie Rodriguez-Bekshis. And I want to commend the
staff of the Manhattan DA's office, and especially DA Alvin Bragg. He has been working with us 24-7
on this case, and I am incredibly grateful for his partnership. I'll now pass it along
to our great Chief of Detectives, Joe Kenney, who will provide additional information. Chief.
Thank you, Commissioner. Good afternoon. As the Commissioner stated earlier,
a male was taken into custody today at Altoona, Pennsylvania, this morning.
He has been identified as Luigi Nicholas Mangione. He's a male, 26 years old. He was
born and raised in Maryland. We know he has ties to San Francisco, California,
and his last known address was Honolulu, Hawaii. He has no prior arrest history in New York.
Members of the NYPD Detective Bureau are currently traveling to Pennsylvania
with members of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office to interview this subject.
This case was brought to a successful conclusion based on the coordinated effort
between numerous NYPD units, including the Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau,
our federal partners at the FBI, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office,
and of course, members of the Altoona Police Department in Pennsylvania.
On Thursday, one day after this crime was committed, the NYPD released a photo of the
shooter in this case. This picture was obtained by the NYPD during one of their extensive video
canvases. We took that photograph, and we asked for the public's help in identifying this subject,
and the public responded. Hundreds of tips began to pour into our hotline.
Each tip was investigated thoroughly, and we began to release additional photographs as they
came into our possession. The NYPD provided these photos to numerous media outlets. Local,
national, and international outlets released the photo via television, print, social media,
and online content. Luckily, a citizen in Pennsylvania recognized our subject and
called local law enforcement. Members of the Altoona Police Department responded to the call,
and based on their investigation, they notified the NYPD.
This investigation is still active and ongoing. Thank you very much.
I had a couple questions about the document that he was found in possession with.
Can you go a little bit more in depth about those motivations that you mentioned?
Was that CEO specifically named in that document? Was there anything more about
him wanting to go after others? And also in that document, was there any indication that
explains how the level of detail that he went into killing him? Like, is there anything?
Like I said, that document is currently in the possession of the Altoona Police Department as
part of their investigation, but just from briefly speaking with them, we don't think
that there's any specific threats to other people mentioned in that document, but it does seem that
he has some ill will toward corporate America. Over here, sir. MJ? Chief, was the suspect wearing
the mask at the time he was spotted in the McDonald's? And also, criminal cases often have
a linchpin. Can you point to a single linchpin that helped crack this case? There's numerous
linchpins in this case in the fact that we've recovered an enormous amount of forensic evidence,
an enormous amount of video, and once again, you know, with your help and the public's help,
so I couldn't, I really couldn't put it on one thing, but if I had to, it would be the release
of that photograph from the media. You said he had a passport on him. Do you believe he was trying
to flee the country? And also, are you still looking for any evidence in Central Park in regards
to the bike? We had divers in the water yesterday that came up negative results. The passport,
we don't believe that he was planning on doing any traveling at this time. We don't think he,
at this point in our investigation, we don't think he was trying to flee the country.
The person at the McDonald's, were they buying food? What were they doing at that exact moment?
He was an employee at the McDonald's. What was the suspect doing? He was sitting there reading.
Will the suspect be brought back to New York and charged here, and when? We're going to have to
work that out with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He's
going to be facing gun charges there, and at some point, we'll work out through extradition to bring
him back to New York to face charges here, working with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Anita from the New York Post. I was just hoping to get more details on the capture itself.
Did he put up a fight? Did he say anything to cops? And we've also reported that he published
online anti-health care industry rankings. Can you share with us some of the services that he
posted on there? We're still working through his social media. We're going to do a complete scrub
of that. Preliminarily, like I said, he seems that he has some ill will toward corporate America,
but that will all come out as part of our investigation. We're not done here. We're
still going to be putting this together. We're still going to be working very hard to bring
this to a successful conclusion. On the capture itself, did he put up a fight? Did he say anything
to police? I don't have that information. Oh, sorry. Can you elaborate on how he got there,
the path he took from Port Authority and the George Washington Bridge to Altoona, PA? Same
thing. This just happened this morning. We'll be working, backtracking his steps from New York
to Altoona, PA. I was going to ask if you knew anything. If he took a bus to Philadelphia first
and then somehow got to Altoona. We're still working on that. We're still working through that.
Is there any indication that anybody else was helping him from the inside,
you know, as far as tracking the CEO's movements? Once again, we're still working this investigation
very hard. It's not at its conclusion yet that could come out during our investigation,
but as of right now, we have no indication that that took place.
Chief, did he have any weapons or anything like that with him when he was arrested? He was in
possession of a ghost gun that had the capability of firing a nine millimeter round and a suppressor.
Can you get into a little bit about the technical aspects of the investigation? I know you deployed
an unprecedented amount of technology. You also activated the sentry program through Intel. Can
you talk about how that is going to play into actually building the case as far as cell phone
and all of the other technical aspects of what you've done? In this case, it really came down
to technology was the use of drones in Central Park and really comes down to the video canvas
that we did. We used every source of video that we could collect, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of hours from hundreds of sources, and that helped bring this to where we are right now.
The gun is, is it believed to be the gun you used in the shooting,
and there was some thought that it was a veterinarian type gun. Is that accurate?
Right now, the information we're getting from Altoona is that the gun appears to be a ghost gun,
may have been made on a 3D printer. The capability of firing a nine millimeter round,
obviously that will come out during our ballistics testing.
Do you have any indication like how long this like handwritten, is it a handwritten manifesto
that you found on the suspect? And then also whether or not he put it online at all?
Don't know if it's online. As of right now, it's a handwritten three page document.
Chief, does he have ties to that area and was he someone who you knew by name before his arrest?
We believe he may have attended college in Pennsylvania, but like I said earlier,
he has ties to Maryland and California and Hawaii.
Knew him by name before today, was his name on your radar?
Excuse me?
Was his name on your radar? Was he someone who you had been looking into before his arrest?
No, we did not have his name prior to today.
Does he have any prior arrests? I know there were none for New York City,
but is there any prior arrests anywhere else in the country?
We have not come across any arrests in the country.
Chief, hi, how are you? On two things, on the ghost gun, is it something you're going to be
looking into to see if he made it himself and put the – can he make that himself or is that – would
he have to buy the gun the way it was? No, but once again, that would be part
of our investigation as we follow up. I mean, obviously he's going to face
murder charges, but is there any chance that he could face any other charges because he was
targeting the CEO because of his writings and other things that we're now finding
on him, federal charges? That determination will be made by Alvin Bragg.
Are they in Altoona specifically? We believe he attended college in Pennsylvania.
Does he know anybody in Pennsylvania? I wouldn't be able to tell you that.
All right, we're going to take one more question.
You talk about the manifesto having said things against corporations,
but specifically UnitedHealthcare, and do you believe that Mangione acted alone?
We believe at this point our investigation is leaning toward he was acting alone.
Like I stated earlier, we're still working through the investigation. We're not stopping today.
And as far as the manifesto, like I said, I don't have the complete details of that.
It's in the possession of the Altoona Police Department.
Again, great job by the New York City Police Department. Certain aspects of this investigation
and the crime itself is something that we have been zeroing in on. Ghost guns. We have
really talked about this since the beginning of the administration.
They could be made on a 3D printer, and they are extremely dangerous, and we must do more
on the federal level to clap down on the availability of ghost guns. And it just really
leads into just the top headers of what we did last week and what we're doing this week. This
is all about public safety. Public safety, I've stated over and over again, is the prerequisite
to our prosperity, and we're going to continue to make this city a safe city. It's the safest
big city in America, but any time you have a crime of this magnitude, it shocks us, and it
really has a major impact on the perception of crime in this city. This crime has continued to
go down. We're going to continue to do what's needed. Today, we announced in every block count
initiative and the blocks that we identified since October, they have not had one shooting
or one shot fire job that came over. We're going to add that on to our community link
operation that has resulted in over 1,000 operations and over 700 complaints resolved,
nearly 16,000 summonses issued. There were 200 people placed in shelter. Our community
link initiative is extremely important. It operates every day across the city,
removing ghost cars, targeting illegal vendors, and addressing the everyday problems that make
New Yorkers feel unsafe. The precincts where we have focused on our every block count is the 73rd
precinct in Brooklyn and the 46th precinct in the Bronx. These two precincts have historically seen
high rates of violent crimes and shooting incidents, and so we want to make sure we
deal with all of those quality of life issues that impact why criminal behavior takes place.
We don't want to only to be reactive. We want to be proactive. Hats off to the team.
It's a big belief on my part. You have to dismantle the historical
walls that kept us from operating together. FDNY, DSNY, DOB, DEP, HBD, NYCHA, Parks, DOT,
and other community-based organizations are all part of this initiative with the local block CEO
and many, many more agencies. You know last week we announced acts to tax for working class. We're
really pleased with this initiative. 62 million dollars will be going back to those who had 150
percent of poverty line. When you add that with our earned income tax credit and the other
initiatives that we put in place, it clearly shows how important it is for us to focus on
working class, low-income working class people. We really want to thank Senator Leroy Comrie
and State Assembly Member Ronny Bichotte-Hermelin for carrying the bill. So Emeris, why don't we
open the floor to a few questions? Good. On the big news today, Daniel Penney was found not guilty
of the killing of Jordan Ely. I wanted to get your thoughts on that. And then another question,
last week on our morning show you left the door open seemingly to rejoining the Republican party.
I wanted to know why you didn't say you're a proud Democrat. Do you find issues with your
own party? First, you know as I stated when this incident first happened with Jordan,
that's my son's name. And so you know these incidents that happen in cities is not only
professional, but they're personal. And we take that with us. Jordan should not have had to die.
And I strongly believe, as I've been stating probably from day one, we have a mental health
system that is broken. When you have someone repeatedly going through that system, that's
a signature of failure. And we need help in Albany and in the City Council. We can't sit back
and mourn the loss of someone that is caught up in this system when we're not taking the action
every day. But a jury of his peers heard the case, saw all the facts and all the evidence,
and made a decision. And I joined DA Braggs in stating that I respect the process.
My second question, last week on leaving the door open about joining a Republican party on
our morning show, why didn't you say you're a proud Democrat? And do you find issues with
No, no, it's amazing how things take legs and create their own creative writing style.
I never stated that I was not running as a Democrat. I ran as a Democrat as a senator,
as a ball president, as a mayor, and I won. I'm running as a Democrat. I was on Channel 11,
and they asked the same question. I said the same thing. I am true blue, but I'm also a true blue
collar mayor. And the American people in general, but specifically here in the city of New York,
they're tired of this squabbling after campaigns are over. I don't think anything is more
infuriating than while you are dealing with everyday crisis, people are having an intellectual
conversation of parties. When I took office as a police officer and as an elected official,
I pledged allegiance to the United States of America. That's what I said on your show,
and how did I run? Wow. That's just the nature of the creativity that comes from your industry.
I ran as a Democrat. I'm going to run as a Democrat, and I'm going to win as a Democrat,
like I did the last time. Good to see you. How are you? Not too bad. How are you doing? Good, good.
I was wondering if you could follow up on another comment you made over the weekend about
the potential of invoking executive action to override the Council on Sanctuary City Law. Can
you give us any other details about what you're considering doing? I think you've expressed why,
but any details about any new policy you're presenting? And one quick follow up to Kelly's
question. Do you think the verdict in the Daniel Penney case says anything about the mood of the
city, and do you feel like it opens the door for maybe more of these interactions of people taking
justices? Good question. I'll answer the latter first. What you see, what people often do,
a lot of people make interpretations about trials, but juries are in the courtroom. They're hearing
every piece of evidence. They are hearing the testimonies. They have to make the decision,
and that's the system that we have, and actually, it is probably one of the best systems on the
globe, and I think the juries heard the evidence and made a determination based on the evidence
that they heard, and does it impact what's going to happen throughout the city that people are not
going to take action or going to take action? I don't think it does. I think that oftentimes,
people make these decisions when they are in the midst of it, and there's a desire of New Yorkers
to help out those who are in need. There's a desire of New Yorkers to always respond when
they believe it's necessary, and I don't think that is going to change in any way. This is not
the first time, and I'm sure it's not going to be the last time that individuals take actions,
and people are going to question about those actions that happened, but at the cornerstone
and the heart of this is that this young man, like so many others that are on our subway systems,
I made it clear. That's not a place to sleep, to live. That's not a place to be,
and when they need help, we need to give them the help that they have. What was your first question?
If you could give us any more details about what you're going to do.
I have not been unclear about this. I've been extremely clear. I've said it over and over again.
I said it last year sometime. The part of the law that the city council, they have refused to change,
that we cannot communicate with ICE when people commit serious violent acts. I disagree with that.
That was not the sanctuary city law that Mayor Koch put in place. It was not the sanctuary city
law that Mayor Bloomberg did. The previous administration made a major change, and there
was a report over the weekend where a council person stated that, why don't you just open up
the federal ICE office on Rikers Island? We can't. Right, right. So, you know, one should know what
the law is and what the law isn't, and if I had legal standings to overturn that law, then that's
conversation I want to have with the court council. When we feel the law is unjust, we go to our court
council and say, do we have legal standards? We're not going to do frivolous lawsuits just to say
we're doing a lawsuit. Because there is a list of crimes where someone committed them, you can't
release a detainer if ICE has a judicial warrant. So is it a matter of adding more crimes? Is it a
matter of what you just mentioned, allowing ICE to work on city property? Any specifics you can give us?
My directions to the court council was to give me my options on what I could do as the mayor
and what EO I can actually put in place. They are looking through the options. They're extremely
clear on my feelings about people who harm innocent New Yorkers and people who harm migrants and
assignment seekers. I'm clear on that no one in this city should be the victim of a violent crime,
so they're looking at that and once we make a determination, I can circle back.
Thank you. I just wanted to circle back on to the Daniel Penney verdict. Should the governor
remove District Attorney Alvin Bragg after losing this case, which you previously signaled
is a case that should not be brought forward? And then I just wanted to follow up with,
is the jury's decision a reflection that New Yorkers are sick of a soft on crime
justice system? No, she should not remove DA Bragg. The people voted for the District Attorney.
We have a process and I am totally against using mechanisms to overstep the boundaries
of the electeds. And we've had great partnership with the District Attorney and some of the things
we have done in the city and we look forward to continue to do that. New Yorkers have always been
tired of things that allow people who commit violent acts to be part of a revolving door
system. You know, I've talked about this over and over again, that we need to deal with those
who are repeatedly dealing with carrying out violent acts and those who need help. I mean,
18 to 20% of those on Rikers Island have severe mental health issues. 51% have mental health
issues. That's why my call of using one of the four jails that we're opening to turn it into a
state-of-the-art psychiatric facility. We could do a better job and we could do better resources
and it can't be waiting until these incidents happen when everybody stands up and say something
is wrong. We need to stand up before something happens. How are you, Emily? Good. When you meet
with Tom Homan this week, are you planning to talk with him about migrants who are living in
the shelter system and do you plan to express anything to him about the threats of deportation,
about your concerns about people who are here, who are abiding? We're going to have a host of
conversations but at the root of my conversation is how do we secure our border. I want to share
some of my strategies. We need a real decompression strategy. It's important to go after those who are
committing serious crimes, particularly those dangerous gangs that have come from Venezuela
and now we're finding them on the streets of our country and I'm interested to hear
his ideas on how we're going to go about that and I'm excited about the conversation.
On the verdict too, I understand you're saying you respect the process. I'm just wondering if
you think this is the right verdict. You said last week that you wanted the jury to reach the right
verdict. You also said last week that Mr. Penny did quote what we should have done as a city in
his interaction with Jordan Neely. I'm just wondering if you can elaborate a little bit
on what you meant by that on a totally different issue. There was a mayoral forum over the weekend
specifically about housing where three candidates committed to quote-unquote freezing the rent,
more or less directing the rent guidance board to not do an increase next year. Is that something
you would support and if not, why? And on these mayoral forums, you didn't show up to this one.
Are you going to show up to any of these or why do you keep skipping? Yeah, the first,
do I think it's the right verdict or the wrong verdict? The jury made their decision. I respect,
like the DA, I respect the process and that was the process and what I was saying about
we should have been standing up for those passengers. That's what we should have done
for the city and standing up for those passengers mean address the mental health crisis we have in
the city and not just wait until incidents like this happen and determination of him that he
stood up rightfully or wrongfully that came in front of the jury of his peers. Your second
question? We got many forums that are going to take place and what I've learned when I was
campaigning, a lot of people talk about the ideas of what they can do, what they want to do.
One thing no one can say, I did it. All the things that I said, for the most part,
that I was going to do from dyslexia screening to reducing tax on low-income New Yorkers to
bringing down crime to high-speed broadband for NYCHA residents to investing in foster care
children to do tax incentives for low-income New Yorkers to turn around the unemployment rate.
I can give you the whole list. So what they're doing is wishful thinking. I put the team together
to make it happen for housing conversion and I'm happy to hear that they all have woke up
and realized we have a housing crisis and now they're coming up with visions, but it's starting
from the fact. We had the most comprehensive housing reform in the history of the city.
That's what we got to remind everybody and all those who are running that are elected already,
the question should be, where have you been? So if you had all these visions before, don't wait
until you decide to run for mayor. We're doing it. So good luck to them and I'm looking forward
to some of the forums and some of the debates. I'm looking forward to them
because I have something to run on, not just a dollar and a dream.
So this morning the city council and public advocate filed a lawsuit over your suspension of
the solitary confinement bill. I'm just wondering what your reaction is to that.
And it would be played out in courts. We just have a difference of opinion here. First of all,
we don't have a sanctuary city. We don't have a solitary confinement and I don't know why they
keep saying that, we don't have a solitary confinement. And I'm not a hard guy to figure
out. I made it clear over and over again, public safety. And I don't go to Rikers Island just to
have a photo op. When I went on Thanksgiving Day, it was to talk to the correction officers
and the inmates. It was to walk through and see, are we making progress? I've been on Rikers Island
more than any man in the history of this city. And my job is to make sure correction officers
are safe, the civilian employees are safe and inmates are safe. 80% of those who are assaulted
on Rikers Island are assaulted by other inmates. And I need to make sure that they're safe.
And the way the law was written, it jeopardized their safety. And we took necessary steps after
communicating with the corporation council and the court to make that decision.
Yeah. Mayor Adams, with the CEO of the shooting, there was a constant stream of updates,
surveillance images, crime stop alerts, TV news spots, requests for information from the NYPD.
But I wanted to ask you about the killing of a migrant teenager last week in the financial
district. A group of men attacked him and another migrant after reportedly asking him whether he
spoke English or not. What updates do you have in that case? And do you have images of the suspects
in that case? And if so, why haven't those been publicized as we saw in this other case? And has
the same amount of police resources been spent on his death as the CEO's death? First and foremost,
the fact pattern that you just described about asking, did he speak English? That was not in
any of the reports. That was not in any of the interviews because I specifically asked the
investigators and the commissioner, and that was in any documentation or any of the interviews that
took place. Any loss is a huge, huge loss. And there are aspects of that incident that is slightly
different from what was reported and is currently receiving the necessary manpower to bring the
person to justice. And we don't believe a loss of a death of an innocent life should be ignored.
But when you have a specifically targeted shooter, we didn't know if this person was going to carry
out additional shootings. We didn't know if this person was a serial shooter. We didn't know what
we had. We knew we had to take him off the streets of the city. So the urgency was not so much that
was he a CEO in comparison to someone that's a low-income New Yorker. No, it's not. We did not
know what we had and what was going to be the extent of that. And as was just mentioned, some
of the preliminary reporting that the chief gave us is that he was showing a total, appeared to be
a distaste for corporate America. So we didn't know what was next. And we did the necessary decision
to make sure we brought this person to justice and took him off the streets of New York.
So the reporting hasn't been accurate. Did you have any updates on that case?
Hi, Mr. Mayor. I'm good. Thank you. So on the man believed to be the suspect here,
one of the reasons why you guys got a good look at him is because he was able to pull
his mask down in the hostel. Just wondering if this has prompted you to renew your call to
have people not wear masks when they go inside businesses. And then my second question is,
you said that you're going to run as a Democrat, but you said you're also a blue-collar mayor.
Do you feel like the Democratic Party is strayed away from its blue-collar roots?
I think it was last year or early this year, Mayor's dog years, we called to say,
when you go into businesses and establishment, ask people to temporarily remove their mask.
We can close these cases in hours when everyone will cooperate and just say,
temporarily pull down your mask. You don't have to permanently take it off,
but once you get that video, once you get that picture, then you are in a good place.
And we're going to ask our Uber, Lyft, taxis, all of them to act the same. When you get inside
someone's taxi, someone's cab, someone's for hire vehicle, you should have that person pull down
their mask so you can see who they are. And many of our vehicles have cameras inside. That would
assist us greatly to apprehend the person involved and send the information across the country. And
so I will continue to advocate a very smart, simple way of having a great tool for law enforcement.
And we're going to continue to do that. And then the second question, you said that
I think that we are not doing a good job in speaking to broken class people. And I've said
this over and over again, and I said it pre-election, that our conversation is and must
be as what we've attempted to do in this administration, from housing to bring down
the cost of child care to all the other initiatives. We wanted to speak to broken
class people. And that's what I hear from broken class people every day. And while they are hurting,
they don't want this intellectual conversation that I believe the party started to do.
You look at what we did here in New York. The minority leader in Congress, Hakeem Jeffries,
was able to secure many of his seats here because those candidates, they were having a
broken class people conversation. And that's what I think the party needs to do.
About the mask ban, I know that the governor has also been talking about pushing for a ban,
maybe in some ways. You've talked about it. Would you go to some kind of legal city council?
I think it's a combination from our preliminary review. It's a combination from the city council
and a combination from the state. We had a ban in place, and it was removed after COVID.
I think we need to re-examine having that put back in place. And I know the governor has voiced
some interest in it. And I think that what we saw here, maybe this would give the wind in the sail
to bring this home. One thing is clear that, thank God, this person didn't go out and harm
other individuals. The longer he stayed on the streets, the more dangerous it could have been.
Hi, Mr. Mayor.
What's up, Liz? How are you?
I'm good. I just wanted to clarify something. You talked about this last week, too.
Yes.
Would you prefer to see an undocumented person who's accused of a violent crime,
would you prefer to see that person serve out their sentence before being handed over
to federal authorities, or would you be willing to hand them over to federal authorities
before that verdict and before the sentencing is announced?
My desire is to give the member of the public who's the victim of that crime,
they should serve their sentence. I want to hear what the borders are, what his ideas are,
because justice is making sure that person serves his sentence. If that person commits
a serious violent act and he's automatically cut loose, we could find that person back on our
streets. And you could find that person—not every country would make sure that person serves out his
time. If there's a way to have an agreement that they serve out their time in that country,
I can live with that. But I think a family member who lost a loved one, who was viciously assaulted,
who was harmed in serious ways, particularly out of seven major crimes,
they should get some sort of justice. And many of our borders and other countries
lax in ensuring that that person does not come back into our city. Nothing would be more horrific
than a person commits a serious crime, and that person is immediately released without
serving their time, and that family is not receiving any justice, and they come back on our
streets. That's why we have to secure our borders.
