Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live On CNN's Wolf

January 15, 2016

Wolf Blitzer, CNN: Joining us now for more on this controversy is the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio. Mayor, thanks very much for joining us. I – I assume you agree with Donald Trump that Ted Cruz’s comments insulted New York City.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: There’s no question about it, Wolf. Donald Trump’s right in this case – I don’t say that very often, but he is. Ted Cruz insulted the people of New York – and by the way, blatantly hypocritical on his part. He has come here plenty of times to gain money for his campaign from people in New York – he’s very quick to put out his hand and get New York money, and then he insults the people of New York and the values of New York – the very same values, Trump’s right, that were part of overcoming the greatest attack this nation has ever received on our soil. So when you think about it, there’s immense hypocrisy. By the way, he went to Goldman Sachs, a New York institution, for a big loan. Again, he leaves that out of the discussion. So I think Ted Cruz actually has created a lot of anger not only here, but a lot of people around the country are going to see this as divisive, negative. And I think he owes the people of New York an apology.

Blitzer: That apology clearly has not yet come. He had an opportunity at the debate last night – he didn’t do that. Take a look at the cover of the front page of the New York Daily News today – “Drop Dead, Ted” – and then it basically goes on to say in smaller type, “Go back to Canada.” Are you with the Daily News on this?

Mayor: Well, the Daily News is absolutely right – that’s the message he’s sending to the people of New York City. And it’s a horrible message for anyone who pretends to be a leader to talk that way about the largest city, the greatest city in the country. There’s also tremendous hypocrisy running through the whole discussion of birthplace. Our president, President Obama, for years had people sniping at him – he was obviously born in the United States of America. Now, along comes Ted Cruz, and the whole discussion has only begun in the last few weeks because it happens to be a different ideological reality, and he happens to be a conservative Republican. So I think there’s a real double standard, both on that issue and certainly a double standard in the way he talks about New York but cannot wait to load up his coffers with New York money. 

Blitzer: Do you believe Senator Cruz is a natural-born U.S. citizen?

Mayor: Look, I think it’s an issue that legitimately needs to be resolved by the courts once and for all, because I think there’s a lot of debate in this country about what the definition is. And I think it would be good for all of us to have one final definition that we all could work by. I’m going to the point, though – I’m sure Cruz was one of those people who gleefully stoked the birther arguments against Obama or enjoyed the fact that others were doing it. So we can’t have a double standard. If we have a concern about what that standard is, it should apply equally to Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. It shouldn’t be a double standard. 

Blitzer: This morning, Donald Trump was on MSNBC, seemed pretty confident that if he is the Republican presidential nominee, he could carry his home state of New York. Listen to this. 

[Wolf Blitzer cuts to video]

Donald Trump: One of the best locations I have in the whole country is New York [inaudible], which is almost 50 percent of New York. I mean, can you imagine if we ever won New York? Nobody even thinks about that when they do the polls. Plus we’re going to win West Virginia big. We’re going to win Virginia. We’re going to win places that we’re not normally – that nobody else is going to win. We’re going to win New Jersey. We’re going to win Pennsylvania. We’re going to win Florida. We’re going to win Ohio.

[Wolf Blitzer cuts away from video]

Blitzer: If he wins all those states if he’s the nominee, he’s going to be the President of the United States. So let’s go back to your home state of New York. Do you think it’s reasonable to think that Donald Trump, as a Republican presidential nominee, could win New York State?

Mayor: Absolutely impossible. He’s delusional on that point. Hillary Rodham Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee. She’s going to win her home state handily. I think that is close to a known fact in this state. She has extraordinary support here. And remember, as much as I appreciate what Trump said in defense of his home city – and I do – he has made, unfortunately, an entire campaign of insulting different people – women, Mexican Americans, all sorts of people, disabled Americans. That is not tolerated here in New York.

Blitzer: What happens if your predecessor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, decides to run as a third party candidate? We’re hearing all sorts of murmurings there that his people took a poll to see how he might do, that if it were Trump versus Hillary Clinton, he might throw his hat in the ring. What are you – first of all, what are you hearing about that? Do you believe that’s realistic?

Mayor: I’m hearing the same things you are. I can’t judge the realism. I can say this much – I respect Mayor Bloomberg, obviously. Some things that he’s done have really benefited the city – and I’ve continued them. Other areas I disagreed obviously – we’re from different parties. But I think the bottom line is this – Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee – I have no doubt about that. She’s going to win the general election. I think that scenario’s going to be the same whether other candidates jump in or not.

Blitzer: One final question before I let you go – Mayor, the vice president, Joe Biden, seemed to suggest the other day in an interview with CNN’s Gloria Borger that Hillary Clinton may have come late to the whole issue of income inequality, that Senator Bernie Sanders has been doing – talking about that for a long time. Your reaction to that?

Mayor: I was very surprised. I have a lot of respect for the vice president – I found that to be absolutely inaccurate. Hillary Clinton first came to our attention because she played a leading role in the Children’s Defense Fund, fighting for childcare and support for low-income families and low-income children. One of the most famous moments in her early career – the whole nation watched for two years as she fought for national healthcare reform at a time when the insurance companies attacked her with everything they had. She was in the crossfires of a huge industry with lots of money – she held firm, she kept fighting for fundamental change. If she had not done that, we wouldn’t have gotten to healthcare reform two decades later. So I think it’s quite clear – she has fought to address income inequality since the very beginning of her adult life in dramatic and courageous ways. I give – I respect Bernie Sanders, too, but, you know, there was an interview earlier today where a picture was shown – Hillary sent a photo to Bernie Sanders thanking him for his support in 1993 for her fight for national health reform. Let’s be clear – she has been at the forefront many times and often very courageously to boot .

Blitzer: Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, thanks very much for joining us.

Mayor: Thank you, Wolf.