Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on CNN's New Day

October 25, 2018

Alisyn Camerota: I want to bring in New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. I know it is a very busy morning for you. Tell us what happened this morning around Robert De Niro’s office.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well Alisyn, first I want to say thank you to you and everyone at CNN because you were under attack yesterday but you kept the news coming to the people of this country and I saw extraordinary professionalism and fortitude in [inaudible] so I want to thank you for that.

Camerota: Thank you very much for saying that. We did not skip a beat. I mean that was, it very, I  must say heartening to know that the news will go on regardless of a scare. We did not skip a beat here.

Mayor: And I think that’s the bigger point of what’s happening here but we will talk about the specifics but we need to recognize that someone’s trying or some group of people are trying to terrorize us, trying to get us to lose faith in our government, in our institutions and our society. We have to respond with consistency and not allowing ourselves to be undermined. Terrorism by definition is an effort to change people’s way of living and way of thinking using violence, using terror. We can’t let that happen.

Camerota: And just very quickly – this is not just institutions. There is a very clear pattern of who is being targeted –

Mayor: Yes.

Camerota: – with these. So these are all people who the President has recently criticized –
all organizations or direct people who the President at rallies or speeches has gone after. And some of whom have criticized the President. It’s that part, it should be very clear for investigators to figure out in terms of the targets. 

Mayor: That’s right. And we see an extraordinarily clear pattern and I want to emphasize, I believe it may take days, it may take weeks but I believe that law enforcement will find this individual or individuals – that these perpetrators will be brought to justice. We’ve seen it many times before. It sometimes takes a while but they will be found. But what we have to recognize is, we should expect more of these in the meantime. So yes this morning, Robert De Niro’s office, thank God, because of an eagle eyed security employee, no one was hurt. The device was removed successfully by the NYPD. But this is another crucial point. Everyone has an opportunity even though this is a painful moment and something we should not be living through. And something that’s been unfortunately facilitated by an atmosphere of hatred that’s been created by some of our leaders. Everyday people can be part of the solution here. We need to be vigilant. We need to recognize that anything suspicious, don’t explain it away, don’t you know think maybe it’s not a big deal . If you think a package is suspicious, call the authorities immediately, protect yourself, protect everyone around you by being vigilant. That also can be part of how we find the perpetrators. That information from the grassroots, time and time again, that’s what allows law enforcement to ultimately win the day.

Camerota: Absolutely, there’s nothing more powerful than all of the eyeballs that are watching us right now. And here’s the number, it’s super easy to remember – 1-800-CALL-FBI, 1-800-CALL-FBI if you see anything that resembles these packages or seems suspicious. Mayor, has the New York Police Department told you that they are aware of other packages, or looking for other packages, or have heard of other packages?

Mayor: There’s nothing beyond what happened this morning with Robert De Niro’s office but we are ready to deal with more. Clearly there is a pattern, it does appear to be very consistent. Each of these packages coming from the exact same person or people, the exact same style, the exact same materials, we have every reason to believe there might be some more. And we have to be ready for that but I think that’s part of what’s important here is for people to recognize, if God forbid there’s more, it does not change our response. Our response has to be the same. The news has to keep being given. People in public life have to keep representing our constituents. We cannot be thrown off our game. By the way, you say New Yorkers yesterday, and this is not the first time we’ve suffered a terror attack. New Yorkers said no way are we going to be intimidated and they kept going about their business. And that’s – I said yesterday the terrorists, whoever tried to do this – mission not accomplished. They did not change peoples’ lives or values through violence.

Camerota: Do you believe there is, this morning, a serial bomber loose in New York City?

Mayor: I don’t know if they are in New York City? I believe there is someone who by definition is a serial bomber, yes, and a terrorist. Person or people, foreign or domestic, we don’t know yet. And we certainly don’t know if they are here or elsewhere in the country.

Camerota: Do you know if the package to Robert De Niro was hand delivered?

Mayor: We don’t. And I don’t want to rule out that it could be a combination of either, certain cases hand delivered, certain cases through the postal service. That’s what the investigation has to make sense of. But the bottom line is since we don’t know where the perpetrator is, we don’t know where the origin is – what we do know is people can stop and so far have very successfully stopped anyone from being harmed because everyone took these packages seriously.

Camerota: Alright is your office or the NYPD alerting other people who might be on this target list?

Mayor: Yes, what we’ve done is put additional NYPD presence in front of key media companies around New York City, in front of the offices of certain elected officials and we’ve alerted everyone broadly that there has to be extra vigilance at this point. Every package needs to looked at carefully. Anything that seems out of the ordinary, any suspicious looks, suspicious smell, anything that seems like a chemical agent, anything that might pose a danger, don’t open that package, immediately call the authorities. 

Camerota: The President put out a statement this morning on Twitter. He says, “A very big part of the anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposefully false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act fast.” Do you understand why that would be his message this morning?

Mayor: I do because unfortunately, and I’ve been very critical of the President on this point – he has created an atmosphere of hatred and division in this country but it’s not new for Donald Trump. I think we need to stop you know the famous Einstein quote, you know, the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result. We are not going to get a different result from Donald Trump. This is who he is, this is who he was back in the 1980’s here in this city fomenting hatred and division. This is who he is going to be and that does not define the American people. And I’m a little frustrated that everything keeps coming back to Donald Trump. In the end this is an American problem. We have to solve it ourselves. As leaders, but as everyday Americans, we have to create an atmosphere of civility again. We have to create an atmosphere of neutral respect, even if we disagree on things politically – we absolutely have to create an atmosphere of respect for the media. You can disagree on the coverage of the story, you can disagree with an outlet but respect the institution of the media because it protects our democracy. Donald Trump is not going to change, we have to change.

Camerota: Mayor de Blasio, thank you very much for taking time out of your very bust morning. Stay safe.

Mayor: Thank you, you too.