Transcript: Mayor Adams Appears Live on CNBC's "Squawk Box"

December 6, 2024

Andrew Ross Sorkin: Welcome back to Squawk, more developments now in the murder investigation of a UnitedHealthcare executive in Manhattan this week. We saw images of it all week now. Police are releasing these photos from a hostel on the Upper West Side of a person they say is, quote, wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting.  

Joining us right now for more on the manhunt in New York City. Mayor Eric Adams, Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining us this morning. This is an event and images that have shaken the city to its core, especially the business community that I think is now more worried than ever about their own security. Tell us about sort of where this investigation stands and then we'll dig into maybe some of the broader implications. 

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Good to see you again. We're asking every New Yorker and American to look at the picture, the photo, and to assist us. If you know him, if his face looks familiar, please reach out to our law enforcement agencies here or your local law enforcement agencies so that we can bring this person to justice and remove him off the streets of our country.  

This was amazing police work here. This was a fully masked individual and because of our video surveillance system in this city, we were able to track him and get these videos [and] these photos that you see right now. It was not an easy task, within just a few hours. The men and women of our law enforcement entities are going to bring this person to justice. 

Ross Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, can you tell us, is there, is there any new progress that we don't know about beyond these images, which have now been brought to the public in terms of where this investigation stands? Any suspects that you feel like you are closing in on or have a better insight into? 

Mayor Adams: Yes. And there's a lot of new information that our detectives and other law enforcement entities were able to find based on their good old fashioned police work. But as you know, there's a very… it's a level of sensitivity that you don't want to do anything that's going to endanger the investigation or to tip off the suspect. We will have a full briefing when this person is brought to justice. 

Ross Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, do you have any sense, I mean, the, the speculation, as you know, that's, that's rampant is that this is the results of this gentleman's job and that he was targeted as a result of working in this insurance industry potentially.  

And that, it was targeted as a result of that, as opposed to some kind of family squabble or some other event. The reason I asked this is we're on a business network, there's a lot of business executives that are watching and, and I think asking the question, how safe are they? 

Mayor Adams: Yeah. And, and, and I think your question is a good question. And, you know, there's a balance here that I want to strike, to number one, ensure that all of the business people in this city, this is the empire state and we build empires here. This is the safest big city in America.  

And I know that an incident like this will strike at the core of that title that we have. But this city is a safe city. We have an amazing police force and they continue to have drove down crime the entire time that I've been in office.  
And so we're going to continue to ensure that safety with the omnipresence of our uniformed police officers and some of the tools that you don't see. But at the same time as I want to ensure their safety, I do not want to do anything at all that's going to hamper the investigation and the apprehension of the person responsible for this crime. 

Ross Sorkin: Okay. I got a more complicated one for you, Mr. Mayor, which is, you know, a lot of executives, senior executives have what's called executive protection. That's the sort of parlance for the industry. Executive protections when you have a bodyguard or somebody who walks with you where you go.  

There are some people, big name billionaires that you know, who walk around this city completely on their own without, without any, any protection of any sort. There are others that, that, that may have even a lower profile, but they do have that protection for lots of different reasons. How do you think folks should feel about that? 

Mayor Adams: Well, I think our personal protection is a personal decision. You have not only those who are business executives, as you indicated, we have a high list of A-list celebrities and sports figures.  

But the beauty of New York City, you can actually blend right into the entire atmosphere of the city. I saw a photo the other day of Manning saying that this is the first time he took the subway system because our subway system is the safest in over, almost over 14 years.  

When you were in New York, everyday New York is a hustle and bustling going on with their daily lives and they're not focusing on individuals and people should go on and continue to live their lives. I think it was just mentioned that we're number one, the number one tourist destinations for 2025. This just goes to show you, no other American city was on that list. This is still an exciting place to live, to entertain and to raise healthy children and families because we are safe. 

Ross Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, I want to pivot to a different topic, which is immigration. You're meeting with Trump's border czar next week. You also came on Squawk back in March and talked about those debit cards that you were advocating to be giving to migrants. That program is ended. But I'm curious whether you think in the, in the end that was the right decision or the wrong decision not to end it, but to begin it. 

Mayor Adams: Yes. And they were not, they were not debit cards. They were food cards. And you know, some of the sensationalism that was attached to it, didn't understand the full mission. These were food cards. The law requires us to feed the migrants and asylum seekers that are here. We saw that there was food waste. And during the emergency, we gave them food cards where they were, hey had to purchase food on those cards. Instead of purchasing it from large conglomerates, we were able to spend the money locally in our local stores, our bodegas, our supermarkets.  

This was a smart idea of recycling the dollars within our city. And the reason we ended the program is because of the job we've done. 220,000 migrants and asylum seekers in the city, 170,000, we were able to move to the next leg of our journey because of smart policies. We brought down the cost of the migrants and asylum seekers. This cost our city $6.4 billion that the federal government should have picked up the price tag and they didn't. So we made the right decision. And I think now we have a administration that we can work with to further secure our borders and deal with this immigration crisis we're facing. 

Ross Sorkin: What's been the reaction to some of your comments that you made earlier this week about immigrants and migrants that have come to the state illegally and what may happen under a Trump administration?  

You've suggested you're going to work with the Trump administration. There's others, obviously, in this city who, and this has been considered a blue city for a long time, that have suggested you shouldn't be. 

Mayor Adams: Think about that for a moment. Imagine four years of warring with the president and not working with the president. Our country is about how do we move our cities forward? And that's what my goal is going to do.  

And people say you're changing comments. It's the same comments. When I was on your program last year, I talked about those small number of migrants and asylum seekers who are coming here committing violence in our city. And those acts of violence are unacceptable. Not only are they unacceptable to everyday New Yorkers, but they're also unacceptable to migrants and asylum seekers who are here.  

Anyone that commits a crime in this city should be held accountable. And those who are here are based on the guests of our city and our country. They should be removed from our country after they serve their time. And I've been consistent on that no matter who's the president at the time. 

Ross Sorkin: What's your relationship right now with President Trump, President-elect Trump? He made some very nice comments about you, as you might remember, at the Al Smith dinner. 

Mayor Adams: Well, I'm a nice person, so people should make nice comments about me. You know, I have a big heart. I love this city. I served it as a police officer, state senator, and the borough president. And so President Biden made nice comments about me when he came to the city. And I visited him in Washington, D.C. and talked about crime. He helped us with crime issues. I think we should have done a better job around securing our borders and not having cities pay this awesome amount to deal with a national problem. And so when I communicated with the president, it's the same thing I communicated with President Biden. We need resources for the City of New York, and I look forward to working with his administration and bringing those resources to this amazing city. 

Ross Sorkin: Question about your own personal situation. You said earlier this week that President Biden and President-elect Trump now agree on one thing, which is that the Biden Justice Department has been politicized. You said that in regard to the Hunter Biden pardon. And you said that that relates to your case. My question to you is, would you try to seek a pardon in advance from either Biden or Trump? 

Mayor Adams: Well, I have been extremely clear. I did nothing wrong. I have a great team of attorneys and any pathway to justice, we're going to seek that. No American should go through what I'm going through right now.  
And really, no American should go through some of the things that we have witnessed. I mean, when you put everyday parents on FBI watch lists because they're standing up fighting for their children, when you look at some of the things that are happening to everyday Americans, it's just not right.  

And you know, to spend millions of dollars in legal fees, to have information leaked about your investigation continuously, no American should be going through this. We deserve more in America.  

Ross Sorkin: Have you asked President-elect Trump about a pardon or the current president?  

Mayor Adams: No, I have not. I have a legal team that's handling my case and I have a great deal of respect for them and they're going to handle that. I said to New Yorkers when this first became public that I was going to keep our city on a pathway of success that we've witnessed and that City of Yes vote is a reflection of that. Turned around our economy, dealt with all the crises that we have to face. I lived up and I'm going to live up to what New Yorkers asked me to do when they elected me and make sure this city continues to progress. 

Joe Kernen: Mr. Mayor, I don't know how comfortable you are weighing in on this, Daniel Penny, third day of jury, still not back, asking some more questions. You made some kind of comment about, I'm not sure, I'm going to let you make yourself more clear about what you meant, but what do you think a conviction or a 15 year prison sentence would, it would seem like no one would step in on a situation like that again.  

It seems like a bad precedent and it almost seems like, I don't know, it's a reflection of what's been going on in the city for a while where someone trying to actually help out in a situation ends up on the losing end. 

Mayor Adams: Well, I think we've always asked New Yorkers, you see something, say something, do something and New Yorkers have always had the spirit and energy to come to their fellow New Yorkers and we have to be honest about the severe mental health crisis that we're facing.  

In no way I want to do anything that's going to make the jury decision harmful in any way. He was going to be judged by a jury of his peers, they're deliberating, let's let them do their job, but I do know we have a broken system of dealing with severe mental health illness in our, not only our subway system, but on our streets. I have been advocated to give us more power for involuntary removal for those who can't take care of themselves and are dangerous to others. And this young man was part of that problem. He was in a revolving door mental health system and we have to do a better job of that. And I wish his family well and I wish the family of Mr. Penny well as well. 

Ross Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you about housing because you scored a win this week. The city council passing your affordable housing plan. The question I had is how much of this is really about building new housing versus loosening restrictions on current buildings and how far ultimately you may be willing to go to change the dynamic around pricing in the city for housing. You know, Airbnb has been trying to get into the city for a long time. Hotel prices are high. Rent is high. Do you see a path for that? What comes next? 

Mayor Adams: Well, it's a combination, and this was a well thought out plan that started in Albany. We met with the governor and leader, Heastie and leader, majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and their team to talk about the state reforms that were needed.  

We were able to accomplish that. Conversions of office building into housings, FAR changes and other changes. Then we had to come to the city and implement a plan here in the city and we just accomplished that yesterday.  

This is the most comprehensive and largest housing reform in the history of the City of New York. 80,000 units of housing. This is what we wanted to accomplish and it's about number one, incentivizing more building and then going after that 1.4 percent vacancy rate in our city and having every neighborhood in the city participate and contribute to new housing without changing those low rise areas in our city. 

Ross Sorkin: Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you for joining us this morning. Appreciate it. 

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Good to see you again.