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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Yes. Now, our regular Wednesday appearance on the show by our city hall reporter, Elizabeth Kim, who we used to call our lead Eric Adams reporter. Now that it's campaign season, she talks mostly about the mayoral race, as well as updating us on the actions of the mayor in office when they're significant enough. Today, we're going to talk about the Trump administration inserting itself into the race in a new way, and also some of the results of the reader question that I put in our newsletter last week, inviting you to suggest a question that I might ask at the Democratic primary mayoral debate that I'll be a questioner in next month on WNYC and NY1. Hi, Liz. Happy Wednesday.

Elizabeth Kim: Happy Wednesday, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, I'm going to read some of what came in from some of you on the newsletter. We can take some more of these on the air in this segment. 212-433-WNYC. If you have a question in mind you would like me to ask at the Democratic primary mayoral debate, call it in right now, and I will consider all serious suggestions. Seriously, who wants to suggest a question for the mayoral debate? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Call or text. Liz, before we get to questions for the debate, tell us about this new news about the Trump Justice Department and Andrew Cuomo.

Elizabeth Kim: Sure, so this was a story that The New York Times broke late last night. It's based on two sources, unnamed sources, that there is a federal investigation into whether Andrew Cuomo lied to Congress when he was questioned about his handling of the pandemic. Specifically, some of the focus has been on his decisions around nursing homes, whether or not it was correct that he allowed people who had been infected with COVID to return to nursing homes. The former governor has said that he was following federal guidance.

There's some disagreement about that, that maybe by allowing people who had not perhaps fully recovered from COVID to return to nursing homes that that led to more infections, and thus higher death rates in nursing homes. That's really just one component that has been talked about regarding his testimony. Some of it has been whether or not he was involved in certain reports that came out around COVID. During his testimony, he said he was not involved, and there's been some scrutiny put on those statements.

Brian Lehrer: This is not a new issue. Democrats as well as Republicans have raised it before, haven't they?

Elizabeth Kim: No, absolutely. This is one of the attack lines from his Democratic opponents in the primary is his handling of COVID. What makes this different is this is now coming from the Trump administration. It will be very interesting to see how New Yorkers respond to this. Now, undoubtedly, we've talked about this. Trump did make gains in New York City in the last presidential election, but he is still very unpopular among Democrats.

There's a possibility that this, rather than taking down Cuomo, prompts a backlash because this can be perceived as, once again, Trump's Justice Department meddling in New York City politics. We saw that when justice officials intervened in Mayor Adams' case that it was not publicly well-received, and that has damaged the mayor. It's also very interesting to see how the other opponents respond to this.

We saw some initial responses last night. Zellnor Myrie, the state senator from Brooklyn, said on social media, "We can't trade one compromise mayor for another." City comptroller Brad Lander, who's also running in the race, said, "New Yorkers can't afford four more years of a compromise mayor kissing Trump's butt." I'm substituting out the real word he used for "butt."

Brian Lehrer: Does anyone among the opponents say a little bit in defense of Cuomo? Obviously, it's not in their interest to defend their rival, but to say Trump bought out of New York City politics, which is what a lot of people said in the Eric Adams case.

Elizabeth Kim: Right, and this was interesting. The difference here is Zohran Mamdani came out with a statement. He essentially said that while he believes that New Yorkers should not vote for the ex-governor, he also said that he believes that Trump's actions here are dangerous. There, you have another point of view. I should also state that Cuomo's own campaign, that they have come out with their statements. Melissa DeRosa, who's a top adviser to the former governor, said that, "Trump wants a mayor who will bend the knee," and she wrote, "or be up his butt." That's a reference to the famous Tom Homan exchange with Eric Adams about immigration policy in New York City.

Brian Lehrer: Right, if Adams didn't stick to his end of the deal-

Elizabeth Kim: Correct.

Brian Lehrer: -of having those charges dropped. What's new here? Since controversy around how Cuomo handled aspects of COVID is not new, what's new is potential criminal charges rather than just potential political consequences. Is it clear from the early reporting on this that you've seen what it is they're considering charging him with?

Elizabeth Kim: Well, lying to Congress is a crime, and the penalty is as much as five years in prison. It is very serious. We should say it's an investigation. According to unnamed sources, it has not been confirmed by the Justice Department. It's unclear whether or not an indictment will actually come down. Certainly, the fact that this news has come out, Cuomo's campaign has certainly argued that it was leaked in order to mess with the race.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, and it puts a fine line, I think, on what the-- or not a fine line, but a fine spotlight on what the actual Cuomo controversy is. In fairness to him, moving people out of hospitals back into nursing homes was being done at a time when there were no good choices. They desperately needed those hospital beds at the height of the pandemic, when New York was the epicenter of the pandemic. What were you really going to do? He seemed to then publicly downplay the number of nursing home deaths and maybe cover up, if that's not too strong a word, what that death toll actually was. That's maybe where the alleged lying to Congress comes in, right?

Elizabeth Kim: That's correct, yes. A lot of it, he will say that it was the timing of the death. Did they die at the hospital or did they later die when they returned to the nursing homes? Like you say, it was a pandemic. It was a very difficult period. It was unprecedented, kind of new public health policy. Yes, these are things that have been investigated and there have been reports done on it. Now, it seems as if the focus is moving away from that. The concern will now be about whether or not Trump is once again weaponizing the Justice Department to shape the outcome of a mayoral race.

Brian Lehrer: One other thing on this, and then we'll get to listener suggestions for questions that I might ask at the mayoral debate. I'm also seeing this analyzed as a potential win rather than loss for Cuomo as a factor in the primary. That's what they said on Morning Joe on MSNBC today, anyway. Are you hearing that from political analysts?

Elizabeth Kim: Well, Cuomo's own campaign is saying that. I read you that social media post from Melissa DeRosa. What she went on to say is that Andrew Cuomo is Trump's nightmare come true. This will galvanize the Democratic base. We will see if that is the response that happens. I'm thinking about maybe some Democrats who are a little bit skeptical or maybe wary of Andrew Cuomo because of either the nursing home scandal or the sexual misconduct allegations, how they receive this.

Brian Lehrer: Right. "We won't let Trump bully him around, and so they rally to his corner," is the theory, I guess. All right. Well, let's go on to things our listeners wrote in response to our newsletter question that they would like to hear me ask in the mayoral primary debate. As you can imagine, how to deal with Trump was among them. Here are two that are different from each other in an interesting way.

One person just wrote, "Do you think you'll be able to somehow find the courage to stand up to President Trump with his attendant financial threats and the death threats from his supporters?" Another person wrote, "Given the Trump administration's multiple drastic cuts in federal spending on social services, housing, education, health, transportation, and other program areas for which New York City has historically depended on the federal government for substantial support, how do you propose addressing funding shortfalls for such critical services, or which programs will you prioritize above others, assuming you can't make up for all the funding gaps?"

That's a long question, Liz. I actually love it because some federal funding cuts seem almost inevitable with the budget that's being debated in Congress right now. How are they going to prioritize? How are they going to make up for what is a really substantive question, but how are the candidates answering that first question so far, which is the emotional one on so many Democratic primary voters' minds, I think? How will you be able to stand up to Trump?

Elizabeth Kim: I think that's a question that they are, in many ways, trying to answer every day. They hold press conference attacking not just Andrew Cuomo, who they're running against because he's the front runner, but they're also holding press conferences in which they're attacking Donald Trump. That speaks to how they feel what kind of mayor voters want, which is someone who will stand up to Donald Trump. There's the example of Zohran Mamdani in Albany, where he had to be held back by state police when he was trying to shout down Trump's immigration czar, Tom Homan. That was a video that went viral. Many people felt it went viral because it was a demonstration of his passion against the Trump administration.

Brian Lehrer: Here's a suggested question that's new from a listener in a text. It says, "All states and cities pay taxes to the federal government. There are donor states like New York, and there are subsidized states who received money as a result of taxes paid by states like ours. Is there any way we can use our status as a donor state to insulate ourselves from the worst excesses threatened by the current administration in Washington?" Interesting question. Bruce in Manhattan has one. Bruce, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Bruce: Hi. Thanks for taking my call. Longtime listener, first-time caller.

Brian Lehrer: Glad you're on.

Bruce: My question is about police. It's not anything about defunding. It's about what will you do to hold police and corrections officers accountable.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Liz, are candidates debating that as far as you're aware? You heard how specifically Bruce put it there, not about cutting funding to the NYPD, but how to hold officers accountable for their actions.

Elizabeth Kim: This conversation has not come up as much as it did in 2021. The reason is simple. In 2021, we were coming off the George Floyd protests in 2020, so there were lots of questions put to candidates about police accountability. Now, this year, a lot of the focus has been on, "Will you hire more police? How will you ensure public safety?" I will say, I think that that is an excellent question, actually, and I think that it is a lost opportunity to feel that somehow this is a problem that's gone away in the police department.

Brian Lehrer: Here's Sascha in Manhattan with another suggestion for a question. Sascha, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Sascha: Hi. I'd like to ask the candidates what their platform is for disability rights, how they're going to help New Yorkers with disabilities participate as students, as workers, as parents in all the good things that the city has to offer.

Brian Lehrer: Sascha, thank you very much. Has there been anything on ADA?

Elizabeth Kim: I'm not sure, Brian. I'll be honest. There have been so many forums. I can't imagine that it has not been raised. I'm sure at some forum or another that someone has raised this question, but I just don't know what the candidate's position on this is.

Brian Lehrer: Here's another specific one from the newsletter responses, "Where do you stand on specialized high schools? Do you know if that's been addressed explicitly yet?"

Elizabeth Kim: I don't, Brian, although The New York Times recently did a very good story on how education policy in general has not been front and center in this mayoral campaign. It's very interesting. The focus has been, in many cases, on pre-K and after-school, but actual education policies has not been.

Brian Lehrer: Another one. Let's see. Well, this goes to the heat of the issue of Gaza and Israel and anti-Semitism. Listener asks in our newsletter response, "Do you count protest against the war in Gaza or criticism of the current Israeli government as anti-Semitism and/or Hamas support?" I think we know some candidates would differ on that. How do you think Cuomo would answer that question?

Elizabeth Kim: I think Cuomo has already said that he feels that being anti-Zionist is the equivalent of being anti-Semitic. I think he would toe a really hard line at the rhetoric that is used at protests.

Brian Lehrer: What does anti-Zionist mean to him? Maybe we'll ask him this when we get there, but is it clear? Does that mean anybody who thinks that there should be-- Well, the basic anti-Zionist argument is there should be one multi-group democracy rather than a Jewish state. Of course, there are arguments against that, but is that what he means?

Elizabeth Kim: Brian, you'd have to ask him, yes.

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] And so we will. Last thing then. A lot of listeners or a group of listeners wanted the candidates to be able to distinguish themselves from the current mayor. One just said, "List three things you would do differently for Mayor Eric Adams." Another one wrote, "During Mayor Adams' term, the rent stabilization increases have uniformly been higher than in the past, even though there is a housing crisis. Are you in favor of requiring greater emphasis on tying rental increases to landlord rates of return rather than on increases in costs?" That's a very interesting proposition for how to rejigger that formula. On the first one, is there a standout answer so far from this group on one thing they would do differently from Mayor Adams?

Elizabeth Kim: I guess speaking to the aspect of rent-stabilized housing, a couple of the candidates, including Mamdani, Jessica Ramos, have come out in favor of freezing the rent, because the mayor does appoint people to that board that decides what the rent increase will be. He does, in essence, control that. We saw Bill de Blasio froze the rent for several years under his mayoralty. That would be one very big difference.

Brian Lehrer: We will leave it there for today. Listeners, you can keep them coming. If you got last week's Brian Lehrer Show newsletter, that field is still open for you to respond and suggest a question that I might ask in the mayoral debate next month. We'll do at least one more segment like this on the air as well as we gather potential questions, and we will keep talking to WNYC's Elizabeth Kim every Wednesday through the election season. Liz, thanks for today.

Elizabeth Kim: Thanks, Brian.

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