Politics Unusual - Mayor Adams' corruption case dropped, NJ Governor's race and NY State Sen. John Liu

Welcome back to our new show, Politics Unusual. I'm Morgan McKay. There's been so much happening

this week, so we're going to dive right in. Mayor Eric Adams making headlines this week

We're going to bring in two reporters who have been on the ground with us covering his case

and the race for mayor as we hash out inside details on what happened and what's next

Next, we'll have New York State Senator John Lew in as our guest to talk about the state budget

And we'll check in on the New Jersey governor's race now that an important deadline has passed

But first, a couple of political headlines this week. The New York state budget is officially late

State lawmakers have passed another budget extender on Thursday that will fund the state government until Monday as negotiations continue

And recently appointed first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, will continue to represent Madison Square Garden in a high profile lawsuit

brought forward by former NBA star Charles Oakley. Mastro says he's doing it for free and claims he's been given the green light

to continue to represent MSG by the conflict of interest forward. But Oakley's attorney now asking a judge to ban Mastro from representing MSG

saying it gives the appearance that the Adams administration is siding with the arena

But speaking of the Adams administration, I'm being joined now by the New York Post City Hall Bureau Chief Craig McCarthy

and daily news reporter Josie Stratman. Thank you guys so much for being here

I really appreciate it. We have so much to talk about this week. There has been so much going on, so I appreciate you guys

You guys have been on the ground breaking stories over the past year. Thank you for being here

Thanks, Adam. Yes, thank you. So there's been so much happening. I'm a chronological type of girl

so we're going to start at the beginning of the week and move our way through. So Mayor Eric Adams' criminal case

the judge dropping these charges with prejudice, which means that they can't be refiled at any point

Craig, I'm going to start with you. Were you expecting this? Well, I mean, we've long expected this ruling to come down

trying to figure out how the judge was going to rule. The question was because the DOJ had asked that the motion be dismissed without prejudice

meaning it could be brought back in the future. A lot of people were up at arms over that

Even the judge and the third-party lawyer that he appointed to actually kind of look at this case

and give him some advice here believed that this could be held over Adams' head

Now, the ruling, though, 78 pages with prejudice, getting rid of this for good

I mean, I think that was we did not expect it to come at 930 in the morning on a Wednesday

I think we kind of expected 5 p.m. on a Friday. But, yeah, I mean, this was this was bound to happen sooner or later

And, Josie, how do you think Adams is reacting to this news? I know you were with me the other day when Adams was sort of looking up in the air, kind of seeming relieved

How do you feel like he's kind of adapting to some of this? Right. I think he's so relieved. This has been a big weight over him. And he said as much really since September when the indictment was first dropped onto him. He his body language has shifted even in the past couple of days. If you've noticed, even a month ago, he seemed like he was in a worse mood. He was having a harder time getting through some of the press conferences. And now his body language seems more open

he seems excited to be campaigning and out now on the trail as he said the indictment before this

was preventing him from really getting out there. Yeah and now he's switching to becoming an

independent candidate. He says he's still a Democrat. Do you guys buy that? Well I think

it's still a Democrat. I think it's just the question of if he could get on the Democratic

line. I think the calculus here is that he only has a few months to kind of change the hearts and

minds of voters in New York City, hasn't been polling well. He was at historic lows beforehand

20% or something. Yeah, I mean, it hasn't been good. So, I mean, at this point, I would believe

it's safe face. I mean, you can campaign for longer, you can raise more funds if you're going

into the general. Right. And he says he's a Democrat, but his actions may show otherwise

I mean, his first press conference after his case was dropped, he promoted Trump FBI director

Kash Patel's book that basically dragged the deep state actors for thwarting the Trump

administration. So that doesn't really line up with the Democratic Party line

Now, one thing in his video, he did say something kind of interesting that caught my eye

and we're going to play it here. Let me be clear. Although the charges against me were false

I trusted people I should not have and I regret that. So he isn't saying who he's talking about

there but who do you guys think he's talking about? He's been asked about this and won't say

who has been so against him. It could be his competitors in the race. It could be the media

HE BASHED ALL OF US SEVERAL TIMES AND IT COULD BE THE LAWYERS AND JUDGES WHO PUSHED He bashed all of us several times and it could be the lawyers and judges who pushed his case forward before the Trump DOJ stepped in Yeah Now is having Adams running as an independent

is that good news or bad news for Cuomo, for Governor Andrew Cuomo, who's leading in the

polls right now? Do you think this helps him or hurts him? Well, I think this, honestly

this is only kind of bad news for Andrew Cuomo at this point because he's still at the top

So it's all the candidates kind of ganging up against him at this point, at least if Eric Adams was in the race and there's two people there

But then the other conversation will come in of like, well, both Eric and Andrew are

in the race. Is this now everybody coalesces on the left against them and pushes this dream initiative

to not rank either of these candidates and then kind of creating that full force coalition

But I mean, I think this really is just going to make this election really drag out into November when historically primaries have been the deciding factor on who the next mayor of New York City is

Exactly. Now, there's a fun little hypothetical out there that I have been entertaining

If you put on your hypothetical glasses, look at just the polling. We have this like weird, possibly hypothetical five way race in the general election

I think it's kind of fun to talk about. So there's a possibility that, you know, Cuomo could win the Democratic primary right now, looking at the numbers

Then we could have someone like State Assemblyman Zoran Mamdani, who's been surging in the polls recently, who could win the Working Families Party ballot line

And then we have Jim Walden running as an independent candidate, Mayor Adams running as an independent candidate, and then Curtis Lewa running as a Republican

So where do you guys think that matchup kind of all works out? Do you think that's a possibility

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and it's interesting, actually, yesterday at this mayoral forum

it was Adams and Cuomo's first mayoral forum of the race. We'll say forum lightly

We'll say forum lightly. We're not on stage together. But he said that if, well, since he's running as an independent

he says that he doesn't think that will hurt the Democratic Party

And he doesn't think that necessarily means that there might be a possibility of splitting the votes between the Democratic nominee and Adams, leaving an opening for Republican nominee, likely nominee, Curtis Lua

And it has to be inevitable, though, I mean, at this point. I mean, Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo have a very big overlap in their voter base

They've both been appealing to the black community. They're appealing to the Orthodox Jewish community

and they are kind of more moderate Democrats, meaning they could probably carve off some of those Republican

maybe Atterborough voters and stuff like that. But then it's with Curtis in the race

and then you have the Zora Mandami, and then you have Jim Wall. I mean, it's going to be a very interesting few months

and that seems more likely than not that's how it's going to shake out. We actually have a viewer question put out on Instagram

asking you guys if you guys could answer this question. So this comes from Joe, and it says, will the Working Families Party now try to push sooner for one candidate

All of their endorsed candidates aren't tracking well citywide. That question coming from Joe

I mean, I don't think it really helps them to do that at this point, because everybody on the left here is trying to carve

They're going up to the same voter base. And it's very noticeable that all of these candidates, the Landers, the Stringers, the Bandanis of the world, they're not attacking each other

And if it is, it's like a light jab, here, there kind of thing. Because at the end of the day, they don't want to aggravate and annoy the voters that are going

that they want, maybe they think they'll be the number two or number three in their ballot. Thank you, guys

I could talk to you guys all day. I already do talk to you guys all day. So thank you guys for coming in here

I really appreciate you guys' insight. It's so helpful. So thank you, guys. Still to come, we're looking at New York State's budget, which is almost one week late

Coming up next, we'll be joined by State Senator John Liu to talk about where the budget stands

welcome back to politics unusual all eyes are on the new york state budget which has

now been extended twice after failing to meet an April 1st deadline. So joining us now to talk

about some of the key issues in that state budget is Senator John Liu, who's also the chair of the

Senate Education Committee. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. Thanks so much for

having me. So we were just saying possibly you're seeing even more budget extenders past Monday

but we're not really sure. I mean, realistically, a budget extender, realistically, the time frame

should be about a week. But we try to keep it tight. We try to keep it as short as possible So even if we have to do another one it it only because we try to get things done to keep a sense of urgency going Exactly Now one item that seems like it

going to make it in the budget is this cell phone ban. Tell me a little bit more about this and

why you support it. Yeah. Okay. Well, Shelly Mayer, who's the chair of the Education Committee

I'm the chair of the New York City Education Committee in the state Senate. We both support

It's something that common sense tells us in today's world that the cell phones are a huge distraction for everybody, adults and kids

But to have them in classrooms when kids are supposed to be learning, they're being distracted

Sometimes there are more harmful effects coming from the mobile devices. It makes sense to just take the cell phones out of the school environment

And that's exactly what I believe we're going to do in this state budget

Do you guys believe you addressed some of the safety concerns? I know parents have brought up before with that

Oh, yeah, and I think that the schools are going to be responsible for making sure that the parents are able to get in touch with their kids very quickly

There are also exemptions for students who need their cell phones for medical reasons

And also, if a teacher has incorporated the mobile devices into their instructional plan, that's also allowed

So, you know, it's not an entire blanket policy where there's absolutely no phones at all

there are very clear and acceptable reasons for the devices to be used

Now, some of the sticking points that I'm hearing in the state budget this year

some issues over discovery, involuntary removal, but also a possible mask ban

Where do you stand on this mask ban? I know there's been some debate over the language of it

Well, the first two you mentioned, discovery reform, which is allowing a defendant to get

the documents that he or she is going to be charged with using it used as evidence

also the involuntary commitment of people who can't seem to be taking care of themselves

Those are two top issues. We're not anywhere close to a resolution on those

But at the 11th hour, Governor Hochul threw in the idea of the mask ban

And that is a very contentious issue right now because it was just thrown upon us at the last minute

as we were debating the first two issues. And there's a fair amount of controversy

On the one hand, you know, it's terrible to see these videos of people who seem to be harassing others on the subways, on the streets, and you can't have any idea who they are because they have such tight masks around them

And the police have said it's hard to identify these suspects. That's correct

On the other hand, there are still real public safety health reasons why people would be wearing masks

and also people are afraid that they might be tagged just because they were wearing masks

even if they weren't doing anything wrong. So even if they were simply, for example, exercising their free speech rights

So there are a number of issues. I got to throw this one issue out because I'm the chair of the New York City Education Committee

The governor's budget right now is proposed delivers $350 million less to New York City schools

and that is unacceptable. We're fighting that as well. Yes, exactly. Now, one item I want to get your input on outside of the budget

Over the weekend, you were out announcing that you were going to be proposing a bill that would turn that parking lot next to Citi Field into a casino with the Mets owner, Steve Cohen

So kind of help explain. So New York State, so for everyone knows, is awarding three downstate licenses

They're going to do so at the end of the year. This is one of the license bids

They want this parking lot turned into a metropolitan park. It's going to have restaurants, hotels, live music

Don't forget casino. And a casino. And a casino. And you're against gambling

I don't like gambling, but I believe that there will be three downstate casino licenses granted

And no matter where they are, they're going to be close to my constituents. I think it's a total 10-mile radius for all of them

So, given that, I think Metropolitan Park actually would be a good public venue, very close to my constituents

The vast majority of my constituents actually want this. And so what I'm doing is my bill would allow them to use that parkland, which is currently a parking lot, has been for decades, use that for a hotel and casino purpose

And that doesn't give them the license. It just simply allows them to submit the application, and then the Gaming Commission would decide which of the 11 proposals will get one of the three licenses

Exactly. And there needs to be some economic revitalization in that area a little bit as well

Yeah, I mean, it would be an economic boom. I have to be concerned, and I'll continue to watch the possible harmful and regressive effects on it

But overall, I think it's positive. It's what my constituents want. The city council wants it

all my community boards want it. So, you know, I think I just give them a fair shake at it

Yeah. Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Senator, for being here. I really appreciate it That it I know I could talk to you as well for hours We have so much to go over the budget but I really appreciate your time Thank you for being here Thank you Still to come we digging deep into the race for New Jersey governor

and highlighting the candidates looking to lead the Garden State. And it was a historic week for New Jersey Senator Cory Booker

Stay with us. Welcome back. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker broke the record this week for the longest speech

in the Senate chamber's history. The speech lasted for 25 hours and five minutes. He didn't sit down

he didn't eat, and he didn't even use the restroom. The senator started his speech on

Monday night and continued through to Tuesday evening. Booker blasted the Trump administration

in his remarks for several of its policies, but also took aim at Democrats, calling the party

fractured without a strong leader, urging the Democratic Party to do some soul searching

I just feel that Trump mocks us. What does his Liberation Day mean to the people that are shackled

to debt from medical debt that are shackled with student debt that can't afford the rising

costs of groceries. What's his liberation mean? Booker's speech surpassed a previous record set

in 1957 by Senator Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes

to oppose the Civil Rights Act. Now, turning our attention to the New Jersey governor's race

both the Republican and Democratic primary is on June 10th. So we're about nine-ish weeks away

Candidates who want to appear on the ballot had to submit more than 2,500 voter signatures to qualify. So here's who's officially in. Six Democrats running for governor

in New Jersey. Newark Mayor Ross Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Stephen Fulop, Congresswoman Mikey

Sherrill, Congressman Josh Gottheimer, former state Senate President Steve Sweeney, and former

Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller. And turning to the Republican field, four Republicans who had

declared as candidates did not file petitions. So this is the official matchup for the GOP primary

race now. Former State Assemblyman Jack Cittarelli, State Senator John Bramnick, former radio host

Bill Spadea, Justin Barbera, and former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Cranjak. Next week, we'll be

highlighting other races in the Tri-State region, but don't go anywhere. We're going to test your

knowledge of the Tri-State region, so stay with us as we take a look back at some political history

Now to a political flashback where we look at significant events that happened this week in history in the tri-state region

On April 3rd, 1973, Martin Cooper, a Motorola executive, made the first ever cell phone call on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan to one of his competitors

The phone weighed two and a half pounds and was about a foot tall

But it took almost a decade for that phone to finally hit the market. There was a slow rollout, mostly because the government was grappling with how to regulate the industry to ensure competition

When it finally did drop, that phone cost $3,900. Finally, tonight, we're going to be testing your knowledge because if you like politics, you probably like history as well

And there are many unusual political history facts here in the tri-state region that make this area so unique

Last week, we asked you what famous politician still has a desk inside the New York City Police Commissioner's office

The answer, Teddy Roosevelt, the nation's 26th president, also served as a president of the board of the New York City Police Commissioners from 1895 to 1897

And yes, his desk is still there and it's used today. Now, to this week's question

In 1884, what was paraded across the Brooklyn Bridge to demonstrate its stability

Now, don't Google the answer, but if you know it or want to take a shot at it, go ahead, scan the code on your screen

That's going to take you to our website, fox5ny.com, where you can type in your answer and check back here next week to see if you're right

That does it for this week's Politics Unusual. Thank you so much for joining us

I'm Morgan McKay. We look forward to having you back here next week