Transcript of NY Governor Kathy Hochul Discusses Major Announcement

MAGA Republican leaders are absolutely losing it on Capitol Hill right now. Moments ago, MAGA Mike Johnson held a press conference where he described the biggest threat to the United States of America right now. Get this, he said, Mayor Momdani and all the mini Momdanis out there. And then he said, for all of you journalists out there, these mini Momdanis are coming for you. Really, at the same time that Donald Trump is out there literally going after journalists, purging the government. This is what destroying our economy. The mini mom Donnies. Here, watch what he says. Let's play this clip.

Everybody needs to understand these crazy little mini mom Donnies who are popping up all around the country. They are a danger to you and your family. This is not a game. If they promise you free stuff, there is far more beneath those promises that even some of these people do not understand themselves. And so we are here as the Republican Party to stand on the founding principles of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is our duty to do that. And we're doing it on behalf of all of you, even the journalists who don't agree with our policies all the time. You better agree on these principles because that's what keeps you free. By the way, it's what keeps the press free. Okay. This is essential for your well-being and your family. This is not a game. This is not our father's Democrat Party. This is not. We're not arguing over marginal tax rates anymore. We're arguing whether or not freedom is going to survive. And that's why we're so serious about this. Look, I'm a happy warrior, man. I like to get up and have fun, but it's not a fun time.

We're in a war. We're in a philosophical war to save the greatest nation in the history of the world. And we take it very seriously.

Then you have MAGA Mike Johnson responding to a question about the ICE agents who have been murdering people in the United States now for very long period of time, and especially what's happened recently in Texas and in Maine. And of course, MAGA Mike Johnson goes, yeah, I haven't heard anything about it. I've just been, I've been working 22 hours a day, so I just don't know anything about anything. I know you'll make fun of me for it, but I haven't really looked into that. Here, play this clip.

The ICE agents who killed a person in Maine yesterday were reportedly not using body-worn cameras, and that's despite DHS officials coming to Congress and repeatedly saying over the last few months that they want to expand body camera use Does there need to be accountability on DHS from Congress here? I don't know anything about this event. Okay. I was a little busy yesterday. So I'm gonna reserve judgment. I know that this— there was a tragic shooting, and I'm not gonna comment on because I don't know. And you guys can mock me for not knowing that. I worked about 22 hours in the last few days. And I did not get the briefing on that yet. I will this morning.

Yes.

Why haven't you looked into that? Why wouldn't in those 22 hours of work, What were you talking about there, MAGA Mike Johnson at all? Then MAGA Mike goes, look, here's what— here's what the focus is on. We need to give hundreds of billions of— $350 billion more right now to the military because we are fighting communism on our shores. So give us hundreds of billions of dollars so we can fight those communists here in the United States. This is a horrifying press conference. From a flailing political party, whatever the hell they are. Here, play this clip.

Um, but there are some ideas, a real vision on how to improve that even further, to bolster that. You've heard the president talk about how he wants to effectively double, uh, the funding for national defense. Look, we live in dangerous times. We're fighting communism on our own shores, and we're fighting evil terrorists and tyrants around the world. Um, and, and we have to be able to protect our national security. So This is not the place to get into the details of that. We were—

Then MAGA Mike goes and said he's, he's, he's asked, so, you know, MAGA Mike, do you think that there should be some sort of, I don't know, congressional work, approval, authorization regarding Donald Trump launching the war against Iran again? It's been going on now for about 5 months, and you said it was only going to take a few days. And then MAGA Mike is out there and he goes, you know, look, the big problem that we have here is that whenever Iran enters into the deal, they then, as Donald Trump says, Donald Trump's the truth teller according to MAGA Mike. Donald Trump never lies, never lies. And it's the Iranians, he said, who always lie to everybody's face. They always lie to Donald Trump. And that's why we're back here. And so I don't, we haven't looked into that yet. I've been so busy doing whatever the hell else I'm doing here. Play this clip.

Last question, guys. On Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, the President says that the MOU is dead, hostilities are back on, and says the 60-day clock is just reset. Is it time to consider an AUMF vote? And when it comes to the toll that the U.S. is reportedly going to be charging, is that really proper? I mean, in the past, two administrations have said there should not be a charge, and now 20%. I'm going to let the White House answer to that. We're still awaiting further details on the toll idea. I was with the President for about 3 hours yesterday. We talked about it very very briefly because we had a lot of other things on the agenda. Um, I think they're— we're waiting for the details and we'll determine that. With regard to the Strait of Hormuz, there is a memo of understanding, uh, but Iran seems to have no, uh, interest whatsoever in, in maintaining any of those provisions. And when they are firing on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, it's a danger to all freedom-loving people around the world and the economies of almost every nation on the planet. And so the response from America is appropriate.

What do you do with these people? Listen, they're not good faith actors. They cannot be trusted. The people that are in these negotiation rooms, as the president said himself yesterday, they will say one thing and literally walk out the door and do the opposite. So it's a very sticky situation there when you're trying to have a negotiation with someone who you know is lying to you.

Then MAGA Mike says, look, as we look ahead to the midterms, This question is, will we maintain our constitutional republic? Because our entire country has been threatened by Democrats, like literally, as you've shredded the Constitution, destroyed the economy, got us into never-ending wars. This is what you're— this is the theme, communism. This, this is their boogeyman heading into the midterms in order to further entrench their authoritarian power. Here, play this clip.

Right now, domestically, we are arguing, we are debating, we are fighting. The election will be over whether we're going to maintain our freedom in a constitutional republic, the greatest experiment in self-governance in the history of the world, the longest surviving constitution on the planet, the nation that everybody wants to emulate and everybody wants to come here. We have to seal our borders so they won't flood over them. We're the only nation in the world that has that distinction. We're the last great superpower. We are the greatest nation in the history of the world. We are fighting right now in Congress over whether we're going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic, or we're going to trade that in, dismantle the foundations, and go down this dark road of death to communism. That is the, that is the question on the ballot this fall. Now they—

and then you have Lisa McClain, one of the top MAGA Republicans, which like, just get out of the country.

Get out of there.

If you criticize Donald Trump, Then get the hell out of here. These are who these people are. Here, play this clip.

These are all people who hate our country and everything that our country stands for. But you know what? I have great news for them. The beauty about living in America, the beauty about freedom is they are actually free to leave. So if you hate this country so much, there's flights leaving every day. I welcome you to get on one of those flights and leave the country that you despise so much, because as Republicans, we love this country.

You know, with all of that going on, I want to bring on, uh, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, a, a real leader right now. She had a major announcement earlier today. I just want to show you what, like, Democratic leadership looks like in a state like New York where it's very stable, normal, predictable leadership. But, you know, she's working with New York City Mayor Momm Donny in a great way in order to deliver things for the people of New York. Let's bring in New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Now I want to bring in New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who made a major announcement earlier in the morning. But Governor, before I get there, I just want to talk about the economic chaos that Donald Trump has unleashed on New York and states across this great nation. It just seems so erratic. Wakes up one day war, wakes up next day, they want to make a deal. And the chaos here is, I think, you know, really harming us. I mean, especially when, you know, people, markets, everyone just wants stability, and it's just, it's just chaos every day.

Well, Ben, you hit right on it. I think generations from now will define the Trump administration in one word, and that'll be chaos. And The collateral damage is all Americans who are now having to pay even more again for gasoline at the pump, which was already high, although it was coming down under President Biden, and then now it's up again. The cost of groceries, so much, but driven by what has happened with the tariffs and the cost of fertilizer and aluminum and all the other costs that go into creating the products and the foods that we consume every day. And I look at a district like, you know, that we should analyze this one district in New York, the northernmost part of New York. We have it, most of it's on the border of Canada. And I would say that in a very Republican, at least taphonic district, Republicans have had it. These are the farmers who said, "The ICE raids are taking away my labor force. These people did nothing wrong. The tariffs are making it more expensive for me to trade with Canada," who now feels very hostile toward us because of the hostilities toward them.

Our our best friends, our best trading partner. And then you have the assault on hospitals, the rural hospitals that probably are not going to make it, many of them, which is going to leave people without the healthcare they deserve, as well as the Medicaid cuts. So even just— it's not just happening in the cities, it is happening in the heartland of America. And that is what Republicans are probably terrified of, is that they're walking into an election in a few months where not just Democrats are just going to march to the polls to try and save our democracy. Everyday Republicans and independents are saying, we can't take it anymore. So this is what we're feeling right now. I feel for families, the cost of utility bills and gasoline and everything else, but we're doing what we can in New York. I have a very strong cost of living, you know, pro-housing agenda, drive down the cost of auto insurance. You know, $100 billion for utility rebates for families, childcare, universal childcare. We're doing everything we can, but sure, it'd be great if we had partners in Washington who weren't working against us.

Right. And if you didn't have ICE, Border Patrol, like invading cities. And here we've seen some of the money start to be injected back to ICE and Border Patrol. And as lots of people expected, They're at it again, terror. I mean, and they've always been at it, but there certainly now seems to be this continued escalation, if you will. There have been two, you know, killings that have taken place with very similar circumstances. And, you know, now we're learning, okay, ICE has been instructed immediately cease most vehicle stops again, whatever that means, most during immigration enforcement, because now They said, "Maybe we need to do a little bit more training," you know, afterwards. Maybe you start with the training. Maybe you start with actually doing the job it was, I guess, supposed to be, you know, and not doing this. And that's why so many people just want ICE gone. I get it.

Ben, they sure do. And I'm from Buffalo. Don't forget the individual, the refugee who was left out in the bitter cold, abandoned at a coffee shop that was closed. In February in Buffalo, and he literally froze to death wandering around for 5 days. So, so there are a lot of deaths at their hands. But also, finally, after, you know, the 2 murders this week and Renee Goode, people in their vehicles, they maybe they're going to change the policy. I kind of say that's a little too late, but why are you there in the first place? And also, is it just unsafe for people in this country to even be in their vehicles anymore that you could get gunned down by by rogue ICE agents. So this is going to be another impact that is felt at the polls because people have had enough. They're just saying, we surrender, no more, stop. You promised to get rid of the worst of the worst, the baddest of the bad. We kept hearing that from the president over and over and over, and that's why a lot of people voted for him. They believed that's what the case was, and that has not been the situation at all.

They're going after people You know, I have a teenager from, you know, who's about to graduate from high school with honors. I have families that are being separated. I have people who run a pizza company for 25 years, all being taken away by ICE because they're trying to hit Stephen Miller's quotas. And I just— the president's gotta just say, stop. This is hurting you politically. I've said that to them before. I said, but it's also just such an overreach. It's people who are not trained and qualified. There was a time when ICE had standards. And years ago when people were— I, I talked to some ICE agents. I literally talked to some ICE agents when I was trying to, uh, free an elected official who was arrested by ICE, uh, trying to help some people in, uh, in federal court in New York City. And I talked to some of them. A lot of them enlisted after 9/11. They thought they're doing what they can to protect our borders. But look how this has been transformed into this, this army of people who have not had the training. Many of them enlisted because of the bonuses they were given to leave their current jobs and become ICE agents.

And the collateral damage, as I said, are the Americans and people who call this place home, because no one is safe anymore in our streets.

You know, it's interesting because, you know, the way corporate news always frames things, it's kind of the gamesmanship of politics, especially as we get close to elections and who's up and who's down and da da da. And Ben, what do you think about this side and that side and this and that? And I go, look, I think if you listen to people, just truly listen to what people are saying, they're shouting it. They're letting people know what they feel about ICE. They're letting people know what they feel about affordability. They're letting people know what they feel about never-ending wars. And they're letting people know what they feel about data centers. And you go around and you speak to people and say, what concerns you right now? And inevitably what they will talk about is this unregulated proliferation of data centers them moving into their communities, the environmental impact, the job impact, the community destructions that people have seen, the pollution, the noise, all of it. And you made a very important announcement earlier in the morning about that. Talk to us about that announcement, why you did it, and what this means going forward.

You know, Ben, you are spot on. As someone who does listen to the people in my state, I'm out in small towns, I'm in the cities, I walk the streets of New York, I'm up in diners. I'm from Long Island up to Buffalo. Overflow. I am grounded in the knowledge that I can only do my job in an effective way if I'm listening to the people and what they want. And they have had it with these data centers coming in and encroaching in their communities, as you said. There's a lot of, lot of pressure and a lot of small communities that don't really know how to negotiate, so they're not getting the best deal. And, you know, the drain on the energy, which is already, already so strained in our state. I'm working hard, to find new energy sources, all the above. I have to build more capacity for existing businesses and everyday New Yorkers whose utility bills are off the charts. And to have these big companies come in, you know, one company at 50 megawatts, that's the equivalent of powering 50,000 homes. It's just one company. So I had to step back and say, we need to pause here.

We are the first in the nation to have a statewide moratorium on the issuance of permits to allow these projects to go forward. And what this is going to do is allow us to have a list for local communities. If you want them to come to your community, that is a community's choice. But what we need to do is, here's a whole list of things you should be asking for. And I'm also demanding that you come here, you have to provide your own power or pay a premium into our grid. You're not going to make ratepayers pay more. You're also going to contribute to a larger grid resiliency fund that I'm starting up with the proceeds because I need to reinforce our entire grid and expand it. Also, you should not be getting tax breaks. New Yorkers pay enough. They don't think their hard-earned taxpayer dollars should be given to you. You should be— you should be able to avoid paying these taxes yourself while the rest of us are paying our full freight. So I've come up with this strategy. I've also got a year to work on it. We're going to get the right answer.

I said, New York State, you know, we like being first, but in this case, I'll be first, the first state to get it right. And that's why this is so important to me to say what our values are, who we're fighting for, and your success in New York. If someone comes to New York, we want you to be successful, but others have to be successful as well. You're not going to build your future while jeopardizing and sacrificing the future of others in a community, especially again, these smaller communities where they seem to be preying on the locals and just kind of forcing their way in the door. It is very intimidating. And I've been in local official in a small town and I know what that's like. And so I'm going to be there to help them stand up.

You know what I loved about America and love about America is that states were once laboratories of democracy, of innovation, of moving things forward. But too frequently recently, we've seen states become laboratories of autocracy where they've been experimenting how to take away rights from people, how to, you know, engage in some of the most kind of heinous Project 2025 agenda and experiment there. And so what I've appreciated watching what you're doing in New York, what Mayor Mumdani is doing in New York City, watching you both work together and innovate together and make deals and actually do things. Is showing a model to the rest of the country about what can be accomplished. And so before we go, maybe speak to that before we go.

You know, people are just so fed up with government, and I've long believed that government shouldn't be on your back, it should be on your side. And when you have leaders of a state and a city who actually put aside the egos and can work together collaboratively, which is sort of a rarity here in New York State— there's always this incredible tension between the governor and the mayor, and it never goes well. And the constituents feel like, why you're fighting each other? Why aren't you fighting for me? So I've made it all work out and I have worked to support the mayor to make sure that he is successful in achieving our common goals, which is affordability, childcare, bringing down utility costs, building more housing. And I'm aligned with him on just hearing and appreciating all the stress that people are under and what we can do in government about it. So it is a model. I don't, I think people are just tired with fighting. There's this exhaustion that emanates from Washington. You just, as you mentioned at the outset of the show, you know, whether it's the wars, the tariffs, the fighting, the, you know, building, tearing down things in Washington, building more things in Washington that no one wants or wants to spend their money on.

It's just unrelenting. And so I want New Yorkers to know, in our state, with the mom governor, Things are calm. We're okay. We're going to get through this. And I am actually energized by all the young people who did turn out to vote in our most recent elections and again last fall. I've been waiting for a long time for young people to stand up and really participate, and now they are. And what I want to do is harness that energy that we see in districts, particularly in New York City, and take it elsewhere in the state as I'm trying really hard to continue my coordinated campaign and help Democrats win in tough tough purple areas, and there's many of them in New York. If I can bring that energy, that focus that we saw win elections and primaries recently in New York City to the whole state, that's a powerful force we reckon with, and that would make Republicans very nervous.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, thanks for joining us.

Thanks again, Ben.

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