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Rob Astorino, WOR and NewsMax host interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On the line right now, Rob Estorino, former county executive, Westchester,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: ran against Andrew Cuomo, gave him the race of his
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: life for governor and gave great advice to Bruce Blakeman
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: a few weeks ago when he said, keep your powder dry.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Don't be so quick to support the development of the
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  Speaker 1: AI data filing centers based on Kathy Hochul declaring a moratorium. And, boy,
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  Speaker 1: right in your backyard with your buddy Mike Lawler in
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  Speaker 1: that neck-and-neck race to keep his congressional seat against the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Democratic challenger Kate Conley, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Rob,
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  Speaker 1: this issue has become one of the big issues, the
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  Speaker 1: AI data filing center that they want to build right
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  Speaker 1: in the Orangetown, Orangeburg area that would feed all of
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  Speaker 1: that data to Manhattan.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, don't blame Lawler. This is not a congressional issue.
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  Speaker 2: This is, as it would be throughout New York State,
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  Speaker 2: local issues. So the town, potentially the county, there could
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  Speaker 2: be what's called an IDA, Industrial Development Agency, which is
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  Speaker 2: either towns have it or counties have it to bring
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: in business, sometimes give tax breaks. You could have like
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  Speaker 2: the New York Power Authority could be involved, giving them
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  Speaker 2: breaks to So all of these agencies, which is why,
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  Speaker 2: to put it moratorium, to figure out how this should
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: work going forward. You know, and look, there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of misinformation, too, about data centers, and there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of fear about them. I think you got to let
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  Speaker 2: the boil go down, you know, take off the flame
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  Speaker 2: a little bit so people, instead of screaming with pitchforks,
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  Speaker 2: can understand what it is. And then put the rules in.
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  Speaker 2: Which is why, as you mentioned before, I mean, for Blakeman,
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  Speaker 2: if he loses the whole race based on AI data
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  Speaker 2: centers and allows Hochul to get away with this, it
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  Speaker 2: would be such a travesty because it's such an emotional
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  Speaker 2: issue that people don't really understand yet. And yet it
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  Speaker 2: could be deciding on how they vote. So but don't
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  Speaker 2: blame Lawler.
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  Speaker 3: You're saying don't blame Lawler. And because it's not a
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  Speaker 3: federal issue yet, he said in the debate he wants
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  Speaker 3: to make it a federal issue. He said there has
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  Speaker 3: to be federal oversight over all of this. So if
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  Speaker 3: he gets his way, that's what's going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, that's fine. But I'm saying on this
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  Speaker 2: particular issue or these local ones, they're not. They're state
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  Speaker 2: and local issues. Now, should the federal government get involved
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  Speaker 2: in some way? It depends, I think, yeah. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: there are national security issues and there are other issues
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  Speaker 2: involved with it. But mainly speaking, it is a... It's
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  Speaker 2: a land use issue. It's a jobs issue for whatever
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  Speaker 2: jobs are created by this thing. And there are a
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  Speaker 2: host of, local issues that i think local governments uh
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  Speaker 2: counties and states really need to deal with.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Well last time you were with us rob you freaked
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: out as i freaked out when we got our electricity
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  Speaker 1: bills like yeah we can't even repeat the words you
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  Speaker 1: said or i said through the roof and i know
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  Speaker 1: everybody out there is experiencing that now to his credit
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  Speaker 1: mike lawler is saying we need to repower up indian
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  Speaker 1: point You know, it's a dormant nuclear power plant that
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  Speaker 1: supplied so much of our energy. His opponent, Kate Connolly,
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  Speaker 1: is saying no. So she has no answer in terms
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  Speaker 1: of how to bring down these accelerating electricity energy rates.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas Mike is coming up with an answer that a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people have said, yeah, why did Cuomo shut
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  Speaker 1: that down? It provided like one third of all of
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  Speaker 1: our energy needs, not just Westchester, but Manhattan, throughout the
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: city of New York. And it was clean energy.
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  Speaker 3: Wait, it's not a state issue. That's not a state issue.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, right?
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  Speaker 1: It's a local issue in that congressional race.
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  Speaker 3: Well, they're all issues. Yeah, that's what I'm getting at.
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  Speaker 2: I still remember that day very clearly when I found out.
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  Speaker 2: I think I was listening to the radio. I was
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  Speaker 2: in the car going to an event or something, and
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  Speaker 2: I heard that Indian Point was being shut down. Cuomo
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  Speaker 2: reached a deal with Entergy. It wasn't a deal. It
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  Speaker 2: was a mafia deal. It was a deal with, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a gun to their head. You're going to close this or.
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  Speaker 4: And so they had to.
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  Speaker 2: Close it down, and it made zero sense. I remember
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  Speaker 2: having a press conference the next day. And I was
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  Speaker 2: asking Democrats to come, too, because of not only this
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  Speaker 2: issue about rate hikes, which we knew was going to happen,
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  Speaker 2: but also environmentally. I mean, his whole thing was skipping
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  Speaker 2: all the environmental laws because I.
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  Speaker 4: Can do that.
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  Speaker 2: I'm the governor. He had no legal right to do that.
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  Speaker 2: And yet all these, quote, environmentalists, including, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: Bobby Kennedy. This is a fight he and I had
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  Speaker 2: at that time. They were all dead silent. They all said,
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  Speaker 2: let's just ignore all the environmental laws, which we've spent
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: our whole life talking about and promoting. And now all
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  Speaker 2: of a sudden they meant nothing. And that's a really
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  Speaker 2: bad precedent that could come back at some point, not
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  Speaker 2: just what they use for Indian point. But I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you didn't have to be, you know, in the smart
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  Speaker 2: class to understand that this was going to have enormous consequences.
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  Speaker 2: And now we're feeling them.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, yes.
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  Speaker 3: Enormous consequences. And it's amazing how everybody is switching their
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  Speaker 3: positions now on nuclear power, on fracking, on pipelines all
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: across the country because they look at a state like, well, Pennsylvania, nearby.
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  Speaker 3: that has low tax lower taxes and and lower electricity
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  Speaker 3: bills because they frack i don't i don't really understand
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  Speaker 3: what the democrats thought they were doing when they were
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  Speaker 3: against that but slowly one by one with just over
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  Speaker 3: in new jersey mikey cheryl three nuclear power plants are
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  Speaker 3: going to go up so it's gotta happen here in
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  Speaker 3: new york as well.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah and you know the the stupid windmills that they
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  Speaker 4: put in the ocean and everywhere else i was up
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  Speaker 4: in rhode island you know Blue State, Rhode Island with
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  Speaker 4: all these environmentalists.
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  Speaker 2: And you see all these lawn signs, you know, stop
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  Speaker 2: the windmills from coming up here. We don't want windmills.
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  Speaker 2: It's so funny to watch them when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: their backyard, like anything. They're such hypocrites.
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  Speaker 3: There's no repercussions, though, for that. I mean, to be
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  Speaker 3: wrong and wrong and wrong over and over and over again.
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  Speaker 3: Nothing happens at the ballot box.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if you're a Democrat, you reward stupidity. And wait,
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  Speaker 2: how many times were you wrong? You were only wrong
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  Speaker 2: a hundred.
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  Speaker 4: All right.
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  Speaker 2: I'll still vote for you. No, no problem. But the
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  Speaker 2: point should be refired. No, no, it should be fired
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  Speaker 2: up again. No question about it. And they can do it.
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  Speaker 1: Rob Astorino, the number one issue in poll after poll affordability.
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  Speaker 1: The president is now out on the campaign trail. He's
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  Speaker 1: ready to unloosen all the money he has, pack money
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  Speaker 1: to help fellow Republicans. What would your advice be to
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: him to address that since so many people have soured
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: on his ability to bring prices down?
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  Speaker 2: Well, don't spend a day talking about Lake America. Talk
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  Speaker 2: about affordability. Because every day we talk about Lake America,
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  Speaker 2: it's a day that the media will just consume. People
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: will roll their eyes and say, I got a blankety-blank
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  Speaker 2: Con Ed bill, and I don't care about a lake.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: And so that's what he's got to focus on. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I know we've got a war going on, too, and
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: he's going to have to deal with that. But if
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: the economic sanctions are what we're going to be using
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: right now, then that'll keep it off the headlines and
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: probably have the same effect, thankfully, without military operations. But
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  Speaker 2: that's it, man. Just be on the stump. Just talk
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  Speaker 2: about that and let the members of Congress and Senate
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  Speaker 2: who are running, that's all they should be focusing on.
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  Speaker 2: Because I experienced it when I was county executive. Every
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  Speaker 2: day he said something, microphones put in my face about
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: what he said. And that's not what the lawlers want.
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  Speaker 2: That's not what Mike Lepetri wants or any of these
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  Speaker 2: candidates running. They want to deal about their local issues.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, but Republicans, they do have a good story to
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  Speaker 3: tell when it comes to that. They just haven't been
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  Speaker 3: able to tell it really well because the amount of
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: money you have to spend is way up. Taxes are
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  Speaker 3: way down, so there's more money in people's pockets. Yes,
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  Speaker 3: when you go to the grocery store, things may be
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  Speaker 3: more expensive, but they also have pharmaceutical prices coming down.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't understand the strategy right now because
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: I'm not hearing.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of that.
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  Speaker 2: And your investments have gone way up. I mean, everyone's
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  Speaker 2: involved in the market in some way, whether it's pensions, 401ks,
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  Speaker 2: 529 accounts for college. All of that have gone through
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  Speaker 2: the roof, done very, very well. Trump has a really
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  Speaker 2: great story to tell. So to the Republicans, tell it
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  Speaker 2: and stick to that for the next 70 days.
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  Speaker 3: Although I kind of like the Lake America thing.
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  Speaker 2: Lake Euron. We should take Lake Euron. What the hell
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: is that? Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I do appreciate it. Rob Astorino, you can hear
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  Speaker 1: him here on WOR45 on Saturday afternoons. Up next, we
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: got to talk about Zoran Mondami. He gave sympathies to
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  Speaker 1: a prisoner on Rikers Island who died at 5 a.m.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: in the morning but was a murderer but never reached
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: out to the family of the original victim. And they're saying,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: what about us, Zoran? What about us? Trump has secured the...