Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / George Pataki | Former Governor Counts Down to 25-Year Commemoration of 9/11 Attacks

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George Pataki | Former Governor Counts Down to 25-Year Commemoration of 9/11 Attacks · Sid & Friends In The Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: And now the best governor, one of the best governors
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Speaker 1: that New York State has ever, ever, ever had. And
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Speaker 1: we're celebrating, we're bringing together New York City, New York
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Speaker 1: State during 9-11 and 25-year anniversary of 9-11. We have
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Speaker 1: Governor George Pataki. Governor, welcome to WABC.
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Speaker 2: Well, thank you, John. And thank you, Jake.
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Speaker 3: And boy, I was listening to Dolly singing Code of
0:29
Speaker 3: Many Colors and I just get tears in my eyes.
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Speaker 3: If there was ever one person beloved by virtually everyone
0:36
Speaker 3: in America, it was Dolly Parton.
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Speaker 2: And I'm certainly one of them.
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Speaker 3: So forgive me for digressing, but I couldn't help but
0:43
Speaker 3: say that.
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Speaker 4: Well, Governor, you are pretty much loved as well. It's
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Speaker 4: Mike Cohen. How are you doing, my friend?
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Speaker 2: Hey, Michael.
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Speaker 3: Not as much as Dolly, but thank you very much.
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Speaker 3: People were good to me, and I'm very grateful for
0:56
Speaker 3: the opportunity to have led New York for 12 years.
0:59
Speaker 5: Well, you knew how to play the angles. I once
1:01
Speaker 5: went to a Columbia-Yale football game. It was 1997, and
1:04
Speaker 5: you very diplomatically sat on the Columbia side for one
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Speaker 5: half and the Yale side on the other to recognize
1:10
Speaker 5: your two alma maters.
1:10
Speaker 6: And I said to myself, that's a good politician.
1:13
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just Jake.
1:15
Speaker 3: You know, I hear I hear about your Columbia football
1:17
Speaker 3: blog all the time.
1:18
Speaker 2: And I wanted to talk to you about that. Well,
1:21
Speaker 2: you know, listen, I'm really serious.
1:23
Speaker 6: It almost got me killed. But hey, you know what?
1:25
Speaker 5: They are every once in a while. Someone says, hey,
1:27
Speaker 5: you help turn around that program. I don't think it
1:29
Speaker 5: was me.
1:30
Speaker 6: I think it was more.
1:31
Speaker 5: The coaches, but maybe I played a small role. Let's
1:34
Speaker 5: get serious here for a second.
1:35
Speaker 3: Jake, Jake, Jake, before we get serious, you got the
1:39
Speaker 3: horrible coach fired single-handedly, and that was a critical step.
1:42
Speaker 5: But anyway, now I'm... Don't call me Jets fans if
1:45
Speaker 5: you don't like the coaches. This only works for me
1:47
Speaker 5: once in life. But first of all, we've been talking
1:51
Speaker 5: about how we're getting all ready for the September 11th
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Speaker 5: gala here at WABC, and you are the main honoree,
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Speaker 5: and obviously you were the governor of on that fateful day.
2:01
Speaker 6: And it wasn't only what happened on that day.
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Speaker 5: It was how the city responded afterwards. I have to
2:08
Speaker 5: ask you, and it's an ugly thing, but maybe it's
2:11
Speaker 5: something that is worth discussing. You know, you've got the
2:13
Speaker 5: Port Authority Police, a retired organization, not wanting one of
2:17
Speaker 5: your successors, Kathy Hochul, to show up at this event,
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Speaker 5: the 25th anniversary of 9-11 and the solemn ceremonies. You
2:26
Speaker 5: don't have to comment one way or the other about
2:27
Speaker 5: whether you support that or not. But what I'd like
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Speaker 5: to say is, it's just such a far cry from
2:31
Speaker 5: the unity that you oversaw in the days after nine
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Speaker 5: eleven well.
2:35
Speaker 3: You know that the one positive thing that came out
2:39
Speaker 3: of that horrible day with the sense of unity that
2:41
Speaker 3: we had as americans and uh.
2:43
Speaker 2: and i'll never forget that uh.
2:47
Speaker 3: the differences that seemed to divide us disappeared.
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Speaker 2: You weren't uh... black white young old.
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Speaker 3: Southern northern rich poor republican democrat you're american send out
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Speaker 3: And I was just so moved by that sense of unity.
3:01
Speaker 3: And we have to try to reclaim that. And, you know,
3:04
Speaker 3: I have always been somebody who believes that we got
3:07
Speaker 3: to look forward and try to work together. And I
3:11
Speaker 3: would hope that we would do our best to keep
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Speaker 3: politics out of this 25th day memorial commemoration of that
3:20
Speaker 3: horrible day and just try to reclaim some of that
3:24
Speaker 3: unity because we showed in that sense, when we were unified,
3:29
Speaker 3: what Americans can do when we stand together. And when
3:32
Speaker 3: we stand together, no one can prevent us from achieving
3:36
Speaker 3: our dreams. It's that simple in my view.
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Speaker 4: You know, Governor, what's interesting is where my office is
3:41
Speaker 4: located here at WABC. They're doing a lot of the
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Speaker 4: work for the 9-11 event, the Governor Pataki alongside of
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Speaker 4: WABC for the event in honor, again, of the 25th
3:56
Speaker 4: anniversary and for all of the first responders, it is beyond,
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Speaker 4: it is beyond the amount of work that is going
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Speaker 4: in to make this night what is going to be spectacular.
4:13
Speaker 4: And it's going to be such a heartfelt event. I
4:17
Speaker 4: was hoping that you can just Give us a little
4:21
Speaker 4: of your insight into how you see the evening going
4:25
Speaker 4: and so on.
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Speaker 3: Well, you know, yes, there's a tremendous amount of work
4:32
Speaker 3: going into it. I have to thank John Katsimatidis and.
4:34
Speaker 2: The whole WABC. Don't forget about Margot.
4:38
Speaker 3: And Margo, because they have done a phenomenal job of
4:41
Speaker 3: pulling this all together. And every year on September 11th
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Speaker 3: for the past 24 years, my little group, the Pataki Center,
4:49
Speaker 3: would come together and we'd recognize some of those who
4:53
Speaker 3: did so much.
4:54
Speaker 2: To help us.
4:55
Speaker 3: New York and America get through those days. But this
4:58
Speaker 3: is different because it is the 250th. And instead of
5:01
Speaker 3: having one of these smaller commemorations, we're going to have
5:05
Speaker 3: a massive gala.
5:07
Speaker 2: And it's appropriate to do so.
5:09
Speaker 3: And people will be honored and recognized. Marco and John
5:12
Speaker 3: have arranged for some great entertainment. And it just should
5:15
Speaker 3: be a very spectacular night. And one of the things
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Speaker 3: we shouldn't forget is, yes, it's the 25th anniversary of
5:23
Speaker 3: that horrible day, but it's also the 250th year of
5:27
Speaker 3: our country. And if ever there was something to celebrate,
5:31
Speaker 3: it's the fact that this great country has shown what
5:35
Speaker 3: free people can do for 250 years. And I'm sure
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Speaker 3: the night of September 11th, there will be a lot
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Speaker 3: of reference to that as well.
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Speaker 5: Governor, you know, it's interesting. September 11th, you know, you
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Speaker 5: talked about how it's also the 250th anniversary. September 11th,
5:49
Speaker 5: 1776 was also a day of a big tragedy here
5:55
Speaker 5: in New York City. I think it was a large
5:56
Speaker 5: fire that day. It's just amazing how these stars kind
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Speaker 5: of align as far as history is concerned. But look,
6:04
Speaker 5: we're dealing with a New York City today that I
6:06
Speaker 5: think it's something like only 30% or something smaller than
6:10
Speaker 5: that of the population of New York City today are
6:12
Speaker 5: people who were here on 9-11. It's a very low number.
6:15
Speaker 5: So we talked about the unity already, and we certainly
6:18
Speaker 5: want that to come back.
6:20
Speaker 6: But What do you.
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Speaker 5: Say to people who are literally new to New York,
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Speaker 5: post 9-11 New York residents? What should they know about
6:29
Speaker 5: this city from those of us who were here on
6:31
Speaker 5: that day?
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Speaker 3: You know, I think, first of all, they have to
6:35
Speaker 3: understand the magnitude of the loss. You know, almost 3,000
6:40
Speaker 3: innocent people died that day, but 3,000 is a number.
6:44
Speaker 3: And each one of those was an important individual with
6:48
Speaker 3: loved ones, family, friends. who really gave their lives simply
6:54
Speaker 3: because they were Americans. So we cannot underestimate the magnitude
6:59
Speaker 3: of that loss. The second thing, I think, is that
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Speaker 3: why we were attacked. And I think this is not
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Speaker 3: just forgotten, but deliberately distorted by some people. We were
7:10
Speaker 3: attacked for one reason, and that is because we lived
7:13
Speaker 3: in freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to
7:16
Speaker 3: choose our own leaders.
7:18
Speaker 2: And freedom of religion. And we didn't.
7:20
Speaker 3: Realize that there are those in the world who not
7:23
Speaker 3: only don't appreciate those freedoms and don't have them for
7:26
Speaker 3: themselves or want them, but resent the fact that we do.
7:30
Speaker 3: And we were attacked because of that belief in freedom.
7:33
Speaker 3: And now there are too many who not only have
7:35
Speaker 3: forgotten that, but also who distorted. Now, I'll tell you,
7:39
Speaker 3: I'm still upset the Canadian Broadcast Corporation put out a
7:42
Speaker 3: directive to their news people saying you cannot use the
7:47
Speaker 3: word terrorist or terrorism in relation to September 11th. And
7:51
Speaker 3: I and a lot of other people just went really
7:56
Speaker 3: crazy about this because it was a deliberate attempt to
8:00
Speaker 3: distort the facts.
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Speaker 2: Of September 11th.
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Speaker 3: The planes didn't bump into the towers. It was a
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Speaker 3: terrorist attack carried out by Muslim extremists. And that is
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Speaker 3: something that people in New York today, people who weren't
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Speaker 3: born on September 11th, should understand that this didn't happen
8:18
Speaker 3: out of the blue. This happened out of a cause
8:21
Speaker 3: that poses a threat to us and our freedom today.
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Speaker 5: Well, you don't have to go to Canada to find
8:26
Speaker 5: the atrocious wording. The Democrats, many of them in prominent
8:31
Speaker 5: midterm election races, are openly campaigning and recruiting. This isn't
8:35
Speaker 5: just a coincidence. Asking this guy, Hassan Piker, a social
8:39
Speaker 5: media podcaster, to join them as a major campaign partner.
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Speaker 5: And this is a guy who repeatedly says that the
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Speaker 5: United States deserved 9-11. And here we are in a
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Speaker 5: major midterm election that's going to be taking place just
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Speaker 5: a few weeks after the 9-11 anniversary. And only a
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Speaker 5: few of them, and I should note, really only the
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Speaker 5: Jewish Democrats, not all of them, but a few of them,
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Speaker 5: have denounced Hassan Piker. And they're bringing this guy in.
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Speaker 5: I mean, could you have imagined that this would have
9:06
Speaker 5: been the case.
9:07
Speaker 6: 25 years ago?
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Speaker 2: It's an absolute disgrace.
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Speaker 3: Here's a guy who, as you pointed out, said America
9:13
Speaker 3: deserved the attacks of September 11th. Anybody who felt that,
9:17
Speaker 3: you know, and he has since tried to back off,
9:19
Speaker 3: but he's only tried to back off because people have
9:22
Speaker 3: responded with such anger at the.
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Speaker 2: Distortion and deliberate danger of a statement like that.
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Speaker 3: So my personal view is anyone who doesn't and openly
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Speaker 3: disassociate themselves from having anything to do with Hassan Piker
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Speaker 3: should not be included in anything that commemorates America and
9:45
Speaker 3: certainly shouldn't be elected to public office.
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Speaker 4: You know, Governor, I want to ask you, because of
9:51
Speaker 4: your past as governor of New York, how would you
9:56
Speaker 4: evaluate Kathy Hochul's history? of all of these various different
10:03
Speaker 4: issues that are right now confronting a new New York versus, say,
10:09
Speaker 4: what someone like a Bruce Blakeman would be doing?
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Speaker 3: You know, I have to tell you, I'm very concerned
10:15
Speaker 3: about the future of New York. I mean, I don't
10:18
Speaker 3: have to recite to the ABC listeners the hundreds of millions,
10:23
Speaker 3: if not billions of dollars in income that have left
10:25
Speaker 3: New York because the taxes are simply too high. I
10:29
Speaker 3: don't think there's a person I know who hasn't considered
10:33
Speaker 3: moving to Florida or has already moved to Florida. I
10:36
Speaker 3: have so many friends down there and friends in Texas.
10:40
Speaker 3: And it's not because of the climate. It's because of
10:42
Speaker 3: the taxes, the regulatory burden, the oppressive nature of the
10:48
Speaker 3: big government that is in New York, not just New
10:51
Speaker 3: York City, but New York State. And we're headed in
10:54
Speaker 3: the wrong direction. You know, we are still a great
10:57
Speaker 3: state with the greatest city in the world. But you
11:00
Speaker 3: can't take that for granted.
11:01
Speaker 2: And we need a leadership.
11:02
Speaker 3: That's going to understand you have to control and reduce
11:06
Speaker 3: government spending. You have to lower the tax burden. You
11:09
Speaker 3: have to put violent criminals behind bars.
11:12
Speaker 2: I mean, and how many.
11:13
Speaker 3: Times are we going to see incidences of the mentally
11:17
Speaker 3: ill who are walking the streets threatening or actually assaulting
11:22
Speaker 3: New Yorkers? And it's just so sad to see because
11:25
Speaker 3: it's simply a failure of government at the city level
11:29
Speaker 3: and at the state level. And that has got to change.
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Speaker 3: And I think Bruce Blakeman understands that and would do
11:37
Speaker 3: everything in his power to make that change.
11:39
Speaker 4: You know, we started off the show at 6 a.m.
11:42
Speaker 4: and we started talking about Star Trek and the teleporters.
11:46
Speaker 4: We teleport you right now back 25 years with a
11:51
Speaker 4: mayor like Mayor Moran Mamdani who's sitting in there. With
11:56
Speaker 4: this new Pierre Duterte tax, with all of his behavior
12:01
Speaker 4: and his new progressive sort of socialist ideology for rent-stabilized buildings.
12:10
Speaker 4: When you start to see sell-offs by people like a
12:13
Speaker 4: Sergey Brin or generational wealth in real estate like the
12:18
Speaker 4: LaFrac family walking away from New York, what would you
12:23
Speaker 4: do if you were governor right now?
12:27
Speaker 2: You have to do two things.
12:28
Speaker 3: First of all, you have to tell them immediately that
12:32
Speaker 3: change is coming, and change is coming quickly and dramatically,
12:35
Speaker 3: and we're not going to continue the policies that are
12:38
Speaker 3: driving people like that out of New York. And then
12:40
Speaker 3: you have to actually work and make those changes. I
12:43
Speaker 3: remember when I got elected the first time, people don't
12:46
Speaker 3: realize this, but New York was the most dangerous state
12:48
Speaker 3: in America. We had the highest taxes in America. We
12:51
Speaker 3: were lowest in job growth in America. And we had
12:55
Speaker 3: the lowest credit rating in America. And before I took office,
12:59
Speaker 3: went all around the state meeting with CEOs of major
13:02
Speaker 3: companies like IBM and others and saying, look, we're going
13:05
Speaker 3: to change things.
13:07
Speaker 2: Don't give up.
13:08
Speaker 3: And I worked very hard with a tremendous team, and
13:12
Speaker 3: we did start changing things that first year. And that's
13:16
Speaker 3: what you have to do. You have to have a
13:17
Speaker 3: clear agenda. lower the taxes, lower the spending rate. I mean,
13:24
Speaker 3: the Democrats, the left, always talked about affordability. How much
13:28
Speaker 3: do you think it costs People, when you have to
13:31
Speaker 3: lock up toothpaste and lock up everything else because you
13:35
Speaker 3: allow shoplifters to steal over and over, literally over 100
13:40
Speaker 3: times and spend no time in jail, that drives up enormously.
13:44
Speaker 2: The cost of living.
13:45
Speaker 3: So they talk about affordability, but it's their left-wing policies
13:49
Speaker 3: that are driving up costs. And I just want to
13:52
Speaker 3: add one thing. You use the term progressive. There is
13:55
Speaker 3: nothing progressive about Mondami. There is nothing progressive about these
14:00
Speaker 3: far left Democrats. And they just are using that term
14:05
Speaker 3: to hide behind. And we should never call them progressive.
14:08
Speaker 3: What they're doing is not something new.
14:09
Speaker 2: It's regressive.
14:11
Speaker 3: It's going back to the soft on prime, high tax,
14:14
Speaker 3: big spending policies that have failed. So I just call
14:17
Speaker 3: them what they are.
14:18
Speaker 2: Far-left radicals. They're not progressive.
14:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, I like the regressive thing.
14:22
Speaker 5: Let's talk a little bit specifically about 9-11 again, because
14:25
Speaker 5: we just found out last week that we finally have
14:28
Speaker 5: a trial date for the man who absolutely planned it.
14:30
Speaker 5: This was really the CEO of the 9-11 attacks, Khalid
14:34
Speaker 5: Sheikh Mohammed, who has been in U.S. custody since 2003.
14:36
Speaker 5: He's been at Gitmo since 2006. He is finally going
14:40
Speaker 5: to go to trial, at least now, at a military
14:44
Speaker 5: tribunal in June of 2028. I'd love to get your
14:48
Speaker 5: take on the delayed justice here and and how this
14:52
Speaker 5: I mean, at least it's not going to be a
14:53
Speaker 5: trial in downtown Manhattan like Barack Obama and Eric Holder wanted.
14:56
Speaker 5: At least it will be in a military tribunal. But
14:59
Speaker 5: this seems to me like an obscene amount of time
15:02
Speaker 5: to wait for this trial.
15:04
Speaker 3: It's absolutely a travesty. I mean, here we are on
15:07
Speaker 3: the 25th anniversary, and we still are two years away
15:11
Speaker 3: from this murderer from being tried. And there's an old expression,
15:17
Speaker 3: justice delayed is justice denied. And that couldn't be truer
15:22
Speaker 3: as in the case of this case. terrorist murderer. He
15:25
Speaker 3: should have been tried long ago and convicted long ago,
15:28
Speaker 3: and it would have brought some sense of justice to
15:32
Speaker 3: the families of those who died on September 11th. And
15:35
Speaker 3: by the time he is tried, and I hope, I'm sure, convicted,
15:40
Speaker 3: so many of those families will have passed on and
15:42
Speaker 3: not be able to understand that the mastermind behind these
15:46
Speaker 3: murderous attacks has been brought to justice.
15:51
Speaker 5: Governor, you were already out of office when Barack Obama
15:53
Speaker 5: was first elected, but from 2009 to 2011, he and
15:56
Speaker 5: Eric Holder were really pushing for a civil trial in
16:00
Speaker 5: lower Manhattan. I'm sure you played a role in helping
16:03
Speaker 5: to prepare the pushback on that, which was successful, I'm
16:06
Speaker 5: happy to say, but Can you explain to the listeners
16:09
Speaker 5: why that would have been a terrible mistake to do
16:11
Speaker 5: this as.
16:11
Speaker 2: A civil trial?
16:13
Speaker 3: It's just ridiculous to me that they, in fact, were
16:15
Speaker 3: trying to do that. And I think all it would
16:19
Speaker 3: have done is– you see the crazies out there now,
16:21
Speaker 3: the anti-Semites, the far left. radicals, the pro-Islamist people. And
16:27
Speaker 3: they would have had a heyday in lower Manhattan in
16:30
Speaker 3: front of all the media saying how unfair everything was
16:34
Speaker 3: and how racist or Islamophobic America was. And why Holder
16:41
Speaker 3: and Obama wanted that is beyond me. But thank God
16:44
Speaker 3: we've been spared that. And I did speak out relatively
16:49
Speaker 3: loudly when When that was proposed, and thank God now,
16:53
Speaker 3: there will be a system that prevents that.
16:55
Speaker 2: We're not going to have that.
16:57
Speaker 3: Street media circus where they could turn what should be
17:01
Speaker 3: a clear-cut conviction of a terrorist murderer into an anti-American
17:08
Speaker 3: street celebration in front of all the fawning media. So
17:12
Speaker 3: I just am pleased that that was avoided.
17:16
Speaker 1: Governor, I have to tell you, I wish me and
17:18
Speaker 1: you were 10 years younger. We'd be running for something again.
17:23
Speaker 1: And I tell you, you're one of the most common sense,
17:26
Speaker 1: most articulate governors we ever had. And you were a
17:30
Speaker 1: great governor. And now you're even better now.
17:35
Speaker 3: John, I don't know about that, but you don't have
17:37
Speaker 3: to be 10 years better. I don't know anybody who
17:40
Speaker 3: works harder. And as a friend of ours just said
17:42
Speaker 3: this morning, when she heard you.
17:43
Speaker 2: Were going to be hosting.
17:45
Speaker 3: The early show, when do you ever sleep? And I
17:49
Speaker 3: think that's a very valid question. So you don't need
17:52
Speaker 3: to be 10 years younger. You got all the energy
17:54
Speaker 3: you need still, John. And I just wish you had
17:57
Speaker 3: won when you ran for mayor. It would have spared
18:00
Speaker 3: New York a lot of the the difficulties we're facing today.
18:04
Speaker 1: I wish we would have both made the decision to
18:07
Speaker 1: run when we thought we're going to run together on something.
18:10
Speaker 3: Well, I think we'd be, we'd be a great team
18:14
Speaker 3: and I appreciate your saying that.
18:16
Speaker 1: Well, nine, nine 11 is coming up. You are the
18:20
Speaker 1: main honoree for that because you helped bring everything together on,
18:26
Speaker 1: on for New York city and New York state. And,
18:29
Speaker 1: Your leadership was.
18:31
Speaker 4: Really, really needed.
18:33
Speaker 1: And also Cardinal Dolan is going to show up and
18:36
Speaker 1: he will be given an award too for the moral
18:40
Speaker 1: leadership of all New Yorkers and all Americans. And great entertainment.
18:47
Speaker 1: We have Lee Greenwood. Lee Greenwood. You can't get better
18:51
Speaker 1: entertainment than that on 9-11. Antonio Lando. Tie a yellow ribbon.
18:56
Speaker 1: Can't get better entertainment. Joe Piscopo. You know, Fly Me
19:00
Speaker 1: to the Moon. And Vinnie Bandungo. And Cousin Brucie. I mean,
19:05
Speaker 1: the greatest entertainment package ever. And the greatest governor ever.
19:10
Speaker 1: And we may have some... Secret Service type people show
19:15
Speaker 1: up to, but we'll see.
19:17
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, John. You know, it wouldn't have happened
19:20
Speaker 3: without you and WABC. And thank you for doing this
19:24
Speaker 3: and for honoring me. I'm not used to being honored.
19:27
Speaker 3: I like honoring other people. But the 25th commemoration of
19:32
Speaker 3: September 11th will make an exception.
19:34
Speaker 2: But I'm looking forward to it. And thank you all.
19:37
Speaker 1: And thank you, Governor.
19:39
Speaker 7: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
19:42
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19:45
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Speaker 7: major podcast platforms plus follow wabc on social on instagram
20:01
Speaker 7: tiktok facebook and x see you next time for a
20:05
Speaker 7: new episode so you never have to wonder
20:07
Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here