Audio and Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul is a Guest on ABC7's 'Up Close With Bill Ritter'

Governor Hochul: “I want (New Yorkers) to know they have a Governor, the first woman Governor who actually does grocery shop. I know the cost of all these. I understand how hard it is, because I've had to pay the bills at night. I've had that stress, and I don't want them to worry about anything, and I will take care of them and their families with every fiber of my being.”

Hochul: “Governors before me have not had the courage to spend the money necessary to invest in new cars, invest in the cameras, invest with accessibility for people with disabilities and moms with strollers. I know how hard it is to get around. The money has to come from somewhere. We can not let the system fail.”

Earlier today, Governor Hochul was a guest on ABC7’s “Up Close with Bill Ritter.”

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: ?This morning, we talked to New York Governor Kathy Hochul about all those big issues and her agenda for 2025. Hi, good morning, everyone and welcome to Up Close. And happy holidays. I'm Bill Ritter. So what's it like to be the Governor of New York? Especially at a time when there is so much news and controversy around - from crime, including the murder of the CEO of the biggest healthcare company in the country to congestion pricing to Donald Trump's impact on the economy of New York going forward and to those unsafe and privacy invasive drones. Lots to talk about. Lots to talk about with Kathy Hochul, the 57th Governor of New York from her office in Midtown Manhattan.

There are so many things, Governor, we could talk about. Unfortunately, we don't have two hours. I wish we did. I really did.

Governor Hochul: I can give you two hours.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Could you? Well, this is great.

Governor Hochul: Wait, hold on.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: We've got two more hours, guys. Thank you for joining us, really appreciate it. There's a million things I want to talk about. And let's start with some of the news of the day. And that we've had a lot of it this month, for sure, in the last couple of months.

Let's talk about this murder of the executive in Manhattan. We've seen what happens. The young man has now come back to New York City. He's got two murder counts against him. One by the feds, one by the county and the state. What's your take on this? And especially the bigger question, he's become something of a hero to some people, and it's a little confusing, I think.

Governor Hochul: I reject that. First of all, there is no celebration of the loss of any human life, especially at the hands of an assassin, who had a political agenda where he wanted to elevate his cause by destroying the lives of a family and a company that believed in this individual. That's just not allowed anywhere. And for it to happen in such a brazen way on the streets of New York City. I was literally in that same hotel later that day and the next day. It just sends shockwaves through people.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: I don't think the majority of people think he's a hero at all. I think some people do. And there are a lot of, there are a lot of people who say we're not getting good work from our health care people. And that's a different issue, of course.

Governor Hohcul: Of course it is. I can separate the two. There can never be justification for an attack on another human being, ever. Full stop.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Yep and there's a guy with a gun. On the streets, and he pulls it out. So guns are a problem in New York. You know that?

Governor Hochul: This was an interesting case if it was in fact a ghost gun, a manufactured gun. We outlawed them in the state of New York. They are banned. I banned that as Governor. And yes, there will always be criminals who can get their hands on these guns. But the numbers of shootings and murders in the State of New York are at dramatically low numbers, which I'm proud we've been able to make this happen, incredible progress there.

Our statistics are down below the 1960s numbers. But that doesn't make anybody feel good when you see someone who's willing to do this in broad daylight and not care about the consequences. So that sends shockwaves through the sense of security that every New Yorker deserves to have. Whether they're on the subway or walking our streets, I believe in this so deeply that I'm trying to get more people to come back to work. I want people to take the subway. I was on the subway yesterday. Talking to people, putting the National Guard in so people feel safer.

But then you have a case like this where a lot of that becomes unraveled because you think that could have been me, could have been my loved one. How does that happen? So I understand the psychology of New Yorkers and how they have a right to feel safe in our streets. And something like that just unwinds that.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: When you saw this past week, when you saw him coming in a helicopter and they came from a private plane and then a helicopter and lots of cops around and including the Mayor of New York and the Chief of Police, the Commissioner. They were there, too. There's some people who say - it's been an interesting conundrum. Some people say, this is great, we're saying, we're showing that this is what it's all about, this city stands with, against crime, etc. And then other people say, hey, you're just giving more attention to this guy. And that's what it's going to be. And the movie they make about him, that's what's going to happen. What did you see when you saw everybody?

Governor Hochul: The attention's already there. Nothing that happens is going to give more attention than the consequences to an individual who, yes, needs to be brought back. And I was prepared to sign the expedition papers in a heartbeat. They weren't necessary, but I had already spoken to the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, to say, “You're sending him back, right?” He said, “Absolutely.” So, that was the conversations where I was involved days ago, but wasn’t necessary. And, there'll be a lot of attention on this. It's already water under the bridge, so nothing, how he's brought here or the photographs or who's with them when he walks into court. None of that matters. Our city and the country are paying attention to this case. That's just how it is.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: You talked about crime. You talked about how, you just this last week talked about increasing the number of people who are doing - standing guard there. The National Guard, their members are going to be doing that - 250 more people. There are a lot of people who said, “Governor, that's fine, but we need more cops. Police officers in the subway.”

Governor Hochul: And there are also more cops in the subway as well. I worked with the Mayor months ago. We worked hard last fall when they were starting to see a decline. And all of a sudden, last January, we started to see the numbers trend. Not high numbers, but started seeing the numbers of incidents on the subway going up, up.

And I said, we can't undo the good work we've done. We have to do something dramatic. In addition to what I had started, we call it “Cops, Cameras and Care.” More cops, we put a thousand more law enforcement and military in the subway. NYPD, MTA police, transit police, as well as the National Guard - 750 last spring. So, more cops, cameras.

I also announced something I told the MTA to do back in 2022. I said, I want to have a camera on every single subway car.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: And it's almost done now.

Governor Hochul: It's done. And that was many months ahead of schedule because I said, “New Yorkers can't wait.” They have to know that if they're on a train, something happens to them that the perpetrators will be caught. I cannot tell you how impactful that has been, not just to catch people after they've done something, but I want to create a deterrent, let the potential wrongdoers know that you're going to be caught. We'll have your face. So don't even bother.

And that's also the effect that I want to have with the National Guard. That's why I went down there the day before. I was there yesterday, again. Walking through the subways, taking the train, thanking the National Guard, thanking the police officers from NYPD, thanking our Transit [Police]. I saw them all down there and they didn't know I was coming. I just walked through and said, “Thank you, ” I said to the National Guard - a lot of them are young people and they're just there to serve. They're not there to usurp the responsibility of NYPD, which is primary there, they're there to be a deterrent. But also, if help is needed, they're there. These are your fellow citizens.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Do we still need more cops in the subway? Some police people will say there's 4,000 fewer cops than we had before, there's 2,000 fewer detectives.

Governor Hochul: There's always a greater need, but listen to this, and this gives no one comfort that I don't expect it to, we now have hit post-pandemic records of the number of people taking the subway. I'm glad to see that, because believe it or not, the more people there are, the fewer crimes. There's more eyes on you.

When the pandemic hit and very few people were on trains, it gave license to people: “Hey, no one's watching, I can rob this person, I can knock him over.” More people is better. We hit a record last week that's going to continue. We're almost back to the pre-pandemic levels, and 4 million people take the subway a day. 4 million people. That's the population of Los Angeles. We have six crimes a day on average. If you're living in Los Angeles and your city has six crimes a day, that's pretty good. But I still understand the psychology when people are afraid of a high - something could happen to them; they see someone who has a mental health problem who looks like they could do harm to them or their families, that sets you back.

And that's why my third element, it's not just cops and cameras, it's care. Getting people - we have almost 800 people who have been long term on the streets, living within the subway system, homeless with mental health problems, who are now in supportive housing because of what we did. The money I put there, the money the city put there, so we're not anywhere near done.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: That's the issue. How much more do you have to go to get that done?

Governor Hochul: Always more. I'm going to have more money in my Budget to do it again for the next year. We're not done, but people should know there's progress being made, but if they don't feel it, I understand that. We're going to keep trying.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: There could be more people, if you had your way-

Governor Hochul: Always. Always.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: -more people riding that subway come January the 5th with congestion pricing, takes effect, although as we speak right now, there are court cases, federal court cases. I want to talk about that and what you're worried about is that? But if everything goes right in your book, you're going to have congestion pricing. Let's talk about that for a second. There are a lot of people who are against it still. There are a lot of people who are saying, “I can't afford that $9 fee when I have to drive in Lower Manhattan past 60th Street.” What is your answer to them, and what is your answer when you see people are suing you to stop this?

Governor Hochul: I think there's at least 10 lawsuits, some insisting that we bring it back when I paused it, others want to stop it. So of course, there's always litigation when there's difficult issues. This has been the law of the state since before I became Governor. It is a law of the state that we have congestion pricing. The objectives are to reduce congestion in Manhattan where the city has become paralyzed: emergency vehicles have difficulty getting through, buses are barely moving through. Our city is being paralyzed and also the environmental impacts as well as a revenue source. That was decided before I became Governor. It is the law of the state. I did suspend it because–

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: In June you did.

Governor Hochul: In June, I suspended it just before it was going into effect because I said, “It is too much money, $15 is a big hit.” It actually could have been up to $23, which would have been horrible.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: But for some people, $9 is too much.

Governor Hochul: It is. It is a lot of money, I get that. I worked hard to cut it within the confines of the law that I must follow to cut it 40 percent. I paused where I could work on those negotiations and get the federal government - it's wildly complicated how many entities are involved in the decision making about this. It's the first in the nation.

So, we're in litigation. We'll see what the judges say.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: And what if they say we have got to hold it?

Governor Hochul: They say we can't do it, then we have to find $15 billion more somehow. We understand how important the subway is. We understand that people, even from New Jersey, 80 percent of them. New Jersey commuters who work in the Central Business District come in, not by car, but by public transit.

This is a system that's over 100 years old. Governors before me have not had the courage to spend the money necessary to invest in new cars, invest in the cameras, invest with accessibility for people with disabilities and moms with strollers. I know how hard it is to get around. The money has to come from somewhere. We can not let the system fail.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: But it can't all come from congestion pricing.

Governor Hochul: No, and it doesn't. No, it doesn't at all. That's just, that's long term capital. But, we have a $68 billion Capital Plan before us right now. The $15 billion is not the whole amount at all.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Right, so where's that money going to come from, Governor?

Governor Hochul: You don't have to be a mathematician to figure out this is going to be - or an economist - to figure out this is going to be a very long-term thing. And I'm spreading it out over time. I'm working very hard to keep the cost down. We have a real fare evasion problem.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: $800 million a year.

Governor Hochul: I know, and that's why we have to - part of the money from congestion pricing and other sources is going to go to build in more resiliency in the system, so you can't evade the fares. And half of the fare evasion comes from buses. Think about that. People are just getting on the back of a bus. So, it's not just subways. Half of it's coming from the buses.

So, we have systems that are not working to my satisfaction at all. There should be no fare evasion. And that's money I want to have back in this system. But–

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Are National Guard going to stop people from jumping over the stairs?

Governor Hochul: They're a deterrent; National Guard members standing there.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Because right now there are people there, and the little young kids just have their phones out, and they're, they got a badge on them saying, “helper,” or something. And I said, “Hey, you, this guy just did this.” And he said, “It's not our job.”

Governor Hochul: It is so appalling to me and all the other commuters and residents who are following the rules, whether you're on a bus or a subway, and that has to stop, and I'm demanding that it stop.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: We got a lot to talk about. I'm going to ask shorter questions and if you’ve got shorter answers and we'll get it all done. President - when he is going to be President in a month - Mr. Trump could stop this, right? He could stop congestion pricing. Are you worried about that?

Governor Hochul: I take whatever comes my way and deal with it. Worry is not an emotion I feel, it's just not. I can't worry about things.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: How do you do that? A lot of people watching this want to know this.

Governor Hochul: No, I don't worry because who would have thought that a week ago I'd be having to manage a drone situation, right? The things that come to my desk require me to have the clarity of mind, not cluttered with “oh my God, what if this happens?” because a lot of things don't really happen.

My mother used to say, “Don’t borrow trouble,” so I don't. I deal with what's in front of me, with the facts I have, and the facts I have right now are this: Donald Trump has said he would stop it. Will he really do that? Time will tell.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: There are some Trump supporters I've talked to who said, “The Governor could give him a pass on some of this legal stuff that he's dealt with in New York.” Would you do that?

Governor Hochul: There are no quid-pro-quos that if you did this for me, I'll do this for you. Not in a million years would I compromise my integrity or violate the laws of this state to do something like that - I want to be very clear. No one gets any special preference. No one gets treated any worse when it comes to pardon. No one gets preference. No one gets treated any worse.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: You mentioned drones. Let me ask you about drones. How much of a problem are they? Why isn't the laws tougher about this? How much are you worried about it? We've just stopped drones in New York for about a month.

Governor Hochul: Yes. Yes, I have been very vocal. I spoke to Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas in Washington and said, “I want to have the power as the Governor of the State of New York to protect my citizens.” And, yes, most of them are innocuous. Some people will see private planes or helicopters - they see it, the light in the distance, they're not sure what it is.

There's also a lot of people who have drones themselves. But, I want the power from Congress, and I'm calling on Congress to allow me as Governor to identify sensitive sites, military installations, my power facilities - I don't want anything to happen with our power generators - and places like Times Square, City Hall, the Capitol - give me the power as Governor to say that's restricted airspace.

I don't want drones over that space because I don't know whether they're there for good or for bad, and I don't want to find out they're for bad, and we didn't do something about it.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Are you in favor of shooting them down? Some people say that's what we should do.

Governor Hochul: They should be brought down if they are a threat. Absolutely.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Okay. Let me talk about Mayor Adams. You have the only– you're the only person who has power to have him be off that job. If he's found guilty, it's fair - there are a lot of ways to do that. You asked - you really did, if you believe everything that you hear and see in papers - you wanted him to change his administration. He did. Where does that stand right now? Are you taking any action? He's not talking about it. And yet he's trying to be a good Mayor, I think. I want to know your opinion.

Governor Hochul: My opinion is there was a lot of chaos months ago, and my job as Governor was to intercede - work to stabilize the city the best way I could, and to restore confidence that New Yorkers didn't have to worry that the services would not be delivered, that their lives would be somehow disrupted. I needed to do something: work closely with the mayor, and he listened. We worked together to remove people that were a distraction and had problems, but bring in some really talented people.

Look at the new first deputy, look at the commissioner of police. These are high caliber people, and I hope people do have confidence in their ability to lead through some difficult times.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Police Commissioner Tisch - did you play a role in getting her that job?

Governor Hochul: No.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Did she ask you if–

Governor Hochul: No.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: No. You didn't talk to her beforehand?

Governor Hochul: No.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Did the Mayor talk to you about it?

Governor Hochul: I knew that he was making a change. He did tell me before it was announced, yes.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Okay, and your reaction to that?

Governor Hochul: I had confidence. I said, “Great pick.”

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Okay. Okay.

Governor Hochul: That was his call.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: He has asked that he not go to court until after Donald Trump is inaugurated. There is some talk about him getting a pardon from Mr. Trump. How would you react to that?

Governor Hochul: I have no involvement in that at all.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: And what's your gut on that?

Governor Hochul: No, my view is that's the Mayor's business, and I clearly have no role to play in that.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Okay. There are a lot of people who want to run for Mayor against him. It's unusual, right?

Governor Hochul: People want to run for everything in our state.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Well, a lot of people want to run against you in the year 2020.

Governor Hochul: New York has always been that way. It's always been that way. There's a lot of people with ambition in our state.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Do you want to be the Governor the next time around? Are you running for office?

Governor Hochul: Absolutely.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Okay.

Governor Hochul: There's no scenario where I'm not running. I love this job. It is a privilege that I never could have imagined for someone from Buffalo, New York, whose parents lived in a trailer park and there was early struggles. I know where I came from and I never forgot that.

I still go back to that trailer park and think about the people that are still there struggling. I go into diners. I take the subway. I was in the mall in Queens - the most diverse place on the planet is Queens Center, it was fantastic. I love the people of this state, and I want to keep fighting for them, so I'll be absolutely running.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Okay, I'll give you the last word on this as well. We've asked you a lot of questions, I appreciate it. When you go to sleep, you realize you're the Mayor, not the Mayor, the Governor of New York - fourth biggest state in the country, a state with the biggest city in the country. What do you wish for the people as we end the year here? The people want to know.

Governor Hochul: I want them to have confidence in their government. I want them to know we have their backs. We're looking out for them, and I'm going to keep doing everything I can to keep them safe - put more money back in their pockets. And that's why I was at that mall yesterday, talking about how $500 for a family - because we collected so much in sales tax, because they paid so much for everything from diapers to groceries.

New Yorkers have had a tough time of it, and I want them to know they have a Governor, the first woman Governor who actually does grocery shop. I know the cost of all these. I understand how hard it is, because I've had to pay the bills at night. I've had that stress, and I don't want them to worry about anything, and I will take care of them and their families with every fiber of my being.

They should know that they have a Governor who cares deeply about them. And, I do sleep well at night - I do ten-minute meditation, I sleep like a baby, and I get up and I'm fired up for the next day.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Happy holidays. Thank you for joining us.

Governor Hochul: Thanks, Bill. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Bill Ritter, ABC 7: Take care.