NYC NOW - Five Things with Brian Lehrer: Cuomo’s Federal Probe, Mayor Adams’ Re-election Strategy, ICE Detention of High School Student, Congestion Pricing Court Win, and NY Sports

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

In this episode, hosts Janae Pierre and Brian Lehrer discuss the top stories from his show and the WNYC newsroom. It's a segment we're calling "Five Things." This week, we examine former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s political prospects amid a reported federal investigation into nursing home deaths during COVID. Mayor Eric Adams’ reelection strategy also comes into focus following the dismissal of federal charges. The roundup continues with the ICE detention of Dylan, a 20-year-old Venezuelan high school student arrested at a Manhattan immigration court just after his deportation case was dismissed. Plus, a judge’s ruling protects the MTA’s congestion pricing program from federal retaliation. And finally, we check in on New York’s sports teams.

This is NYC Now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend. Today, we're trying something different. It's a new segment we're calling Five Things with my fellow host, Brian Lair. On his show, he talks with newsmakers, reporters, and everyday New Yorkers about the issue shaping life in the city. In this segment, we narrow the conversation to five things. Stories from his show, stories we're following here in the newsroom, and issues that are top of mind across New York.

From the consequential to the curious, to the fun. So let's get into it. Brian, welcome. Thanks today. Great to be with you. Absolutely. Great to have you here. So topic number one, former governor and now mayoral candidate, Andrew Cuomo. He's reportedly under investigation for allegedly lying to Congress about how his administration handled COVID nursing home debts, including claims that his team may have altered or withheld data. What do we make of this development and how will it affect his political prospects?

Well, let me say first, Jeney, that this is not a new issue, and it's also not just a Republican issue. As far back as 2021, State Attorney General Letitia James issued a report, citing an undercount of nursing home deaths. And Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among those calling for Cuomo to be investigated. The New York Times back then had a headline as Cuomo sought $4 million book deal, AIDS, hid, damaging death toll. Also at that time, 2021, the respected health news website, stat news, wrote that, quote, even if Cuomo dodges criminal or civil liability, he will still face political accountability at the hands of voters, unquote. So the prospect of potential criminal liability, not to mention political blowback, was in play even then. At the same time, we know how Trump is on a revenge tour as part of his presidency.

And my impression is that he always resented Cuomo for taking the pandemic as seriously as Cuomo did as governor of New York and becoming a national voice of both comfort and reality when Trump was trying to downplay the virus in its earliest days. Add to that that the U.S. attorney reportedly considering the charges is Janine Piro, the very MAGA, former Fox News, commentator, who, oh, by the way, ran against Cuomo for state attorney general and lost to him back in 2006. Now, the specific thing they're reportedly investigating him for is lying to Congress about whether he was involved in the state report that undercounted the nursing home deaths in July of 2020. As the news site, City and State describes the allegation, Cuomo testified to Congress that he didn't remember seeing that report and that he, and that he was struggling to remember events from that many years ago. Republican Congress members later alleged this was a lie, citing testimony and emails.

They argued proved he had been involved. So I know that's a lot. Yeah. But there are layers to this story that tell us that several things can be true at the same time, right? Trump and Piro on the political right, plus multiple candidates in the mayor's race on the political left, may all be out to harm Cuomo, for their own purposes, but he may also have done what they're accusing him of. Listeners pick your heroes and villains in this everyone has an agenda story.

Yeah, for sure. Okay, well, let's talk about the incumbent in the mayor's race, Mayor Eric Adams. That's topic number two here. He's running as an independent, but since the federal charges were dropped against him in April, he's been pretty quiet. Brian, is the mayor's silence helping him avoid more scrutiny, just giving Cuomo and other candidates more space to take over the conversation? Yeah, I'm not sure it's either. I think Adams is probably biting his time because he dropped out of the Democratic primary,

and he's saving whatever major campaign push he plans to launch for the general election campaign after the primary. He has started to come out a bit, though, for example, accusing Cuomo of copying his policies on housing, on public safety, on fighting anti-Semitism. But I think he's mostly waiting to see if he's going to be running against a centrist Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa or maybe a Democratic socialist or a Mamdani and Curtis Slewa. Then Adams will position his campaign based on that. Let's move on to our third topic. This week, a 20-year-old Venezuelan high school student named Dylan was detained by ICE at an immigration court in Manhattan. And that happened just after his deportation case was dismissed. Dylan is the first known New York City public school student arrested under Trump's second term.

How should we understand this moment? And not just for Dylan, but for the message that it sends to immigrant students and their families across New York City. Right. This is huge. And it's not just about Dylan. His advocates say he's not here illegally. He's here seeking political asylum. them. They say he has no criminal record. Maybe it's worth pointing out that the detention did not happen at the school, but it was apparently after he attended a scheduled court date, what Brooklyn City Council member Alexa Avelis called a check-in. And I think that case got press

attention because it was a student, but it's really part of a pattern. There's this, for example, from the news organization, the city. It says a reporter for the city witnessed about two dozen masked officers, dressed in plain clothes, staking out the lobby of 26 Federal Plaza, where immigrants go for check-ins with immigration and customs enforcement, as well as what had been routine court dates with U.S. citizenship and immigration services on Wednesday afternoon. And the article continues the arrests in New York City and nationwide on an unprecedented effort to target people attempting to go through the legal process and show. show up at immigration court hearings, which is apparently what happened in the case of 20-year-old

Dylan. My take is that I think the Trump administration is probably getting exactly what they want here by detaining random, perhaps, otherwise law-abiding asylum seekers, or others going through proper immigration channels. They're trying to scare many more into self-deporting, thinking, you know, no asylum seeker is safe here. They're just not detaining violent criminals. They're can be peaceful people like me, let's get out of here, people might think. And it also is likely to have the side effect of making people here illegally afraid to access public services or report crimes. And it presents a conundrum for asylum seekers and others. Do we check in with immigration offices to show or cooperating by going through proper channels? Or is that now a risk of being

detained like Dylan and these others? And then they go underground. If they do that, they risk being accused of hiding from the immigration system. So it's a real and wrenching catch-22. Yeah, absolutely. Let's switch gears here to number four. And this, no pun intended here for those driving a stick. But we're talking congestion pricing. Now, earlier this week, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration not to shut down

the MTA's congestion pricing program saying that it would harm the public. The program, which, of course, launched back in January, has already eased traffic. and raise tens of millions of dollars to help fix the subways. Brian, what do you make of this legal win for the MTA? Well, obviously, many New Yorkers care, many New Yorkers support congestion pricing, many New Yorkers oppose it. I hear both camps on the phones of my show with equal fervor.

I think very few New Yorkers think Trump should be meddling in the city's local affairs, like how to control congestion or pollution or fund our mass transit, whatever happened to the supposed Republican principle of state's rights, local control. And there's no actual national interest here one way or another. I think it's fair to say. So I think Trump is largely just trying to score grievance and ideology points with this,

hurt progressives in blue states and discredit any sacrifice that a state is asking for for the sake of mass transit over cars or anything related to slowing climate change. But then again, people often don't care much about process or character or consistency if someone seems to be on their side. And I think this is like tariffs. Trump will threaten and announce an action, then pull back if he thinks there's too big a price to pay. So we'll see where he lands politically.

And ultimately it might be the federal courts, maybe even the Supreme Court, that decides the fate of congestion pricing and local control versus another exercise of executive power by Trump. All right, Brian. Well, final thing. Let's talk sports. So the Yankees are looking pretty solid. The Mets are holding their own.

The Knicks are in the Eastern Conference finals, and the defending WMBA champions, the New York Liberty, are undefeated in their young season. Are you following any of this, Brian? Oh, yeah, I've been watching all of it, except I'm not involved in the Liberty yet this early in the season and with the Knicks, such a compelling basketball watch this month. I'm the same way with the men's game, by the way.

I don't pay much attention to the NBA until after the Super Bowl. But the drama all around, And all the pathos through experience right now is making this a really fascinating moment in New York sports. The overachieving Nix and Jalen Brunson emerging as a superstar and the excruciating nail-biting games with Indiana. Oh my God, these big swing comebacks and blown leads. It's been emotionally exhausting and often exhilarating if you've been into it regardless of the outcome. And then the story of Juan Soto with the Mets, getting the $700 million contract and deserting the Yankees. to take it, and now he's struggling and he looks unhappy.

While the Yankees are soaring with the replacements for Soto, what the sports media call their Plan B players who are supposed to fall short. Is there a moral lesson in there somewhere about money and happiness, about superstardom versus, you know, tortoise and the hair grinders? Maybe that's overreaching, but so many emotions to feel as we watch New York sports right now. That's WNYC host Brian Lair. Brian, thanks so much for your time. Anytime, Jene.

And thank you for listening to NYC now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. We'll be back on Monday.