This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
Here in New York, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be taking office in just five weeks, on January 1st. His transition team continues to make announcements about the new administration. On Tuesday, his office confirmed 179 political appointees from Eric Adams’ administration have been asked to resign by January 1st. On Monday, Mamdani unveiled a 400-person advisory group, broken up into 17 committees. The transition team says they have received over 70,000 applications from New Yorkers interested in working for the new administration.
One of the most significant and earliest announcements was the appointment of the first deputy mayor, Dean Fuleihan. This is Mayor-elect Mamdani.
MAYOR–ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI: I want to announce my first deputy mayor, Dean Fuleihan, except that I know, for many, he will require no introduction. I’m grateful to him for returning to public service. And I know he has chosen to do so because he believes in our administration’s ability to deliver universal child care, making the slowest buses in America fast and free, and freezing the rent for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants in the city.
AMY GOODMAN: Dean Fuleihan served as first deputy mayor during the Mayor de Blasio second term. During de Blasio’s first term, he was director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget. Most recently, New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed Fuleihan to the New York state Financial Control Board. He also served as a top aide to legislators for decades. The Nation’s John Nichols calls him “one of the most experienced hands in New York City and state government.”
Incoming First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan also spoke at Mamdani’s news conference.
DEAN FULEIHAN: I am proud to be returning to City Hall as your first deputy mayor. New Yorkers elected you because they know you will build an administration of energy, ideas and experience. …
I look forward to being part of a city government that looks like New York City and understands what it means to be a New Yorker. Like so many in our city — and the mayor-elect mentioned it — I come from an immigrant family: my father, an immigrant from Lebanon; my mother, whose parents immigrated from Lebanon, and her first language, Arabic. They struggled and succeeded and instilled in my brothers and me a deep sense of public service and a commitment to providing others that same opportunity. The same is true of my wife’s parents, who both immigrated from Korea.
The mayor-elect has provided that same hope in every message throughout the campaign. I am one of the many that was deeply inspired by that message of hope. I firmly believe in this agenda, and I am proud to join a team that will be devoted to this agenda and will work every day to make it happen.
AMY GOODMAN: To speak more about Mamdani’s affordability agenda and how it will be accomplished, Dean Fuleihan joins us now in our New York studio.
So, to say the least, it is a — will be a major change. And then you have President Trump meeting with Mayor-elect Mamdani in the Oval Office, in the White House. If you can talk about how you plan to achieve these extremely important changes that Mamdani has laid out, and what you did under de Blasio, the pre-K school system, that is larger than most school systems in the United States, kindergarten through 12th grade, and many thought that couldn’t be accomplished?
DEAN FULEIHAN: Well, first, good morning, and thank you for having me here. I’m a huge fan and a constant listener, so…
But you’re right. It’s a — it’s a challenge. It’s an opportunity. And what the mayor-elect is doing, and what we’re all doing, the team that that brought him through a remarkable campaign, from basically being completely unknown a year ago after the presidential election to going out in the streets and asking people why they had voted around New York City for Donald Trump, and understanding that frustration and those challenges and turning that into a campaign of opportunity and hope, which is what he won on in overwhelming numbers on Election Day, and now with that same drive, that — really, that same drive, building a much bigger team, that’s going to say, “OK, here are the priorities that the mayor-elect put forward, the affordability agenda, every single one of them. How do we achieve those? How do we negotiate with Albany to achieve those? How do we meet in Washington with the president to achieve those?”
At the same time, this is 8.5 million people. It’s an amazing city. It’s a privilege to be part of that. But it has day-to-day obligations, as well. So we’re putting together an aggressive team that can deliver the services New Yorkers need. So, every single day, there are obligations in New York City, day-to-day ones, whether it’s picking up trash, making sure the children are safe in schools, making sure they’re learning in our schools. All those day-to-day things, we have to do, and the mayor-elect is committed to do them in a better way, to actually make New Yorkers see the improvements in the day-to-day city services.
So, we’re doing that while we also have this very aggressive agenda, and while we also handle the unforeseen and the crisis that may happen on a daily basis, as well, in New York City. That’s the team we’re putting together. That’s why we’re involving so many New Yorkers in a dialogue about what is that agenda and how they can help us. And that’s how we’re doing it. So, every day, that is the agenda.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dean, I wanted to ask you. During the — when Bill de Blasio was first elected, of course, he had little experience, and he depended on a known and respected veteran of government during his first term, Tony Shorris. And you, obviously, worked under Tony. I’m wondering your sense — the discussions you had with Mamdani about taking this post, because, obviously, you know well the — all the leaders in Albany. The power elite of the city will probably have much more respect for you, because they have so much trepidation about the Mamdani victory. What were the discussions that you had with Mamdani about your role as the key figure on the day-to-day operations of city government?
DEAN FULEIHAN: So, first, Juan, it’s wonderful seeing you again. So, we actually both spent a lot of time in New York City and in Albany. So, it’s really — it’s a pleasure to be with you again.
AMY GOODMAN: And we should say that Juan wrote a book on the de Blasio administration.
DEAN FULEIHAN: Correct, correct. So, Juan, right from the very beginning — and I met with the mayor-elect in the winter — we talked about how to make — and at that point he was still very low in the polls. We talked about how to make New York City work, how a government functions, and how you get to, instead of — working to make sure an agenda, an aggressive agenda, is accomplished and can be accomplished. I believed then that every one of his agenda items could be accomplished, should be accomplished, needed to be accomplished. And we talked about how we would effectuate that. And we kept doing that.
And you raised the de Blasio administration. And obviously, one of the first major successes of the whole administration was universal pre-K. And when that started, we heard the exact same things that you just cited. We heard from the then-governor of New York that “you should start with a pilot,” he wouldn’t fund it, that there was no way for it to happen. We heard from our own department, well-meaning, that it would take five years. Well, three months later, we had the funding, and two years later, it was fully implemented.
Government can, working together across agencies with clear direction, can make — can accomplish the needs of New Yorkers, and that’s what the mayor-elect has put forward. That’s what he ran on. That’s the team he’s putting together. That’s why I’m privileged to be part of this team. And it’s incumbent on us to make sure that happens. There are ways to do that. Is it easy? Of course not. But that’s what we’re going to accomplish.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, one of the key, the signature promises of Mamdani is maintaining a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments. But as you well know, there’s a nine-member Rent Guidelines Board that is appointed by the mayor, and the outgoing Mayor Eric Adams could conceivably, in his last months in office, appoint enough people to saddle Mamdani with an Adams Rent Guidelines Board. Have you had any discussions with the outgoing Adams administration about that?
DEAN FULEIHAN: You know, Juan, what we’re working on is — I’m going to say it again. I’m not — every single one of the agenda items, whether it’s — whether it’s universal child care, whether it’s free and fast buses, whether it’s with the rent freeze, we’re going to find a way to accomplish. We believe we can do that. We put a huge team together to make sure that happens, and we’re going to get there. The exact — the exact route of every single one of these, we’re working right now. On universal child care, which also everyone was saying could not happen, much too expensive, will not happen, well, we have a governor who, for weeks now, has said universal child care is also part of her agenda. So, those claims of, “Well, it’s impossible,” are no longer happening now. We expect to see that in every single one of these items.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what about the governor’s support for things like free buses? Is there potential for that, as well?
DEAN FULEIHAN: I apologize for repeating the same message, but we — but it is what he ran on. It is what he had overwhelming support for. And those are accomplishments we’re going to make happen. We’re going to outline those. We’re going to say what our process is to get them.
We believe that we have a very different relationship with the current governor in New York than the very contentious one that you reported on for so many years, and actually covered many different mayors and governors. We believe this will be a very different relationship. And that’s already started, and we’re in constant conversations with the governor and the governor’s team.
AMY GOODMAN: Speaking about changing relationships, Mayor-elect Mamdani was just in Washington, D.C., with President Trump, who had threatened to deport him, to detain him, called him a “communist lunatic.” But this was a bit of their exchange.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But I just want to congratulate — I think you’re going to have, hopefully, a really great mayor. The better he does, the happier I am, I will say. There’s no difference in party. There’s no difference in anything. And we’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York. And congratulations, Mr. Mayor.
MAYOR–ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you.
MAYOR–ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI: I appreciate it.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Please.
MAYOR–ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI: I appreciated the meeting with the president. And as he said, it was a productive meeting focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City, and the need to deliver affordability to New Yorkers, the eight-and-a-half million people who call our city their home, who are struggling to afford life in the most expensive city in the United States of America.
We spoke about rent. We spoke about groceries. We spoke about utilities. We spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out. And I appreciated the time with the president. I appreciated the conversation. I look forward to working together to deliver that affordability for New Yorkers.
AMY GOODMAN: So, before this, President Trump had threatened ICE raids of New York, more intense ICE raids. Were you shocked by President Trump’s, first, antagonism, and also saying he’s withholding billions of dollars from the city if Mamdani wins, to his incredible embrace? And what does it mean? How will you deal with this extremely, to say the least, mercurial president?
DEAN FULEIHAN: Look, Amy, the mayor-elect asked for the meeting, requested the meeting, knew what the agenda was to present and to discuss with the president about New York City, something they — and clearly, what happened was there’s a common interest that came out of that meeting. And, you know, we’ll take that. We’ll accept that there are potential places we can work together, while we disagree. The mayor-elect didn’t back down from his positions. He was very firm in what he believes in. He said that at the press conference. He’s repeatedly said that.
AMY GOODMAN: Says he thinks he’s a fascist and a despot.
DEAN FULEIHAN: But to the extent that we can work and for the benefit of New Yorkers, we’re not going to — we’re going to accept that. We’re going to — we’re going to make that part of how we achieve the affordability agenda. We’re not backing away from it. And we look for help wherever we can get it, while also maintaining our principles and defending New Yorkers. None of that has been backed down on.
AMY GOODMAN: Did he get a promise from President Trump not to do the kind of ICE raids, for example — and we’re going to talk about this in a minute with Bishop Barber — that he’s done in Charlotte, hundreds of people arrested?
DEAN FULEIHAN: Well, the mayor-elect has clearly, clearly raised that, raised that at the press conference, raised it after, that that is still a grave concern for us. And I’m going to repeat: We’re going to protect New Yorkers, and we’re going to enforce the laws of New Yorkers, and we’re going to — of New York, and we’re going to continue to be moving on both agendas, the affordability, as well as providing safety for New Yorkers.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dean, finally, I wanted to ask you about your sense of relations with the police department. Clearly, during the de Blasio administration, the police were a major, major stumbling block in terms of the mayor’s relations. What’s your sense of what you would like to see? I know that Mamdani has said he’s going to keep the current police commissioner. But what your sense is in terms of what you’re going to do to build relationships with the police department?
DEAN FULEIHAN: We’ve already started that, right? I mean, the mayor-elect has appointed the current police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, to continue. I’m having numerous conversations with her, the mayor-elect is, about what the agenda is. And the same thing is going to happen. We’re going to work — beginning in January, we’re going to be working with the police commissioner and the NYPD on how to address the concerns of safety, but also how to develop the Department of Community Safety, treat mental health issues differently. All that is going to be worked out, and we’ll do that with the NYPD. And we believe it will be done in a cooperative way.
We’re very hopeful about what this administration can achieve, but we also know that we — the agenda is that we will achieve it. And the NYPD will be part of achieving that. But so will a different approach to public safety, a different approach to mental health, addition approach — different approach to crisis intervention. All those things can work together and actually have a police department that deals with what their core issues are, and not taking on additional social — social issues that we have to confront and deal with.
AMY GOODMAN: Dean Fuleihan, I want to thank you much for being with us, New York City’s incoming first deputy mayor in the Zohran Mamdani administration. Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as New York mayor on January 1st.
Coming up, protests continue in North Carolina after federal agents arrest at least 370 people in immigration raids. We’ll speak to Bishop William Barber, in 20 seconds.
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AMY GOODMAN: “The People They Denied,” sung by a Repairers of the Breach procession standing against deadly policy violence, led by Reverend Bishop William Barber.
