Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Tours Pre-K for All Program at P.S. 123 with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Holds Media Availability

April 6, 2016

Video available at: https://youtu.be/_FuK70upxcg

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Alright, it is wonderful to be here at P.S. 123 here in Bushwick. Now this school has a wonderful motto – every child, every day. Principal, you have to come up and join us. And is Christina here?  Christina should come up, our teacher – unless she's in the middle of her responsibilities, she should come up. Every child, every day – very powerful statement of the commitment that everyone at this school feels to reaching every child and helping them succeed, and that's an extraordinary example that they feel that ability to reach every child. You can see it in the pre-K classroom that we were just in. That is definitely the spirit and the approach, every child has tremendous potential, and we're here to unlock that potential through pre-K.

When you think about it, a lot of our kids didn't over the years get a chance to realize that potential because we didn't start to reach them early enough. And we know – and you can see when you spend time around these four year olds – it's a magical time in terms of their ability to learn. They're able to learn developmentally, it's a point in life that they can learn in an extraordinarily fast and effective way. But if we didn't reach them at the age of four, if we waited, we lost an opportunity. So here in this school, we're seeing every child given that chance at just the right moment in life.

I want to thank the wonderful principal of P.S. 123, Arelis Parache. Arelis, thank you so much for all you've done. Born and bred New Yorker, from Queens – child of Dominican immigrants, worked her way up through our school system as a teacher, then an assistant principal, now a great principal. So you are a New York City success story and we thank you – and Kristina O'Donnell, the teacher in a classroom doing a great, great job with a team of teachers. You can see from the level of engagement of those kids just how extraordinary their work is.

It is a very special moment for us to have the House Democratic Leader with us. And I have been a fan of Nancy Pelosi for a long, long time. She has been so far ahead of the curve for years in terms of talking about the changes that we need in our country. Leader Pelosi is one of the great progressive voices in America – and she's focused on a larger vision of what will uplift our families, what will uplift our children, how can we actually support the majority of this country who are women even though it does not seem to be reflected in all our policies? Leader Pelosi has set forward a very powerful agenda for the kinds of changes we need to make in this country as a whole. And pre-K, clearly one the necessary steps, both in terms of the development our children and support for our families – it's one of the crucial steps that unlocks so much. Leader Pelosi, I want to thank you. It means a lot to us to have you in one of our schools, and it's really been a very, very exciting thing for everyone here to have you here.

We believe that high quality, full day pre-K is a huge difference maker. We believe when you see what is going on with these children, how fast they're learning, and how engaged they are, and how much they work together – it's a reminder of what this does for each and every child. That number, 68,500 – 68,500 kids in full day pre-K. Just for perspective sake, that is more children than the entire school system of Boston, or the entire – sorry I have to say this – the entire school system of San Francisco, your hometown. It's said with love and respect, but that's how big this effort is and what it means for the people of this city.

I want to say a few words in Spanish, and then it will be my honor to turn to our congresswoman who represents this school and this community, Nydia Velázquez, so let me first start by saying –

[Mayor speaks in Spanish]

Again, Leader Pelosi, thank you, it is our honor – muchas gracias, de nada – it is our honor to show you what we're doing here, knowing that you're one of the people who's going to make this happen all over the nation. And with that I want to turn to Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, who has been a fighter for families of this community and throughout the district, and a national voice for fairness and equity, and she too knows that pre-K is one of the ways that we achieve a fairer society for all.

Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez.

[…]

Mayor:  Before we take questions – we're going to take questions about today's visit and about pre-K, and then we'll take a very brief break while our guests move on to other things, and I'll be happy to take questions on other topics. But I do want to say, the reference to the word stethoscope that the Chancellor made – I think you were with me Chancellor – when we had the all-time greatest pre-K vocabulary moment in Queens.

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and a child in the back seemed disengaged. He did not respond much during the whole reading. At the very end, as I was finishing the book, he shoots his hand up, and I say 'Okay, great, he wants to engage, go ahead, what do you want to say?' And he looks at me and he says 'metamorphosis.' And it was like apropos, obviously apropos of the story, but he didn't connect it to anything, he didn't explain – he just said metamorphosis. So I think that's the all-time greatest, four year old vocabulary moment and the ultimate example of what pre-K can achieve.

Thank you, everyone. We welcome questions about this visit, and again, we're so honored to have the Leader here.

Question: [inaudible]

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi: Well, I'm pleased to answer this question, but Mr. Mayor – not before I acknowledge this award that I received from a four-year old, Maria-Elena, in the class. She gave me the triangle, so that I could wear it in here, and I consider that a badge of honor.

In any event, what's interesting about this proposal is that it's ambitious, that it's inclusive, and that – of course, the debate that we always have – how do you decide to choose to do it universally. And we do have initiatives. The president has universal pre-K, as you know, as one of his initiatives. We have a challenge as to how to pay for it at the federal level. We believe it is a value that should be in any budget of our country because a good – again, it gives people, children opportunity and as almost every economist you can ask can tell you, it returns money to the treasury. So if you're thinking strictly dollars and cents, it's worth it.

What's interesting for us to see is the way that it is universal here. I think – as I say of my district in San Francisco, the beauty is in the mix. It's very important for children to be in an inclusive environment because that's the society that they live in, and those are all the children we want to benefit. So one of the arguments – part of the debate in Washington will be, should it be for just families under or around 200% of poverty, or should it be for everyone? We go through this on school lunch programs. We go through it on many initiatives. The administration of just judging who qualifies or not is more costly than the benefit you gain from making it universal, so that would be one of the lessons that we can learn here.

And we're very grateful – again, the scope of this is – the scale of it is so large. Most cities would not have the challenges – the enormous benefits, but also the challenge that you have. So thank you for Deputy Mayor Buery for your leadership, and to the Chancellor as well, and to the vision of Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: More topics on this topic, on pre-K, on the Leader's visit.

Question: Just to follow up, Leader. Then if there is a challenge budgetarily, which is what I think you were implying, about large cities – is there a plan in the federal government to finance it? Do you think that [inaudible]

Leader Pelosi: I think a different Congress this would be a – we believe our budget should be a statement of our national values as a country, and how we allocate those resources has to relate to that value system. But it also has to be fiscally sound. This qualified on both scores. It honors our values of education at every level, early childhood, K – 12, higher education, lifetime learning for our workers. It levels the playing field – education is the key. American dream – education is the key. Families reaching their aspirations – the best investment a family can make is in the education of their children, a community can make is the education of their children, a nation can make to be competitive, to have national security, economic security, to have America number one – education is key. We believe that the more the public gets involved in this debate on budget, the more everyone will agree that the best investment we can make is in education. It comes back home in terms of bigger pay checks, better jobs. And Nydia Velázquez has been a champion on that issue – I yield to her.

Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez: I would just like to add that we should not underestimate the value of showing to the rest of the nation, including in Republican districts, where there are challenges for families to be able to pay for pre-K for their children. When we show New York City the value of this investment it could trickle to other members of Congress, understanding the important investment that this represents. Not only for our society, and in terms of our value – but to the economy as a whole because when families, and women, and single mothers are able to integrate into the work force because of the success of programs like this – and look, it will happen. If there is the will, we can do it. The money could be found, but we need to show them the way like New York City is doing today.

Mayor: Let me add because I think it's a very powerful question about what are the real possibilities of pre-K nationally. Well, first of all, Leader Pelosi making it one of the central elements of her plan is very, very important. I think it helps propel us forward. I think we're seeing with everything lately – minimum wage, paid sick leave – on a whole host of changes, it's a combination of things. It's local action, and it's national leaders – that combination of local action proving that things can be done and then nationally just raising the bar, raising the demand levels.

But with pre-K there are a couple of other interesting factors. It's bipartisan from what we see around the country. If you say states that have done some of the most effective efforts on pre-K, you would name Oklahoma and Georgia among them. Two states that are clearly red states at this point, and you would certainly name some of the biggest cities in this country which are blue cities. So I think this is one where there is an unusual level of bipartisan potential because it is such a clear and effective investment. One of the things we're trying to contribute is the proof point. We're trying to show it can be scaled up effectively and quickly, and then to show over the next few years what a huge multiplier effect this will have. You hear it from teachers – they said if all your kids have had full-day pre-K, what it means when they go into kindergarten, first grade is they're really advanced, and it allows everything else to work better. I think that's a pretty bipartisan argument that will gain traction.

Finally, this is not a political event, so I'll say it coyly – I know someone who's running for president who I think will make a great president who has pre-K for all in her platform, and I think that is also part of the evolution of the national discussion – that this issue has become a presidential campaign issue – that wasn't true eight years ago. Now, it's becoming a front-burner issue, and the energy behind it, the demand behind it is growing, and that's why I think, again, the Leader's plan is timely and powerful. These pieces start to add up. 

Leader Pelosi: If I just may add to your bipartisan aspect of this Mr. Mayor – the bill that we have in Congress, Bobby Scott, who's out top Democrat on Education and Workforce Committee has for a long time been a champion on this issue, and it's called A Strong Start for America's Children. And the co-sponsor – the two authors of it are Bobby Scott of Virginia and Representative Hanna of New York, on the Republican side. So, there's bipartisan aspect recognition of the importance of all of this as well. And as I said, President Obama's idea of preschool for all is a very positive – received very positively, they just don't want to pay for it, and that's the problem. And we want it to be paid for – the President has proposed that it be paid for partially by the tobacco tax. I don't need to go into that for you. And the pay-as-you-go budget [inaudible] that we want to do – we agree it should be paid for, but it has to be paid for, not offset by cutting some other initiative that strengthens working families, but by an initiative that brings more revenue. 

Mayor: Yes, Josh?

Question: [inaudible] I would like to actually ask if you field inquiries from across the country – perhaps some unusual places, perhaps a deputy mayor – about starting pre-K in those parts. And also, since you opened the door to the politics, I'd love to get your thoughts, Leader Pelosi, about last night Bernie Sanders winning Wisconsin – if you feel it's going to affect anything here.

Mayor: Yeah, I didn't open it that far.

[Laughter]

Mayor: We'll deal with that in my press conference. That was just a little crack of the opening. That was not a whole lot.

Leader Pelosi: Instead, I will say that as the Chancellor said in her remarks very strongly, while we have it as part of our 'When Women Succeed, America Succeeds', and that's just not a slogan, that's a fact.

Mayor: Yes.

Leader Pelosi: The fact is also that this is very important for men, important for families as well.

Mayor: So, Richard, tell us a little bit about some of the other –

Deputy Mayor Richard Buery: Yeah, so, just briefly – I mean, absolutely. I don't know about strange, but we have attention from all over the place about what we're doing here. So, from places as close as Philadelphia, we've been talking to them to give them advice about our implementation of pre-K here – to, frankly, countries overseas, where we've also had [inaudible] conversations about what we've done here. So, it's been really exciting to see the excitement that, I think, our work has been a part of. And, in that regard, we follow in the footsteps of other places – Oklahoma, you heard; New Jersey; Boston; other places around the country that have been doing this work and they've done it with excellence. So, absolutely, it's been really exciting to be able to partner with others around the country and elsewhere who want to learn about our work.

And a big part of what we're doing, I should mention, is around evaluation. So, we're working very closely with New York University, [inaudible], other research organizations to understand and evaluate our implementation, as well as the impact of this work over the long-term because we really want to leave the field with a real road map for what it took to get here and what are the types of investments that we think are affiliated with the quality we're already beginning to see even this early in our work. 

Mayor: Let me have the Chancellor add her experience. 

Chancellor Carmen Fariña, Department of Education: Recently, about two weeks ago, we hosted 140 superintendents from across the country – north, south, east, and west – and one of the things they were particularly interested in is to see how we have implemented pre-K. And the things that they were particularly interested in – what makes this different than when pre-K existed, let's say, a few years ago. And some of the major differences and the ones that we're most engaged in learning is that we have a common curriculum. Wherever you see pre-K in the City of New York, pretty much, all the pre-K's, whether they are in the parochial schools, in the yeshivas, are doing the same curriculum you saw today. So, it's a written curriculum. The training of teachers was done universally – all teachers have gone through summer training, which means that teachers already have a syllabus, they have a roadmap, they have something. And most of our visitors found that very engaging, because they thought it was just you start up a program, you bring in the four-year-olds, and everybody does their own thing – and that's not the case.

The other thing that has been – was particularly engaging to a lot of our visitors is the amount of time in the course of pre-K that we do parent workshops. Many of you have heard me say before that one of the things we're trying to change in New York is our attendance – the percentage of attendance is many of our high poverty schools – that the kids are not always coming to school all the time as they should. So, in our pre-K efforts with parents, we have made an importance about the attendance, and they were very taken by the fact that we have once a month parent workshops in every one of our pre-K and kindergartens, and people were specifically trained to work with parents.

And the third thing – and I think this was particularly true of some of the smaller cities – how pre-K is also giving us an opportunity to diagnose kids with special needs a year earlier, and that by having that support a year earlier for many families it means that those students may be able to go into kindergarten a little bit ahead of the game. I mean [inaudible] one of the students in the class is probably going to need some extra support, but knowing it now rather than waiting a year from now – major difference. So, I think they went back with a lot of great ideas. We encourage them to send back anybody they wanted because we're particularly proud of this initiative because I do think it's a game-changer. And it's not also – you know, it's easy to start an initiative that you're going to get results tomorrow. This is not going to be a tomorrow-result – this is going to be over time. This is one of the schools, and this is the district, where we're starting our second-grade literacy coaches. They're going to have literacy coaches in this school next year, so you're going to see a continuum from pre-K to second grade in this school with an extra body in here that's going to work on nothing but vocabulary and early reading practices. So, it's a lot of work, but I think we're on the right track. 

Mayor: How many superintendents? 

Chancellor Fariña: 140.

Mayor: Okay. So, I want to make a point – I want to just shout out the Department of Education, and Carmen's efforts, and Richard's efforts. You know, we know it's a well-known fact that police forces around the country send their senior leadership to come to see CompStat for example and to learn from Commissioner Bratton and his team, but 140 superintendents from around the country, coming here to learn from our Department of Education, and particularly to understand how we do pre-K, and how it work, and how they can bring that back – that's a great indication of how much interest and how much demand there is. And, as Carmen said, it's every part of the country, which is why I do think there's a bipartisan opportunity here. I think the demand level is there, the commonsense realities are there, but the educators are also crucial – they're going to help convince their leaders and representatives in elected office that this is something that matters and I think that's going to happen across the spectrum. 

Leader Pelosi: Mr. Mayor, if I can add one thing to that –

Mayor: Please.

Leader Pelosi: – And that is, in the past 20 years, this last generation, we had learned so much more scientifically about how the brain develops. And so, this is a wonderful thing for the children to socialize, to accept others, to be buddies, to share together, to speak kindly. All of that parent's learn [inaudible] and giving them the preparation for kindergarten, and increasing their vocabulary – all important. But I believe that some of the demand that the Mayor is seeing is because scientifically we are seeing – those of us who are – who have this as a priority – that there is a real missed opportunity. Actually, the challenge that the Mayor is putting forth is one that will have an insatiable response – people will want to respond because they know better now how the brain develops, and how there's a missed opportunity, and why should children have to catch up when science tells us that they're so receptive to learning so much earlier. So, Mr. Mayor, this is a real service to our country. Again, thank you for your vision, your leadership, and your effectiveness in implementing this. 

Mayor: Thank you, I'm going to just finish – let me see, if there's any more questions, we'll finish, but, I have to say, we've worked at this, Leader, for now over two years, but you being an exceptional Leader and Speaker, you have proven to us a different way of talking about it. Parents earning, children learning – we never came up with that slogan. That's really better than what we've said – that's a good one. But I also think it's true that the parents are demanding because they also understand the world has changed, that what our children are going to need to succeed is much more than when were all coming up. And that's why I talk to a lot of parents who when they see the pre-K curriculum, and they see what it will do to develop their children and prepare them, they do start demanding it. It means a lot to them personally.

Last call for questions on this topic – yes?

Question: [inaudible] program that incorporate religious schools? [inaudible] in your mind would a national pre-K program incorporate religious and parochial schools, and also would you think that this program be more likely to pass under a Democratic congress and should the country be acting, you know, in that direction?

Leader Pelosi: Well, I would hope – elections are about two things – who you elect, but what the debate is about, what the priorities are for our country. So, the best thing of all would be that if everyone subscribed and stipulated to the fact that this is essential, not only to these children and their families but to our country. And it is – therefore, for me the victory would be is if this became so agreed upon by all parties – by both parties – that is be non-partisan. And it isn't – it isn't – it's about our children. I want to yield to the Chancellor because she spoke to me earlier about, for example, in Staten Island where parochial school facilities are used for this very successfully. Madam Commissioner – Chancellor? 

Chancellor Fariña: We actually, with the parochial schools, work on the set curriculum. They're using the same curriculum we do. It's not a religious curriculum – it's a strictly science, social studies-based curriculum, and that is exactly what we expect to see. Remember, it's pre-K – so, in many of the schools, religion is not part of the curriculum at that age. But what we're also seeing is that the one thing that's common in all the pre-Ks is a lot of interactive learning, and a lot of our schools are moving towards kids talking more in classes, and this curriculum is showing it can work, and kids can be active learners, and they can then become active learners in kindergarten and in first grade. 

Question: Do you think a national program should incorporate Sunday schools?

Leader Pelosi: I think the example of New York with the curriculum – this isn't a religious curriculum, this is the curriculum that is there for all of the schools. Thank you so much.

Mayor: Thanks, everyone. So, I'll stay around. Thank you. 

[…]

Okay. Josh, your question is now acceptable. You may ask it.

[Laughter]

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I really believe in my heart that Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president of the United States. And I don't think anyone is particularly surprised by the results in Wisconsin. I can tell you, having spent time over the last week talking to her campaign leadership and really drilling down with them on the operation in New York City and New York State, I feel very confident about the effort being engaged in here. We're going to have a great rally tonight. And we're going to focus on turning out the vote. And there is tremendous good will for Hillary Clinton in this State. And I think New York is going to be a great result. And we're going to go from there on to seeing her wrap up the nomination. So, to me this has been a very healthy debate this year. And I think what's going to end up happening is – because so many people participated – we're going to get to the end of the process as was true in 2008. After a long primary process and very healthy debate, we're going to end up with a highly energized party that can go on to victory. And Hillary is going to be our nominee.

Question: Can you describe your relationship with the businessman at the center of the FBI-NYPD probe? And have you ever accepted gifts from him beyond donations?

Mayor: No. No gifts. I met them for the first time in 2013, and let me just state where we stand now. Neither of them has contributed to my reelection campaign. While this investigation is going on we will, of course, not accept any donations. Like with any American citizen, they have a right to the whole process – so there's due process. There's an investigation going on. We'll see what that investigation yields, but I have no intention of accepting any donations from them while there is an investigation underway.

Yes?

Question: [inaudible] students bringing guns to school – what are you doing to keep kids safe?

Mayor: We are doing a lot to keep kids safe and I have to say, our school safety agents are doing a remarkable job. Just some facts for you, year to date – major crime in our schools are down 14.29 percent and other crimes down 6.77 percent. So, each of these incidences – look, I'm a parent. I was a public school parent as recently as last June. Each of these incidents is obviously troubling. We don't ever want to see a weapon in a school. But if look at the facts, school safety is doing a very good job continuing a trend – it started in the previous administration to their credit – continuing to drive down crime in our schools. And each and every time you report on one of these weapons it's because they have been found and taken from the student. And obviously the student will receive consequences for that. So, we have more work to do for sure, but school safety is showing us consistently that they can drive down crime in the schools.

Question: A proposal to remove metal detectors from schools. Is there any way that that could happen?

Mayor: It's a very specific process that we go through. And it can be removal; it can be adding metal detectors; it could be changing the frequency with which we use metal detectors, but that is a process that involves School Safety and the principal of the school. The ultimate decision is made by School Safety, which is a part of NYPD. So, let me be absolutely clear, nothing will be modified with a metal detector unless the NYPD decides it's the right thing to do. And we have the opportunity to vary in either direction. If we think a school needs a metal detector or sometimes needs spot-checks, that's also an option.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I say to them, the NYPD and School Safety are very focused on our schools. And you can have a lot of trust in them because they have continually driven down crime in our schools.

Question: The City may be looking at some Rikers Island replacement – other sites [inaudible].

Mayor: It's not accurate to begin with. As everyone knows there's been a discussion before the proposal from Judge Lippmann and Speaker Mark-Viverito – the discussion is about whether the juveniles on Rikers Island should be moved off to a different facility. And that is something we've said we're open to, and we have explored different potentials for that. But even that has not been decided – whether that's viable, whether it makes sense in every way. But there is no concerted effort to look for sites for an alternate to Rikers Island because as I have said, first of all, there's a one-year commission, which we will cooperate with - and I've said the goal is a very noble one. But I've also been honest about the fact that we're talking about a projected cost of $5-$7 billion, which we don't have an easy way to put together and real logistical challenges. So, we'll work with that commission for sure. We'll explore options, we're open-mined, but right now our focus is on fixing Rikers Island because that's going to be our reality under any scenario for five to ten years minimum. And we have to continue to make the reforms on Riker's Island that are needed right now. That's our focus.

Yes?

Question: Mr. Mayor, can you talk about the story this morning on the reason for shutting down the work on that third tunnel – water tunnel?

Mayor: Yeah let me – I will start with a simple disclaimer. There are times when my team does not do a good job of explaining something, and I think it's as simple as that. And particularly, I have the deepest respect for our colleagues at the Department of Environmental Protection. But between them and some of the folks at City Hall – this just was not explained properly. The reality of what we're doing is not what is reflected in that article. I don't blame the journalist – he was doing his job and he wasn't getting the facts he should have gotten. So let me set the record straight here.

First of all, a timeline was set by the Bloomberg administration for the next phase of construction in Brooklyn and Queens to begin in 2021. Nothing changed that timeline. We were absolutely devoted to that timeline – 2021. The third water tunnel is already in existence in Brooklyn and Queens. What's needed is to put the additional shafts down to it so it can be fully operationalized. So that was 2021. We took the money that was scheduled for years up ahead – we put it on hold for a budgetary reason. We didn't think that the estimate was accurate so we pulled it back awaiting a more accurate estimate. I could say very comfortably that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in terms of showing people the ongoing commitment. But what we did do in the preliminary budget was started to add the money back because we got very specific numbers. So if you look at the preliminary budget, $52 million was now added back to keep things on the 2021 schedule.

I can now give you some news which is in the executive budget coming up in a few weeks, we will accelerate that schedule by one year – something we've been talking about for the last year – could we find a way to speed it up and we now believe we can do that. So in the executive budget, the construction date – projected to be 2021 by the Bloomberg administration – will now be 2020. We will move it forward a year and we will add the money into the executive budget to reflect that change. Yes?

Question: Mr. Mayor, going back to the FBI probe, you mentioned current and future donations. Do you have any plans to return [inaudible] donations and [inaudible] and also an aspect of the concern of the allegations of corruption at the NYPD?

Mayor: So it's an investigation. And obviously NYPD is fully cooperating with the investigation. But again – an investigation means something's being looked at. Until we get a result, we can't make final judgments. So in terms of any past donations, I will make that determination when we see the results of the investigation. Anything else? Yes?

Question: Mr. Mayor, one question – in regard to these latest incidents involving Rivington and now the NYPD probe – what would you say this says about your ability to [inaudible]?

Mayor: I think they're apples and oranges. The Rivington situation – I've said was not handled right by the agency involved and I want to figure out what happened and I want to get that resolved. And I think it's great that there is a very aggressive Department of Investigation – investigation happening right now. Subpoenas have been issued. We're going to get to the facts. We're going to figure out what we need to change. We've also put a stop on all alterations of the restrictions by all agencies. So we – it doesn't make sense to speculate until there's been a full investigation. I do think that there's a set of policies that were in place that were historic in the city that needed to be updated. And we're now, because of this, going to figure out where we need to make those changes and those updates.

This other situation is again an investigation – and I would think all of you would agree – we don't pre-judge the outcome of investigation. But if these individuals are exonerated, that's one thing. If not, we will make a different determination. Yes?

Question: Mr. Mayor, you're a pretty good politician.

Mayor: Why thank you, Rich.

Question: Do you think that Mr. Trump's campaign is running out of steam here? And a lot of people have speculated on the Republican side, they're going to end up with a brokered convention? And what do you – can discern – do you think that's possible and what would that mean?

Mayor: I think it's possible. Sure. You look at the numbers today – it's quite striking. The closeness between the Trump number and the Cruz number in delegates and the fact that you have Rubio delegates hanging out there and Kasich delegates. Of course, it's possible.

This is what I'd say about Trump – he went too far a long time ago. And I think in all of public life, there's a bit of a time lapse, right? Things take a while to seep in. Citizens come to their judgments. But his exclusionary language, divisive language, racist language, and then on top it what he has said about women – which I think has fundamentally alienated women across the spectrum in this country – I think it's all catching up with him. So I do not predict a good road ahead for Donald Trump. He may do well in New York – it's his home state. That wouldn't shock me. But I think the tide is turning. Remember though, the issue is not the Republican primaries which are a small slice of the American people. Folks who participate in primaries and caucuses are obviously a smaller slice of the population as a whole. It's what are the American people as a whole going to make of all of this? And I think they're going to reject Trump's divisiveness. And again, that's part of why I'm so confident Hillary Clinton's going to be the next president.

Unknown: One more question.

Mayor: Well I'll do too. Go ahead.

Question: So you did address Bernie Sanders's victory in Wisconsin already. If he were to win New York or he were to scrape the walls like he did in Iowa – would that be damping to Hillary Clinton do you think? Or do you think it would be [inaudible]?

Mayor: I don't want to do hypotheticals. The job right now for the next two weeks is to turn out the vote for Hillary Clinton. There's no question in my mind that a majority of Democrats in this state believe she should be our president. It's just about turning out the vote. So that's what my focus will be. And that's what the campaign's focus will be. But I think you look at the trajectory of the whole campaign – she has the right platform. Her message has gotten sharper and sharper. She has a tremendous ground game – there's no question about that. We saw that in Iowa and a lot of other states. And we're going to see that here. So that's – that's my focus.

Question: Just real quick on the FBI probe. Have you spoken to Police Commissioner Bill Bratton on that?

Mayor: No, I'm going to be seeing him later in the week. But again, obviously – as he said publically – there's going to be full cooperation with them.

Thank you very much everyone.