Governor Hochul is a Guest on “The Briefing With Jen Psaki”

Last night, Governor Hochul was a guest on MSNBC’s “The Briefing with Jen Psaki.”

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

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Governor Hochul:  Do you want to know what I really think?

Rebecca Lewis, City & State: Please.

Governor Hochul: It's bullshit. How dare they—

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: Couldn't have said it better myself. That was New York Governor Kathy Hochul, today, reacting to the arrest of New York City Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Brad Lander. And Governor Kathy Hochul joins me. Now, Governor, thank you so much for being here with me tonight.

You rushed down to the courthouse today after Brad Lander was arrested to demand his release. We heard a little bit from him earlier. Can you just walk us through what happened today, including your interaction with officers at the building?

Governor Hochul: Yes, and thank you for your coverage of this deeply troubling story that seems to be unfolding all across our country, Jen. I literally was in a part of Brooklyn, known as Little Haiti. I was walking the streets talking to people who were so frightened — living in the shadows of a once vibrant street was now almost a ghost town because people are terrified. And then while I'm out there trying to meet these people, let them know we're, we see them, we're gonna support them.

Then I get the word that one of our elected officials for the City of New York has been arrested. And I know Brad Lander. I went right down there. And I wanted to see him. I went up to the ninth floor. And they wouldn't let me come in. But I had a chance to talk to ICE officers and the people in charge, and my Head of Homeland Security came down and Head of my Counterintelligence and all the professionals that I work with. We all stood there and I said, “I'm not leaving until you let him out. I want him released. Because what are the charges? What are you possibly saying? We all saw the video.”

And after about an hour of me waiting and talking to a lot of people, they said they'd release him without charges, but Brad Lander has all the attorneys and attention on this he needs. I mean, he can take care of himself. I'm confident of that, but what I cannot get out of my mind are all the people that are so terrified right now are the ones who go into those courtrooms following the law and the procedure — told, show up this date for your court appearance. And then they're sitting ducks while they're in the courtroom. They withdraw their legal status and they walk out and they're captured.

This is beyond the pale, and we have to stand up and call it out for what it is and say we are a better country than this. And the voices that we heard during the marches over the last weekend, the people who stood up there, the elected officials who are doing their part — we have to stand up and say no more. And I'll tell you this, as I said, under eight hours of questioning in Congress just a few days ago — I will work with the Trump administration to remove the people he said he was going after. I will help you get the criminals out of here, the ones who are violent criminals who are hurting other people, the human traffickers, the people who are dealing in drugs, people with guns — I want them gone.

I'll help you but don't take care of the home healthcare aides, the 160 who are gonna lose their jobs that I've met today and talked to. They'll lose their jobs and they lose their status. And you know what? That means there's 160 vulnerable New Yorkers who are gonna lose their caregivers and the people who work in the restaurants and hospitality, let them get jobs, pay their taxes, be part of our communities – like my grandpa was a migrant farm worker. Everybody comes and starts out and struggles. But you know what? Over time it works. It's the American dream, and that dream is dissipating by the moment here in this country, and we cannot let it go.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: No question about it. And I know, and I just mentioned that you had announced today the State is dedicating $50 million for legal assistance for immigrants. And I want to ask you about that in one moment.

I think one of the things that was so striking about today, many things was that, you know, Brad Lander was released without charges. You said earlier today that to your knowledge, the charges have been dropped and that he walks out of there free man.

But the US Attorney's Office said that it is investigating his action still and would decide later whether to charge him with a crime. This is all on video, which we played the full video. Are you confident there won't be charges? And I raise this because he's just escorting immigrants to the courthouses who are trying to abide by their court hearings.

Governor Hochul: That's all he is doing, and he did it without any fanfare over a number of times. Just a lot of people are volunteering. These people are terrified. I mean, these are our neighbors. These are people who've lived among us for many, many years sometimes. And people are just doing the right thing. They're showing their humanity. He showed up and just escorting someone and speaking to him and just trying to let him know it's going to be okay. The best we can. And then you have them ripped apart and terrorized the way they were and go after elected officials. I mean, no, no. It's wrong. It's wrong.

And again, we will help the Trump administration — we have been doing this for years — get rid of the true criminals. But coming here to seek asylum as they have for the last few years, or coming with temporary protected status like 300,000 Venezuelans did. And people from Haiti. They had legal status when they came. So when you take it away, once they're here, it's just like a cruel joke on them.

So, they're not the criminals. Let's find them a legal pathway. Let's give them work authorization. I know the Trump administration is capable of doing this. They can do this, and there'll be a lot of employers, including the people in my State, New York — I have 400,000 open jobs as we speak. They're not taking someone's job. They'll be doing an important service to us.

Let's have a conversation. Let's ask Congress. Why you won't do something as simple as passing common sense, bipartisan legislation to reform our immigration laws, find legal pathways. Yes, we have to secure our borders. No one doubts that, but the people who are here and already contributing, come on. We're a nation of immigrants. That's why we're so great.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: I mentioned a couple times that you announced the $50 million for legal assistance, which is very powerful and as Brad Lander mentioned, a lot of these people don't have legal representation.

Governor Hochul: That's right.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: This tactic though, which I called dirty earlier because I think it's dirty of these agents showing up at courthouses and kind of stalking people who don't have criminal records are not trying to, are just trying to abide by what they're supposed to be doing. Is there anything you can do as Governor to stop those tactics or other Governors can ban together and do?

Governor Hochul: No, they're not allowed in New York state courts. You know, and, and let's think about this, when this was passed a few years ago, law enforcement supported this because people who've been victims of the crimes are witnesses of crimes, if they think that if they go in to be involved in the criminal justice system to maybe to solve a crime, that they could be removed instantaneously. We want to make sure that we are working to protect our community. People are safer when people feel they can come forward, but apparently in federal courthouses, here in New York City and all across America, they're basically staking out people who walk in the front door to keep an appointment they were given. They're told to go before this judge on this date or check in.

I mean, a heartbreaking story just a couple weeks ago. A mom takes her two boys, 19 and 20-year-old down to make sure they’re legally checking in as they’re told to do. Guess what? She walks out without them. Because they took them away from her. And she doesn't know where they are. We're all human beings.

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: Yeah.

Governor Hochul: If we can't find some compassion in our hearts at this moment and do what's right, history will judge us very poorly. That’s why we're urging the administration — go after the really bad ones like you said you would. That's my plea. Go after the bad ones. We'll help you. Every state will help you. But can we just leave these law abiding people alone? Can we just do that?

Jen Psaki, MSNBC: There are so many stories, like the ones you mentioned and the ones we saw play out today. Governor Kathy Hochul, I know you've had a day, so thank you so much for being here with us, helping explain all of the video footage we've just showed everybody watching. Really appreciate you being here.

Governor Hochul: Alright, thank you, Jen.