NYC Mayor Adams’ Exit Interview & America’s Affordability Crisis 12/15/25

0:00Bring in show music, please. Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod. New York Mayor Eric Adams gives his exit interview as he prepares to hand the reins of America's largest city and business capital to mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani. Many people don't know of the Democratic Socialists of America. They should read their agenda. If he follows that agenda, we're going to be having some real quality of life issues in our city. Then the affordability crisis across the country is driving voters. Political strategist and pollster Frank Luntz on the pressure and the pain points for Americans.

0:42The public is not just deciding between Republicans and Democrats. They're deciding whether or not they even want to participate in the democratic process. And that's when you know you've reached the breaking point. And trying to make sense of a weekend of tragic news. from a shocking Hollywood death to the attack on an Australian beach Hanukkah festival. I think when you see stuff like this, you have to say to yourself, something else is going on here. It's Monday, December 15th, 2025. Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand, Andrew, five, three, two, one, up in Andrew, cue. Good morning and welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC.

1:23We're live at the Nasdaq market site in Times Square. I'm Andrew Ross-Sorkin along with Melissa Lee. Good morning to you. Good morning to you, Andrew. Hanging out. Becky and Joe are off today, but we've got a lot going on, including this, because you may have noticed there's a new CNBC logo on your screen today. It's part of our evolution. We have removed the NBC peacock to embrace a distinct new identity as part of our new brand's future. It's a small visual update as we continue to deliver the same trusted coverage around business, around markets, the economy, and so much more. And I dig it, to be honest with you.

1:58I think it's very modern. I think it's who we are. It is. I do miss the peacock in certain ways because I grew up with the peacock in a long time. Exactly. I think it's pretty cool. Yeah. And it ushers in a new era. It is the new era. With the Versan spinoff. Less than a month away. And here we go. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett says he'd be happy to talk to President Trump consistently if he's chosen to lead the Fed. And CBS has faced the nation. Hassett called the president's views on the Fed strong and well-founded, but stressed it is the Fed's job to be independent. No, he would have no weight.

2:34It's just his opinion matters if it's good, you know, if it's based on data. And then if you go to the committee and you say, well, the president made this argument, and that's a really sound argument, I think, what do you think? If they reject it, then they'll vote in a different way. On Friday, the president told The Wall Street Journal he was leaning toward choosing Hassett or former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to run the Fed after Jay Powell. He said Warsh was at the top of his list, though he also praised Hassett in other unnamed candidates. The president confirmed he pressed Warsh earlier last week on whether he could count on him to lower interest rates if he has chosen to lead the Fed.

3:08President Trump also said he thinks the next Fed chair should talk with him about where to set interest rates and said he believes a year from now the federal funds rate should be 1 % at most. That would be a huge shift. The idea of sort of not just, I mean, we've always had a situation where there's been regular conversations happening between the Treasury Secretary and the Fed chair. They famously have breakfast and lunches together. This has been going on for a very long time. So it's not, maybe it's not so far off to say that the administration and the Federal Reserve need to talk to each other.

3:40The question is, should you be talking to the president and how much influence is really taking place? One of the things we've never really known is what exactly gets said at those lunches and breakfasts. Right. And how much of the time the president has told their Treasury Secretary or the Treasury Secretary is doing it on their own, saying this is what I, let me advocate for this position right now. So the question is, is this sort of an acknowledgement of what already happens, or is this actually something new that happens in terms of consulting the president as to where rates should be? We don't really know that, to your point.

4:14We will have to see where all of this goes. Do you think both Kevins are up for that? We know that Kevin Hassett is game for this, clearly, because he's just said it. Right. I don't know whether the others will do the same. I don't know, but I assume that they want to serve the president. They're going to be appointed by the president and they will engage with him, whether or not they admit that it's consultation of sorts or advisory or if they just say we're having a discussion. Meantime, the chief financial officer of Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, telling employees that the firm is preparing to go public next year and will buy shares from insiders in a deal that values SpaceX at around$800 million.

4:58According to multiple reports that took place over the weekend, they say a letter late last week from SpaceX's CFO, Brett Johnson, Jensen, two employees and other shareholders laid out plans for SpaceX to buy about$2.5 billion worth of those shares from eligible stockholders at$421 a share. That's about double the previous internal value. And according to reports, the letter says the proceeds from an IPO could be used to increase the number of Starship launches, deploy AI data centers in space and send crews to Mars. So it's not the 1.5 trillion number that you've heard bandied about yet, but maybe that's still on the road.

5:39Yeah. And what's interesting, too, are the firms that have invested early on in SpaceX and now have these unrealized gains that are enormous. Like Google in April said it had an$8 billion unrealized gain, which was assumed to be SpaceX. Fidelity also has the same is in the same situation. So once this thing goes public, those will be realized gains. That's interesting. Yep. Australia's leader proposing tougher national gun laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, leaving at least 15 people dead. The Australian Prime Minister said he would push for limits on how many guns licensed owners can obtain, and he also said licenses should not be granted forever.

6:18The shooting at Sydney's popular Bondi Beach was Australia's worst in almost 30 years. Close to 40 people were being treated at hospitals. Police said the two shooters were a father and son. The father was shot dead. Australia's national broadcaster said two Islamic State flags were found in the gunman's vehicle. The shooting spotlighting whether Australia has done enough to stem rising anti-Semitism. Synagogues and other buildings have been targeted since the Israeli-Hamas war began in 2023. You know, I didn't know if I wanted to say anything about this or not. I don't know what you have to say about this.

6:49Obviously, the whole situation is just so devastating. But the thing that I've been thinking about a lot is we've been seeing so much anti-Semitism across the world, but here in the United States. And we have a debate oftentimes on this set and around that has been considered an acceptable debate. And I don't know if it should be considered acceptable, which is there are folks who debate and say they're debating the politics of Israel. I think that's probably a fair debate, right? You can decide that you don't like the politics of Israel or what Israel is doing at any given time. But there's been a much bigger push over the past couple of years of a true anti-Zionism, anti-Israel debate in totality.

7:37And I think there's a genuine, I mean, I know people think that somehow you can have two, you can hold two ideas in your mind at one time or that that's somehow acceptable. But I think that there is something happening right now where this anti-Zionism argument, I don't even want to call it that, is now bleeding over into something. And people have said it is anti-Semitism. And I think we need to have a broader conversation about what that connection really is. And for whatever reason, that is not happening right now. And I think that obviously there's a lot of things that are taking place in the Middle East that people have lots of concerns about.

8:17But nonetheless, I think when you see stuff like this, you have to say to yourself, something else is going on here. Meantime, back here in the United States, the manhunt continues for a suspect in Saturday's shooting at Brown University. Overnight, police released a person of interest who was taken into custody earlier yesterday. On Saturday, a gunman opened fire at the Ivy League College, killing two people, injuring nine. Law enforcement officials released a video of a person dressed in black walking on a sidewalk near the scene of the shooting. Police say that person remains a person of interest, but they are continuing to search for additional video evidence.

8:54The university is sending students home, calling off final exams and remaining classes and assignments for the semester. Filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife were found dead at their Los Angeles home yesterday. That's according to a source close to the Reiner family who spoke to NBC News. The source said the couple appeared to have died from stab wounds. L.A. police said they responded to a report of two deceased individuals at Reiner's home. Police said a death investigation was underway. Reiner was 78. He was known for his role in All in the Family and directing popular films, including The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and A Few Good Men.

9:31His wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, was 65. I just want to say, I think we're going to have to send our love and prayers to everybody. I mean, this is one of those weekends. The tragedies that have happened this weekend. That is very hard to, I mean, in almost every instance, we would sit here and talk about this for a much longer time. I mean, the Reiners, think about, you just reeled off those films. If Joe was here, we'd be talking about those films this morning. They were all extraordinary. The families on Bondhead Beach, folks at Brown. Still to come on the podcast, New York City Mayor Eric Adams in his first national exit interview.

10:08as his time leading the Big Apple wraps up at the end of the year. What's the next plan for the mayor? What are you going to do next? Smoke a cigar, have fun, enjoy Jordan. You know, I've been doing this for 40 years. Squawk Pod will be right back.

10:33Welcome back to the podcast. This is Squawk Pod. Up and Andrew, Q. You're watching Squawk Box right here on CNBC. Melissa Lee is hanging out with us today. Becky and Joe are both off. With just a few weeks left in office, we are joined now by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and at least for us, what may be an exit interview of sorts. It's good to see you, Mr. Mayor. Great being here this morning. I want to talk about the last four years, but really want to talk about the next four years and what you see in this city. We were talking a little bit off camera just about the next mayor. And I said to you, so maybe you could say it on TV, you know, whether you had met with the mayor and just what that experience has been like, because you guys have obviously been added on both sides.

11:17And it happens during campaign season. You'll have the back and forth action. But then the election is over. It's time to safeguard a place that we all love. And that's New York. And that's what we did. We had a great conversation. We're going to turn over a transition document with a lot of information. My team, we have already been meeting with his team, the mayor-elect, and to make sure that he can have the smoothest transition as possible, and that's my job. How many times have you met him? A couple times? You talk to him a lot? What's going on? We communicate several times. The modern communication way now through text messages, number one.

11:52Number two, we had a great meeting at Gracie Mansion. And actually, I met the man and his dad prior to him running for mayor. We had a great conversation then. And, you know, New York is, I have a New York state of mind. That's it. Are you optimistic about the city? Cautiously. If he gets in office, and as many of us do, realize the complexity of running a city of this level, we're navigating some turbulent storms. Some that we see and some that you don't see. But if he allows the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America to be the platform of this city, we're going to be in for some real problems.

12:30Let me ask you a separate question. You because you took to Instagram and some social media and the like when he came out and said that he was going to stop the sweeps of some of these tainted camps around the city. We then had Kathy Wilde on the broadcast and she tried to suggest that actually he wasn't going to do that. What do you think is going to happen there? Because it gets to the issue of security and, you know, just life life around the city. Well, you're right. First of all, it is a security issue. January, when I became mayor in 2022, I went and visited those camps. Stale food, human waste, drug power, feminilia, schizophrenic behavior.

13:10And so we need to understand that not only is it a humanitarian issue, but also as a business. You don't want to walk out your business and see someone sleeping in a tent. We look at what's happening in other cities, and it was a humane thing to do to get people indoors. So what do you think he's going to do? And have you talked to him about that or his team about that? When we sat down and spoke, I told him how important it is to make sure that we keep the encampments and homelessness under control. That's one of the top things you hear from New York. So what was your takeaway from that conversation, given what he said publicly about this?

13:45Well, I think that he has a team of people he's working with. As I stated, many people don't know of the Democratic Socialists of America. They should read their agenda. They don't believe there should be any prisons in our city. They don't believe that you should do encampment enforcement what they believe. They believe in decriminalizing prostitution after all that we've done. If he follows that agenda, we're going to be having some real quality of life issues in our city. In recent weeks, you've signed a number of executive orders in a seemingly effort, a seeming effort, to sort of stop a mayor like Mamdani from enacting parts of his agenda.

14:21Is that the right characterization of what has gone on, trying to bulwark the city against what he is trying to do? No, not at all. I'm protecting the legacy and protecting New Yorkers. And I was really surprised to see how many people talked about my executive orders. And I look back at some of the stories when Bloomberg left de Blasio, when de Blasio left for me. No one talked about the executive orders. I don't control my campaign finance board. Those are all de Blasio appointments. I don't control the CFCO's Conflict of Interest Board. Those are de Blasio appointees. And so this is what happens in government.

14:57The incoming mayor must deal with whatever was put in place by the previous mayor. So I'm just making sure New Yorkers are safe and the legacy is safe, like on the RGB board. If you tell small property owners for the next four years, no matter what the economic outcomes are, you could never be able to increase their rent. rent. Small property owners, 18 units housing, they're going to hurt in this city. I'm protecting New Yorkers in my legacy. Let me ask you a different question. We were talking at the top of the broadcast about what happened in Australia, Bondi Beach, and what's clear, clear anti-Semitism, if not terrorism, and those murders.

15:37And there is a conversation in this city happening right now about Jews. I'm Jewish, by the way, and about anti-Semitism and the conflation oftentimes of anti-Zionism, which is something that this this mayor has talked about to some degree. And whether you think that people understand what is a very nuanced position in some cases about, you know, folks who have who disagree with the policies and politics of Israel versus the folks who disagree with folks who are Jewish. And how you think about that today and what is about to happen in this city with this next mayor? That's a great question. And look at Sydney right now.

16:22Have you heard the Sydney government, have you heard them talk about anti-Semitism in this attack? Have you heard them since October 7th, 100 ,000 Jews in that country? Have you heard them stand firm? No, you haven't. And that's troubling. And if the leadership of a country or a city is not willing to point out when a particular group of people in their country or city are being harassed, harmed, threatened, standing in front of a synagogue, calling for globalized intifada. If we're not willing to stand up as the leader of the city and say this is wrong and it's not going to happen. That is what's troubling.

17:00Anti-Semitism, it has been normalized across the globe in general, but specifically here in New York. And that's what Mayor Lake must push against. Let me ask you about this next mayor then. Yes. So what do you think his real position is? By the way, he came out to his credit, I think, yesterday, put out a statement about not just what happened at Brown University, but what happened, you know, at Banda Beach. And I just wonder what you think it portends for the city. Well, he has to corral his supporters. And, you know, when you go into office with your staffers, your supporters, and their philosophy is the destruction of Israel and translate into what you verbalize and what you show here in your city, that's a problem.

17:49And he must corral his supporters and send a very clear message, not only about what he say, but it's in action. Don't dismantle the IRA definition. Don't dismantle my office of combat anti-Semitism. Keep doing the group sessions that we're doing with communities across the city to bring us together. So you can't say on one breath that Israel does not have a right to exist. Then you have so many Muslim countries that have Muslim leadership. I've been to Saudi Arabia. I've been to Oman. I've been to Jordan. They are clear Muslim countries and they have a right to exist. I respect their right to exist.

18:28Israel has a right to exist. is our only partner when you think about it. You know, they're against ISIS. ISIS hate America. They're against Hamas. Hamas hates America. They're against all these other terrorist groups who hate America. I'd rather align with those who love me than those who hate me. Let me ask you a separate question. Commissioner Tish, who runs the NYPD. Yes. She worked for you. She's going to work for him. Do you think that she is going to be in that role a year or two or three from now? We hope so. Look what we've done with crime. 25 ,000 illegal guns off the street. We had one period over last week, 12 days without a homicide.

19:04We're seeing record level of safety on our subway system where the employees of the companies that watch the show. The reason I ask the question, though, is having spent time with this next mayor, though, do you feel confident that he is going to give her the independence to make the decisions that, by the way, it clearly she has views that are different from his. That's a conversation that the two of them, I'm sure, they had when they sat down together and she made the determination what she's going to do next. I know she loves the city, and I know that like my other commissioners, Commissioner Sewell, Caban, and now her, there's been a consistent decrease in crime.

19:40Our city is still the safest big city in America. More jobs in this city in the history. We wrote the record 11 times. More small businesses. Double-A bond rated. This city is on a good plateau that we can't allow safety to harm it. In terms of what you're looking forward to in 2026 and the concerns that you may have, we were discussing in the break that we, as New Yorkers, will be able to fare whatever comes pretty well. We're very fortunate, but there are many in New York who aren't, and they're the people who in large part voted for mayor-elect Mamdani. In terms of the policies, where are you the most concerned in terms of the policies not necessarily serving those who are the most vulnerable, whether it be in educational funding or safety in the streets.

20:24That's a great question. Where are you worried? Okay, two things. Number one, those weren't the New Yorkers who voted for him. Let's be clear, 49 % of New Yorkers did not vote for him. 49%, 50.3 or 4 did. So many New Yorkers are concerned. But here's my areas of concern for New Yorkers, public safety. He wants to release 3 ,000 inmates from Rikers Island. They're going to go back to the communities they prayed on, the Brownsvilles, the South Jamaica, Queens, etc. He wants to decriminalize prostitution. We did a great deal of work to tell these young girls and boys, don't sell your bodies on the street and be exploited.

21:00We're going to go backwards in that area. You can't tax communities based on ethnicities. You can't tax white communities based on their ethnicities. We saw that what's happening now with African-Americans and Asians and other communities are being taxed based on where they're located. Can't do that. And you can't run millionaires out of the city. Fifty one percent of our taxes. So we're in a financial ecosystem where the guys that drive the limousine should have a good pay. And the guy that's sitting in the back of the limousine should pay his taxes. So what he if he continues the DSA policies is going to hurt working class people.

21:38That is my concern. Let me ask you a different question. Yes. Given your concerns about this mayor. Yes. This is a personal question for you. You dropped out of this race. There's an argument to be made that you should have dropped out a lot earlier. That if, in fact, you really wanted to prevent this mayor from winning and wanted somebody else to win, in this case, Andrew Cuomo, who I don't think you were a big fan of either, that you needed to have dropped out much earlier in the process to give him a chance and whether he would have had a chance, a better chance, to win otherwise. Think about that.

22:11Think about how ridiculous that question is. I'm the city mayor of the city of New York who stated, I'm not going to run in the primary. I'm going to run in the general to go head-to-head. And many people said, Eric, that makes no sense. And then all of a sudden people realized how wise I was because head-to-head we would have had a fair chance to win. And I had many conversations with the governor and said, Governor, let's look at this field. you had the primary let me now go you're arguing that he should have dropped out without a doubt without a doubt you know sit in mayor we were able to put together the operations to uh have a serious campaign and look at the outcome 49 percent of new yorkers who didn't come out to vote many women didn't come out to vote because of how they felt but the polls did not seem to reflect that you the and i think one of the reasons that you dropped out was in fact that you weren't going to win.

23:07No, no. The reason I dropped out is because we could not have a three-way race as other candidates dropped out. I did what was best for the city, not what was best for me. Right, and Mike, and where I'm going with this is would it have been best for the city to have dropped out a month or two or three months earlier? That's where I'm going with this. Yeah, yeah, and I'm... I mean, in retrospect, you know, everything's, you know, it's a lot clearer afterwards, so I get that, but when you look back at it now, and again, if we were to go to lunch five years from now, would you say, you know what, maybe I should have?

23:41No, no. Maybe I should have done what I was sworn to do, to run for office, run for re-election as the sitting mayor. Remember what I'm saying here. I was the sitting mayor, the second African-American mayor in the history of this city. I'm the sitting mayor. If I would have said after the primary that I'm going to abandon right away, That would have been the same foolish thing to do when people were calling me to step down while I was navigating the city in the right path. I made the right decision then. I recovered our economy. I brought down crime. I built more housing than any man in the history of the city.

24:17I improved our education. Just as I didn't listen to those who were saying step down, step down, step down. No, no. Look, Mr. Mayor, I give you actually an enormous amount of credit. I actually think that you've done an extraordinary job, and the city has prospered during your time here. No question. I also think, for whatever reason, and I apologize for saying it to you this way, but because of some of the scandal and baggage and the relationship with the situation with Trump, you were considered a flawed candidate. By the way, Andrew Cuomo was also considered quite a flawed candidate. I'm glad you said that.

24:50And Curtis Leaver was considered a flawed candidate. A flawed candidate. I'm saying there's a lot of flawed candidates here. Madani is considered a flawed candidate. 100%. Listen, you had a 49 to 50.3 or 4. Everybody was a Floyd candidate. So the goal was to follow the plan that Eric laid out. Hey, guys, run in the primary. I'll do this in the general election. We will have two bites at the apple. So my plan was in Floyd. It was Floyd when you had people like Curtis Lee, who I still believe was working for the Zoran campaign. You think he was real? Without a doubt. Without a doubt. Based on what?