NYC Mayoral Candidate Curtis Sliwa & CA Rep. Ro Khanna 10/23/25

0:00Bring in show music, please. Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod. Off-year election highlights the battle to run New York. America's largest city is home to some 8 million plus, and the campaign for mayor is a three-man race. I just can't understand. Do you think that there's any chance mathematically that you win? Absolutely. Republican Curtis Sliwa, with a decades-long public profile in New York City, is under pressure from some wealthy donors to drop out and boost former Governor Andrew Cuomo's chances against the Democratic nominee, 34-year-old Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.

0:39I was born in New York City. They tried to kill me in New York City. I will die in New York City. I will be buried in New York City. I know what's in the best interest of New York City. I'm not dropping out because some billionaires have vertical. Democrats around the country are invested in this race, like Congressman Ro Khanna from California, Joining us on day 23 of a government shutdown. One, we need a new generation of leadership. I mean, does anyone think that we need recycled politicians from the 90s? What's at stake for the country in this New York City election? And our open invitation to all candidates.

1:14Can you get Zoran on the show? Do you talk to him? Seriously? You guys are welcome to come. I'm doing an event with him November 1st. It's a date. Plus, meat and meme stocks, new sanctions on Russian oil, and Paramount's first, second, and third bid for Warner Brothers' discovery, what's on the table now? When there's a co-CEO, there's never a co-CEO. There's always one real CEO. That is also true. I looked that up last time in ancient Rome when they first tried co-consuls. Didn't work then. It's Thursday, October 23rd. Squawk Pod begins right now. Stand Becky by in three, two, one. Cue it, please.

1:51Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernan and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Let's take a look at what's been happening with the U.S. Hi, Secretary Besson. Will you take a few questions from us? So we are going to either announce after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning a substantial pickup in Russia sanctions.

2:25Meantime, I'm in Washington, D.C. this morning, and we are watching the price of oil. Prices jumping after the Trump administration hit Russia's two largest crude companies with sanctions. Now, the administration citing what it calls a lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson calling for a ceasefire as he announced the sanctions on Rosneft and Luke oil. A senior White House official telling NBC News that sanctions are related to plans for a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin falling through. So this is something new we're going to have to keep our eyes on.

2:59And you're looking at WTI crude right there at 6180. It's really interesting. This is kind of a big deal. This was the one thing the Biden administration would never do as much as they were trying to say that they were defending Ukraine. They kind of did it with a wink and a nod, knowing that that Russian oil was still going to wind up on the markets because they didn't want to see higher oil prices here, higher energy prices. Germany has kind of been of the same opinion on these things as much as they say they want to help Ukraine. They don't want higher energy prices, particularly for their businesses, to be going through with some of these issues.

3:31But this was probably the time to do it when you're seeing energy prices that are so low. The Trump administration has done two pretty smart things this week. First of all, this move right now, if you're going to be serious about this and really try and put pressure on him, it's a good time to do it because oil prices were lower. The other thing they did was say we're going to try and fill the strategic petroleum reserve up with oil prices below$60. Now, again, up by 5.6 percent this morning. But if you really want to put pressure on Putin, we'll see what the enforcement looks like. But this would be the way to go at it.

4:00And according to published reports that we have eased, or Trump administration eased a curb on some of the missile use, long-term missiles, long-range missiles. But yesterday I heard the President say we have nothing to do with what Ukraine does with missiles. The tomahawk thing is, looks like it's off the table. I would think that because tomahawks require rare earth minerals. So you're going to have a limited number of what you can end up. It takes six to nine months to training to learn how to use the Tomahawk. So that supposedly is not forthcoming. I was looking through the paper. This one just struck me, guys.

4:39Oops, I've had a Nazi tattoo for 18 years. Just to see it in the Wall Street Journal is... I've been reading about the main governor candidate, the Democrat candidate for mayor of Maine. I've been for a governor. This? The way he was trying to wash it off is I was out with my buddies from the military, and we all got it done at the same time type of thing. How'd that get there? That along with some of the comments that he had been making online. It doesn't add up to a pretty picture. You know, I think the, is it a governor or Senate? It's a Senate candidate. It is a Senate candidate, right. because the governor is more probably a candidate that has had a better chance.

5:25He was trying to brush off the comments that he had been saying where he was asking online if black people tip less. He was saying, well, it was just honest curiosity. That's why I was wondering. I think you wrote that book just so you could go on this book tour, just so you could wear a jacket. Yeah, that's why he spent eight years writing this book. And you know, Curtis Lee was here. He's going to be on. I know. I think I didn't make him happy. I got my pocket square on just for him today. You did. And I think I made him unhappy when I said, I'm sorry, I don't live in New York, but if I did, I'd vote for Andrew.

5:59And he goes, you would vote for Cuomo? I go, no, no, no, no. I would write in. Oh. I would write in Andrew Ross Sorkin. Well, that's a nice hello to you this morning when he's here this early in the morning. Actually, I did talk. I like him. And we're going to have him on, Andrew. and you're going to have to do the heavy lifting because I don't live here. I'm happy to. It's not his problem that Cuomo ran such a crappy campaign and has such a poor showing among Democrats. It's not, Lee was, I don't know if he can't win. I get that. I get that. I think there's a whole bunch of things we're going to have to talk to him about.

6:38By the way, I don't know if you saw the debate last night, which was really quite incredible. There was a couple of moments where it seemed like Cuomo actually really did finally score in one of these debates against Zora Mandami. But then actually there was a moment with Mandami really attacked Cuomo as it relates to some of his issues with women over the years, including having somebody in the in the audience that he referenced that. Oh, he stacked somebody there? Arguably harassed. And it was quite a remarkable moment as well. Mr. Cuomo, in 2021, 13 different women who worked in your administration incredibly accused you of sexual harassment.

7:19Since then, you have spent more than$20 million in taxpayer funds to defend yourself, all while describing these allegations as entirely political. You have even gone so far as to legally go after these women. One of those women, Charlotte Bennett, is here in the audience this evening. You sought to access her private gynecological records. She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her. I, however, can speak. What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?

8:05If you if you want to be in government, then you have to be serious and mature. There were allegations of sexual harassment. They were then went to five district attorneys, fully litigated for four years. The cases were dropped. Right. If you take to social media, you can see some of these clips, but I think we're going to be showing you some of them as well. All right. Good. President Trump was not optimistic about. Cuomo, whether Slewa stays in or not. I want to bring you some new details right now about Paramount's offer to buy Warner Brothers Discovery. Paramount made three bids to buy the company over the past couple of weeks here.

8:50It first offered$19, then raised that to$22. The latest offer sent on October 13th was for $23.50 a share in cash and stock. Details of these offers revealed in a letter to Paramount's from Paramount CEO David Ellison that was sent to the board of Warner Brothers Discovery. Ellison writes the following in that letter. We're confident that we are the best partner for WBD with a combination of our two companies creating a scaled Hollywood champion to benefit to the benefit of both of our companies, shareholders, consumers and the entertainment industry at large. Perhaps the other two most interesting pieces, though, of that letter.

9:29One was effectively an offer for David Zaslav, the current CEO and chairman. of Warner Brothers Discovery to be the co-CEO and co-chair of a combined company. So that is a new sort of a new fact, if you will, as they try to attract and bring David Zaslav to their side. Of course, Warner Brothers itself saying we're not doing it and we are effectively putting ourselves up for sale. So we're going to now see whether there are any other bidders. But the other interesting piece of the letter was just a number of references to the idea that we are not just the best opportunity, but a suggestion that we are the only opportunity insofar as the way regulators are going to consider potential deals.

10:16And that, you know, the only other folks who may want to buy this company, which by the way, could include an Amazon, could include the parent company, at least currently of our network, Comcast. But the regulatory hurdles that those those types of transactions might create and the intent, not just the attention, but the possibility that those deals would be blocked would make Paramount the the best offer on the table. So the only letter and, you know, say, you know, say what it is, the personal animus the president has against Comcast and NBC and MSNBC and Brian Roberts. And, you know, that's not supposed to factor into things.

11:01But can you really say it wouldn't? And by the way, the close personal relationship between the Ellisons and Larry Ellison, especially the right. Larry Ellison in particular. And the idea that if this company were to go ahead and do the split, the spinoff, the split between the two, tax reasons could leave them then tied up to where you wouldn't be able to have another shot at this until after the Trump administration is over. So timing matters for Paramount. There are those that say that Zaz would like 30 bucks, but he's not going to get it. And if he doesn't take 25, it could go back to 12. Well, that's the interesting part.

11:40But I think I thought the interesting piece of this when I was reading these letters was this idea that effectively taking taking the CEO job off the table insofar as to the extent that there were people who are speculating that David Zaslav loves his job. And I think he does love his job and likes and enjoys and wants to be the CEO. The fact that David Ellison would be willing to be the co-CEO and co-chair with him. Yeah, but when there's a co-CEO, there's never a co-CEO. There's always one real CEO. This is also true. So you don't know how long that would last. This is like dangling a job that we'll see.

12:13Yeah, but we'll give you an office. We'll let you hang out on the studio lots. I looked that up last time in ancient Rome when they first tried co-counsuls. Didn't work then. And so it's like we got 2 ,500 years or something. Not 2 ,500, but a lot. Bigly. The other question is, is Comcast in this as somebody to push the price higher, maybe act as a spoiler to some extent, be around if something were to split off, if you get some piece of it like they did with Fox and Disney when they were doing that deal and they wound up with Sky. I mean, the last piece of this is at 2350, now that this now now that the investor class knows what's on offer, how much pressure is brought to bear on the board of Warner Brothers to make a deal.

13:02And it goes to the piece, I think, that Joe was just referring to. You may want$30, and maybe you can get$25, but if you don't get$25, do you get only$12? And that's a little bit of a math. And then who else is really there? Is Amazon really there? I think they're kicking the tires in a big way. David Faber has referenced some potential interest, maybe, from Netflix. And Netflix, of course, has been publicly out there trying to say that they aren't interested. And again, I don't know where the regulators would be on that. Yeah, I don't know that Netflix shareholders necessarily want them to pay up a lot for content when they've kind of figured out the content wheel to this point.

13:40But it was lukewarm at best, the reception that they gave on their earnings call earlier this week. What was that, two nights ago? All right. President Trump says that he will talk with ranchers about their beef price concerns. Speaking in the Oval Office yesterday, the president said prices are down throughout the United States, but he singled out beef as becoming more expensive. He said his administration will work to lower prices. President Trump has been criticized by some ranchers for his proposal to import beef from Argentina as a potential fix for higher U.S. prices. In a Truth Social post earlier yesterday, the president claimed that cattle ranchers, in his words, don't understand that the only reason they are doing so well for the first time in decades is because I put tariffs on cattle coming into the United States.

14:27And from real meat to fake meat, shares of Beyond Meat ending yesterday about 1 % lower. It had been moving all around. The stock was up more than 100 % at one point in that session. Shares have been on a tear just in the last couple of days. Roundhill Investments adding the name to its meme stock ETF. That appeared to help drive what was a short squeeze. Beyond Meat also announcing it's going to expand distribution at Walmart stores. So I don't know. I don't know where we all land on the meme stock phenomenon. I don't know where we are on the pea-based meat either. You get a six-pack at Walmart.

15:07Green peas. Oh, I thought you were talking about your six-pack, Joe. I'm working on that, Sorkin. I looked up some stuff about push-ups. You should look on AI for someone my age to do that. It says not only unusual, effing extraordinary. I know. What are you doing? 150 in the morning? 150, 155 in eight minutes. I mean, it's not... I don't. No, you don't. But, you know, I figure maybe I won't die if I keep doing that, you know, ever. Like, wasn't Jack LaLanne, like, he did die, though, finally. But he was, like, 93 just doing, you know, headstand push-ups and stuff. I mean, it's better than not doing it, Andrew, right?

15:50And it gets your blood going and your endorphins go up. It's good. It is. How did we get here? I don't know. Coming up, New York City, because if Sliwa gives me any grief, he's in trouble. Where is your beret? Where's your beret? My beret walked away, Renee. Tees will be next. That's right. Coming up next on Squawk Pod is New York City's Republican mayoral candidate, activist and founder of the subway safety brigade, the Guardian Angels. Curtis Sliwa joins us, fresh off the final campaign debate. Last night, I was the only one saying we need to cut corporate taxes. We got to cut the income tax.

16:31The one tax that I can cut as mayor without any interference is the property tax, which is up to 20 percent.

16:43You're listening to Squawk Pod from CNBC. Good evening. Welcome to the final general election debate in the race for mayor of New York City. The candidates joining us tonight have met a fundraising threshold established by the Campaign Finance Board. The seat is currently held by Eric Adams, who has decided not to run for re-election. In alphabetical order, Andrew Cuomo is a former governor of New York, running on an independent line. Zoran Mamdani is the Democratic nominee, representing parts of Queens in the State Assembly since 2021. and Curtis Lewa is the Republican nominee and the founder of the Guardian Angels.

17:23Stand by Joe. His mic. Q. New York City's mayoral candidates faced off last night in their final debate before the election on November 4th. I know that we desperately need to build more housing in this city and I also know that the jobs we create in the building of that housing should be good jobs as well. What a political answer. What is your opinion, Zoran? Yes or no? Come on. Yes or no. What is your opinion? Yes or no, Soran. No, the truth. Don't be a politician here. I got it. They're pointing out what I was about to. Please answer the question. I think on the stage you can see two people appealing for the Republican Party's votes.

18:05Don't turn it on there. Answer the question. Hold on. Answer the question for once. My question to you was, do you support the three ballot amendment questions? I have not yet taken a position on those ballot moments. Oh, what a shocker. All right. What a shocker. Ropado joining us. Curtis Lewa, Republican candidate for New York City mayor. You remember Ali Ropado. He won that fight. I don't know if this guy has to do anything. And I'm not, people want you to drop out. I'm not blaming you if the other candidates are bad or if New York voters are, I'm not going to disparage New York voters, but if he's got the, if Mondom, he has them under a spell because of affordability, I don't know what...

18:54Well, how did we get here? The Democrats allowed the socialists into their house. Bernie Sanders has never been a Democrat. Hillary said, but I need a challenger. You know, I don't want a coronation. Strike one. Strike two, AOC. Nobody knew her. Joe Crowley would have been the potential Speaker of the House now, having replaced Pelosi. He didn't even run a race. And Andrew Cuomo, 40 percentage points ahead of Zohan Mandami at the beginning of the Democratic primary, wiped out by 13 points. No, no, no. The Democrats have sacrificed their party to the Socialists. I'm the only Republican. Last night, I was the only one saying we need to cut corporate taxes.

19:35We've got to cut the income tax. The one tax that I can cut as mayor without any interference is the property tax, which is up to 20 percent. People used to say, oh, better to live in New York City because if you live in Nassau County, Suffolk or Westchester or New Jersey, tremendous property tax, which supports their school system here. Our property tax is the same and it doesn't go to our school system. So if you don't slash the taxes, corporations which are already fleeing in mass just have another reason to leave. And then we have a bloated budget,$116 billion budget in the city, which is more than the total budget for the state of Florida and Tallahassee.

20:14And you say, well, where's the money going? Especially the Department of Education,$40 billion. Each student requires$41 ,000. And what do we get as a result? Fourth graders, two-thirds can't read, write, or do arithmetic at grade level. One-third of the children don't even go to school. We have 100 ,000 less students. And it's the UFT, the union that runs the Department of Education, not the mayor. And it's, again, Democrats who've let them run amok. We are on the way to a fiscal crisis that may require the re-upping of the old financial control board. Because these Democrats just spend, spend, spend, and they have no limit on their spending.

20:56And there's not enough money there. I had a conversation with you earlier, and I mentioned to you, You're, unlike being a single vote, you could probably deliver with your voters hundreds of thousands of votes probably to Cuomo. You might be able, even though Trump and others say it's a lost cause at this point, but it is possible that you getting out could help Cuomo and you love this city. That's what people keep asking you. Do you see that? But you told me at this point, why not? Why can't you be married? Do you really see it? Do you see a path to you? You do see a path to you. Nothing indicates that.

21:36Yeah, well, wait a second. Who supports me? Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki, all the chairman of the Republican Party, the state leader, Ed Cox. Why would I drop out of a race and you're assuming Republicans are going to vote for Cuomo? You're on the ballot, so they're going to go right down the ballot. Oh, they can't even find Cuomo on this ballot. By the way, Cuomo's responsible for the crime crisis. No cash bail. raised the age that had my son on the ground being almost kicked to death by gang members. And you know what they got? A slap on the wrist and released by family court. And he wants to close the jails.

22:12So we already have a crisis. I'm going to let Andrew, because this is not my problem. I have my own problems in New Jersey. I have candidates, you know, you can't believe these ads that they run. Flat out lies that one candidate is running for the other. Andrew, have Adam. You're the one that's got to live here. Curtis I'm in DC today but I'm a New Yorker I love New York more than anything and there's a lot of things that you and I agree on the the the thing that I'm trying to figure out right now though is it appears the math is not ultimately on your side and so I I can't figure out beyond sort of the the not just the pride piece of it and the fact that you're a Republican and I get I get all of that but here we are in this sort of what you've described as this critical moment for the city, the future of the city.

22:58And if you actually believe that Zora Mandami is the threat that you've described, I mean, perhaps you don't think that. And maybe you think that Cuomo is just a bigger threat. But if, in fact, this is this sort of, you know, inflection point in the city, I just can't understand. Do you think that there's any chance mathematically that you win? Absolutely. And let me tell you something. The billionaires have been wrong about this election from day one. They give me vertical. First, they were with Cuomo. Then they ran over to Eric Adams. Well, how did that work out? He's one and done. He belongs in jail.

23:36He's the reason that there is a Zohan Mandami, because if he had done a halfway decent job, he would have been the incumbent Democratic mayor. It would have been round two because I ran against him the last time in 2021. And I warned everybody he would be corrupt and there would be chaos and it would be Sliwa versus Adams. Adams failed. Cuomo failed. That's how you have Azor Armandami. So please, I'm here in New York City. I was born in New York City. They tried to kill me in New York City. I will die in New York City. I will be buried in New York City. I know what's in the best interest of New York City.

24:10I'm not dropping out because some billionaires have vertical. And by the way, they may know Wall Street. They may know hedge funds. They don't know anything about the streets of New York City. And by the way, they've been wrong about politics every time. Curtis, do you think the polls are wrong? Excuse me? Do you think the polls are wrong? Well, did the polls say that Andrew Cuomo would win by 40 points over zero on Mondom? And what about when Donald Trump was attempting to rerun for office all the New York Post headlines? Oh, drop out, Donald. Make way for Ron DeSantis. How did that work out?

24:45Curtis, let me ask you one other question. You mentioned the billionaires, and we had one of them actually on our air earlier in the week, Bill Ackman. And I don't know if you saw, he took to Twitter yesterday or to X, and he made an allegation. I just wanted you to speak to it about why he believes you're not dropping out. He says that the city has an eight to one matching program for New York City donors. And Sliwa got five million of matching funds from the city through this campaign. He says, according to my source, you saw he put this out publicly yesterday. Sliwa's wife, friends and others are on the campaign payroll and he and they are enjoying living off the city's taxpayers who are funding his race lifestyle.

25:26He doesn't want to end his campaign and have to return the funds. And then he says, if I'm wrong, please tell me. So, Curtis, as he says, please correct the record if I got anything wrong. So I wanted to ask you the question directly. Bill Ackman has been wrong every step of the way about this race. And naturally, he wants me out of the race. So he makes these charges against me. Yes, there are matching funds. And I've raised more money than Andrew Cuomo in matching funds from New York City donors. So, Bill Ackman, keep wasting your millions. Give it to Andrew Cuomo. You gave it to Eric Adams.