Democratic Primary Debate for the 10th Congressional District — Full Debate

[0:03] good evening welcome to new york one's debate for the 10th congressional district [0:08] tonight kicks off our coverage of this year's democratic congressional primary races several [0:12] of which are hotly contested i'm errol lewis political anchor at new york one and i'm near [0:17] one's investigative reporter courtney gross tonight's broadcast is also streaming live on [0:22] the spectrum news app and on our youtube channel early voting starts on saturday june 13th in both [0:28] congressional and state legislative primaries across new york including tonight's race and the [0:34] june 23rd primary is just three weeks away from tomorrow new york's 10th congressional district [0:40] stretches from the west village to the east village it includes lower manhattan and parts of brooklyn [0:45] including all or part of brooklyn heights red hook park slope and sunset park tonight we're joined by [0:51] the two leading democratic candidates daniel goldman is the incumbent congressman serving in the role [0:56] since 2023 he's a former federal prosecutor who worked as the lead counsel for house democrats in [1:02] the first impeachment trial of president trump bradlander is a former city controller and 2025 [1:08] mayoral candidate he also served in the city council for 12 years the rules you see on your screen have [1:14] been agreed to by both candidates each man will have 60 seconds for an opening statement and then answers [1:20] to our questions will generally be limited to 60 seconds with 30 seconds to answer rebuttals or for [1:26] follow-ups at our discretion and there will be both the cross-examination round where the candidates [1:31] get to ask one question to his opponent and a lightning round where their answers should be yes or no or [1:38] something very short you can see this full debate on the spectrum news app at any time and for those of [1:43] you at home feel free to join the conversation online using the hashtag ny1 debate we begin now with [1:50] one minute opening statements the order was determined by a random drawing this morning on live television [1:55] brand lander will go first good evening thank you arrow and courtney our neighbors in new york 10 care [2:02] about democracy and about each other and it has been my honor to work alongside you shoulder to [2:07] shoulder for 30 years to prevent evictions of seniors and families to build thousands of affordable [2:13] homes to protect our retirees health care now our values are under existential assault trump [2:22] is abducting our neighbors and corrupting our government while the cost of living skyrockets [2:27] and the gap between the rich and the rest of us has never been greater but meanwhile corporate democrats [2:33] like dan goldman instead of taking on special interests take money from them from wall street crypto [2:40] and apac new york 10 voters want leaders who fight billionaires and deliver for working families [2:47] who put their bodies on the line to protect our immigrant neighbors that's why i'm proud to be [2:53] endorsed by mayors oran mamdani bernie sanders elizabeth warren the working families party [2:58] and why it would be an honor to serve you in congress thanks very much mr goldman good evening [3:04] thank you errol these are serious times with serious challenges and this is not a moment for career [3:10] politicians desperately seeking another job we have a fascist in the white house pulling strings [3:18] with the secret police abducting our neighbors and a system rigged by his billionaire buddies my life's [3:26] work has prepared me for this exact moment i prosecuted wall street cheats and mob bosses [3:34] i impeached donald trump and for the last three and a half years it has been my honor and privilege [3:40] to represent new york's 10th congressional district i'm not only a fighter i am a fighter who knows how to [3:47] win and when we take back the majority i will once again beat donald trump and we will move forward [3:54] with a bold progressive agenda that will make billionaires pay their fair share so that the working [4:00] families can get access once again to the american dream with universal health care free child care [4:08] and affordable housing for all i humbly ask for your vote and of course let's go nix okay thanks [4:15] very much gentlemen um let's start with our first topic this district has been home for a long time [4:21] to a large number of jewish voters who make up about 20 of the district is one estimate you are both [4:27] self-described liberal zionists who support israel as a jewish and democratic state while also supporting [4:33] palestinian self-determination and a two-state solution while you are aligned on many broad policy [4:40] positions you also have meaningful differences and i want to explore those and let's start with [4:45] yesterday's israel day parade mr goldman marched mr lander did not for each of you what symbolic [4:51] statement were your actions intended to convey and we'll start with you mr goldman well i was proud to [4:57] march in the israel day parade to celebrate the nation and state of israel a jewish and democratic state [5:06] that is distinct from its government i strongly oppose this government of prime minister netanyahu [5:13] and apparently i was unaware that basilil smotrich one of the most radical extremists in that coalition [5:20] government also attended uninvited i was unaware of that and i am incredibly disappointed that that [5:28] occurred because i have called for his removal i have called for sanctions against him and i think [5:33] another area where brad and i agree is that what is going on in the west bank that is being led by smotrich [5:41] is absolutely unacceptable i have been a leader on that from the beginning i have uh in congress [5:48] in opposing the settlements and exposing uh in opposing the expansion of the violence uh and i will [5:55] continue to lead in that so that palestinians have human rights self-determination and there can be [6:02] peace and security in the region okay thank you mr lander we have some profound differences here while [6:08] israel israel is committing genocide in gaza violating international law violating palestinian [6:13] human rights i believe we should not be sending additional u.s military aid to israel and i won't [6:19] be marching in the israel day parade alongside government ministers in netanyahu's government [6:25] like betzel el smotrich a war criminal who called it moral and just to starve palestinians representative [6:32] goldman has voted for every standalone aid package to israel for all the 2 000 pound bombs [6:38] that destroyed all of the hospitals and schools and most of the homes in gaza where netanyahu and [6:44] the idf now occupy 70 percent of the territory so no i won't send any additional u.s military aid to [6:51] israel i will sign on to the block the bombs act and the ceasefire compliance act with representative [6:56] which representative goldman does not view what's happening there as a genocide i've been fighting [7:01] against israel's occupation of the west bank and gaza uh since 1990 i've never heard him say the word [7:07] occupation in that context if you want a fighter for palestinian human rights just just to follow [7:13] up what was it of those those lists of complaints that you have with the actions of the israeli [7:19] government that led to you not participating in the parade um i mean i i'll go through it again i [7:25] mean you know israel is committing a genocide in gaza israel is violating international law and [7:31] palestinian human rights we shouldn't be sending unconditional military aid we shouldn't be [7:36] marching with war criminals okay um what did each of you make of that recent vote at the park slope food [7:43] co-op which of course is in the district uh to boycott the purchase of israeli produce um start with [7:49] you mr lander yeah look this one there were very strong feelings on both sides and it's important to [7:54] listen to them a majority of the members of co-op of the parks of food co-op abhor what is happening [8:01] their watch while they won't even allow bathrooms into gaza right now i mean the families there are [8:06] it is really extraordinary how horrific it is um and so people want to find some way to do something [8:13] they don't feel heard by their government because their congressman just keeps voting to send military [8:18] aid there despite the atrocities they see with their own eyes at the same time of course jewish members [8:25] of the co-op who believe as we do indeed both do in a vision of israel as a jewish and democratic state [8:32] don't want to feel unwelcome in their own grocery store so i don't support the global bds movement [8:39] and i would have voted no on the resolution but to me the answer is to end u.s complicity in israel's [8:46] genocide in gaza in the apartheid that is imposed on palestinians israelis will not be safe until [8:53] palestinians are free well look i agree with rabbi rachel timoner who is the esteemed rabbi of [9:02] congregation beth elohim in park slope who pointed out as she agrees with both of us that what has [9:08] happened in gaza is horrific and that there needs to be palestinian self-determination but as she said [9:16] this is not the way and the reason this is not the way is because the bds movement first of all was [9:22] founded on the premise that israel should not exist second of all what the park slope co-op does in [9:30] park slope brooklyn in terms of whether or not it has products from israel is not going to impact [9:38] israeli foreign policy but what it does do is it makes jewish members of that co-op and the community [9:45] very uncomfortable and it gets worse when in the conversations there are discussions of and the [9:51] use of a term jewish supremacism that is anti-semitic and that's where the line needs to be drawn you can [9:58] oppose the israeli government but you cannot espouse anti-semitic views and that's why i opposed this [10:05] resolution did you want to respond um look i agree charges of jewish supremacism in this context were [10:12] anti-semitic and and we should not be uh leveling them it is a time of rising anti-semitism and hate [10:19] um but the way to respond to it is to listen to the concerns that voters have and actually do [10:26] something about it um uh and you know and that's when i'm that's why a big part of why i'm running for [10:32] congress i want a representative who isn't going to keep voting for unconditional u.s military aid [10:38] who's going to actually uh push for real change let me let me wait i mean you know i don't understand [10:42] how you say jewish supremacism is anti-semitism you oppose bds that's what that resolution was i know [10:49] you like to talk about everything else but why why do you not why do you not think it was the resolution [10:55] you don't think that that resolution was anti-semitic even though i don't actually well there's a big [10:59] difference between the one person who said jewish supremacism in the debate and the 8 000 voters at [11:06] the food coop quite a few of whom are jewish who are looking for some way to express their [11:11] anger and frustration well look i agree with that they had a congressman i would stop voting for [11:17] unconditional military aid uh who could call it genocide who could say the word occupation right [11:22] who didn't march with war criminals the problem though focus on the problem is that i know you like [11:29] to accuse you know me personally of doing all this but the reality is we have laws on the books [11:36] that require any country that we give military and or security assistance to to follow international [11:43] human rights law they are called the leahy laws i work closely with the biden administration to [11:48] implement the leahy laws in the west bank and to withhold two thousand pound bombs to gaza we don't [11:55] need new laws we need to donald trump to enforce the laws that we have as president biden did do you [12:02] really think that president biden was enforcing international law and upholding actually no he [12:08] was because i was there at the time having conversations all of the with the administration [12:14] where they were holding back 2000 this is an area where we have let me just to to clear up something [12:20] before we move on we're going to move on to a different topic but um there were a couple of pieces [12:24] of legislation there was the block the bombs act the ceasefire compliance act i know that was a point of [12:29] difference between you um you've said on those and other issues mr lander that you [12:36] support a full scale restriction if not an outright halt on the sale of arms to israel [12:43] as a way i guess to put pressure on them to comply with international law and do some other things [12:48] policy-wise us complicity and uh and you feel differently about that i wanted to invite [12:54] uh mr goldman to explain what you think is the the right path to put pressure on the israeli government [13:01] well i can tell you what i think is not the right path which is that when you are in office as a city [13:09] controller and you have the opportunity to uh either support or withhold support from something that you [13:18] apparently believe in as brad seems to believe so strongly against uh the israeli government and then [13:25] you go on orthodox radio and you brag about the investments in the city controller's office in four [13:33] israeli companies including elbit systems which is the largest israeli arms manufacturer it is one [13:39] thing to speak out from the peanut gallery it is another thing when you actually are in office [13:44] and you have the ability to have an impact on something and ultimately brad had that chance [13:52] and he failed even though he promised to do opposite and this is what you're going to see because [13:58] israel errol with all due respect we're now 10 minutes into this and we've only spoken about israel [14:04] israel is not the most important issue in this district what is most important that i hear from [14:10] the voters is donald trump in the white house tearing our immigrant neighbors away destroying [14:17] our democracy corrupting everything from the white house and taking away health care food benefits so [14:24] many of the concerns that's what we're definitely going to get to those quick response he answered [14:29] well first he answered none of your questions errol so you should know he doesn't support the block the [14:34] bombs act he doesn't support the ceasefire compliance act he voted for every u.s military aid [14:38] package to israel he won't recognize it as genocide he's never used the word occupation to describe [14:45] israel's occupation of the west bank and gaza i'm proud of my record as city controller we grew the [14:50] pension funds over 300 billion dollars i stopped buying israel bonds because they did not use individual [15:03] publicly traded companies rep goldman knows that you're probably going to hear it again in another [15:07] context tonight but if that's the most significant criticism he has when he's been in congress and [15:13] failed so seriously on yes not the issues that matter most in people's daily lives that's affordable [15:19] housing and health care and trump abducting our neighbors but this is one of the significant moral [15:25] and humanity challenges of our time okay and our representative failed if i may just say one thing [15:30] errol you say you can't that you don't pick and choose the investments but you go on television and you [15:38] tout specific investments okay we're gonna so you can't have it both ways we will come back to that [15:44] when he has a question we are going to move on to a different topic and that is immigration enforcement [15:47] 26 federal plaza the city's immigration court and holding facility is in this district you both have [15:54] made a name for yourselves outside of that site or inside of that site goldman with unannounced [16:00] inspections and a triage center for assistance in your office with your own arrests with criticism of ice [16:08] mounting some of the democratic party have said ice should be abolished do you agree if so what is its [16:16] replacement and we will start with mr goldman yeah i do think i should be abolished what ice has been [16:21] doing over the last year and we i just had a press conference this morning with some of the advocates [16:27] and activists and faith-based leaders who have been helping us with this triage center is absolutely [16:34] unconscionable it is un-american it is unacceptable and ice needs to be abolished because it cannot [16:42] continue to violate the law this way but you raise i think a very good point and i would like our viewers [16:49] to really analyze how the two of us have approached this immigration situation at 26 fed we both have been [16:57] active um i have not only been appearing at court preventing arrests from happening but i've created [17:06] a triage center in my district office with advocates a coalition with lawyers where we are helping over [17:13] more than a hundred families and we have freed 39 people i also filed the lawsuit that we won to allow [17:22] members of congress around the country to conduct oversight of those ice facilities and i have [17:27] been there at least once a week i am the one who is going to do the work and to make a difference [17:34] and you'll hear brad talk about putting his body on the line but so he's a right and getting arrested [17:40] but all he's doing with that is fundraising he's not actually helping any immigrants thank you and [17:45] mr lander can you please respond to the question so i first called for abolishing ice in 2018 [17:50] representative goldman first called for it a month or two ago he's uh danny come lately to the [17:56] movement to abolish ice um what they have been doing this last year is indeed especially egregious [18:03] they've known the entire year they don't have the authority to abduct immigrants in the hallways of [18:08] immigration court the u.s attorney for the southern district even admitted it in court [18:13] um what i have been part of for this entire year i started going a couple of weeks before i got [18:19] arrested uh joining neighbors it's a movement of thousands of people here at 26 federal plaza and 290 [18:27] broadway and 201 varick street accompanying young people accompanying asylum seekers being there to bear [18:33] witness uh to yes absolutely connect people to lawyers so they need to file habeas proceedings [18:39] that's an area where i will give some praise to the representative um that movement is in minneapolis [18:45] what enabled neighbors to push ice and bovino out of their cities we've got a fascist in the white [18:51] house we've got a rogue ice agents in our streets but around here neighbors showing up for each other [18:57] and yes putting their bodies on the line is how we fight back and how we win i'd like the hearings in [19:03] congress on ice oversight to start in minneapolis uh to get justice for renee good and alex freddy [19:09] and that's how we can rebuild a better system well first of all we've already done hearings in [19:14] minneapolis on this issue um and in 2018 when you called to abolish ice uh you were about 10 years into [19:21] your political career i had not even thought about entering into politics i was one of the first ones [19:26] in college in congress to call for it and i have been leading the fight against it to protect and [19:35] actually make a difference on the ground for our immigrant community members who are so wrongfully [19:42] and illegally uh taken away i have introduced the bill to unmask ice i introduced a bill to prohibit [19:49] arrests at immigration court which as brad correctly said now ice has admitted that they should have never [19:55] been able to do i have been leading the charge from legislation to litigation to cross-examining christie [20:02] gnome and making her admit that they are violating the law to the trios center and helping 39 individuals [20:08] get out of con of detention we'll go back to mr lander the state legislature recently approved [20:14] legislation to prohibit cooperation between ice and federal law enforcement for civil matters [20:20] when should local police departments if do you believe local police departments should ever work with [20:25] ice to deport someone and if so when yeah uh first let me praise the state legislature for this [20:31] legislation uh which prohibits collaboration but also allows individuals whose constitutional rights [20:37] are violated by ice officers to sue them in state court that's something that we're going to have [20:43] to be doing around the country and that congress can come together those hearings we should have [20:47] in minneapolis to bring the killers of renee good and alex preddy to justice they'll be prosecuted in [20:53] minnesota and folks who violate the law ice officers who violate the constitutional rights of their [20:58] neighbors can now be prosecuted here in terms of when collaboration should and should not take place [21:05] the nypd and other law enforcement should absolutely not be working with ice uh to deport neighbors now [21:12] if someone commits a crime the nypd investigates arrests and works with prosecutors to prosecute [21:19] but that is not what is happening right now what ice is doing right now and i was down there this [21:23] morning because ice is now doing these mega master calendar hearings calling people in in droves ripping [21:31] rights away from young people we need all of our state and local jurisdictions on board showing up for [21:38] our neighbors thank you mr leonard mr coleman well i think the way that it works right now is the proper way [21:44] and the misinformation that the republicans use to say that sanctuary cities do not cooperate at all [21:52] with ice is preposterous what new york city does what new york state does is that when somebody has a [21:59] criminal conviction that warrants removal from this country the department of corrections in both city [22:06] or state cooperates and coordinates with ice to turn over that person when their sentence is finished [22:13] anything short of a conviction and a completion of a sentence is not due process to turn them over [22:22] and we cannot have our law enforcement helping the federal government with civil immigration enforcement [22:29] and the shame of it is that none of this stuff is the worst of the worst as stephen miller and [22:34] donald trump said it is lawful lawful people pursuing lawful pathways i have been in the homeland security [22:42] committee and in fact i did cross-examine christy noem and i got her to admit that she was violating [22:49] the law by deporting people with open asylum cases that is going to be exhibit a when i initiate the [22:57] investigations into christy noem and ice next january from my perch as a chairman of a subcommittee [23:04] in the judiciary committee thank you mr goldman okay gentlemen we're going to move on to our next topic [23:09] which is the high cost of housing it's an issue throughout the district it's an issue in park slope [23:14] and it's an issue in borough park the lower east side sunset park west village every part of the [23:20] district uh what would you do as a member of congress we're going to start with you mr lander [23:24] to help renters and small homeowners who are getting priced out of the district i mean this issue [23:30] is the biggest one facing folks on the ground and we all feel the tenants getting pushed out of their [23:35] homes all our kids can't afford to find a place to live in our community this has been the work of [23:40] my adult life i helped organize the effort to fight against the evictions of seniors at the prospect park [23:45] residents or residents in dozens of buildings bought by the private equity-backed landlord greenbrook [23:51] thankfully we strengthened laws in new york state and strengthening rent stabilization laws [23:57] i also helped bring together the biggest affordable housing plan in recent decades around [24:02] the gowanus canal where 8 000 new homes 3 000 of them genuinely affordable to low-income and working [24:09] class families are rising and i'm going to bring that expertise to congress i know how the federal [24:14] housing programs work most of them were developed in the 80s and 90s senator elizabeth warren who's [24:19] supporting me has a great 21st century road to housing act which is build more housing put more money [24:25] into affordability don't allow private equity to buy up all the housing and more strongly protect tenants [24:32] i'll be a champion in the u.s house of representatives for the housing that our neighbors need [24:36] okay mr goldman well since i've been in congress i have actually helped to increase affordable housing [24:42] supply and that is exactly what we need we need more supply to bring down rents at all levels the low [24:50] income housing tax credit is the largest federal program to help build 100 affordable housing and i played [24:56] a central role in getting that passed reforms that it doubled the opportunities to use those new york city [25:03] is going to use uh build 70 percent more 100 affordable housing because of that bill and brad mentioned [25:11] the gowanus development which was in in theory a great development unfortunately the way it has [25:17] transpired is that the market rate and luxury apartments have been built first and the vast majority [25:23] of affordable were put on the worst environmentally uh unjust unjust land and are still waiting to be [25:30] built i shepherded through the brooklyn marine terminal redevelopment project which has 6 000 units of [25:37] housing at 40 percent affordable and we made sure not only to reduce gentrification but also to ensure [25:45] that the affordable housing is built at the same rate as the market and housing let's be clear there are [25:51] zero units of housing in the brooklyn marine terminal so far while thousands of units in guanis are [25:56] rising because he just misspoke 100 every single building that's gone up has affordable housing in it [26:03] many of them also have affordable artist studios uh redevelopment is beginning on nearby public housing [26:09] because we built the guanis neighborhood coalition for justice that want affordable housing for new [26:15] residents but also protected tenants and invested more in public housing um and yeah the brooklyn marine [26:22] terminal that eric adams convened the task force and dan goldman chaired it um has a vision plan that many [26:28] residents want to see more information about the infrastructure and the transportation it is possible [26:33] to help people get excited about what inclusive growth can look like but only if you start from real [26:40] conversations with neighbors the guanis rezoning was the only big one in the city that got the [26:44] vast majority of its community board to vote for it that's the kind of leadership that i've been [26:49] providing and you can see it with your own eyes so um you raised the brooklyn marine terminal uh last [26:55] summer as we were trying to finalize a vision plan with a task force of 27 people elected officials [27:02] community leaders industry experts uh i worked with brad together to try to get that passed at that time [27:10] he supported it now that he's running for congress it's convenient and easy for him to try to get votes [27:17] by opposing it that's the problem with brad lander is that he will tell you one thing behind a closed door [27:25] and say something else when it is convenient for him in an electoral race and that's why you can't trust him [27:32] because he absolutely helped to support this program that zoran mamdani now supports so the mayor is a [27:40] proud supporter let's well let's talk about the mayor i mean i was very proud last year to cross [27:46] indoors the mayor let's talk about the project uh well i mean first on the guanis the mayor was there [27:53] to launch his housing plan last week we did a tour of the aguanis canal it is a template the marine yeah i [27:59] mean eric adams convened a task force and appointed dan goldman to chair it and they had a process that [28:06] people knew what mayor adams wanted from the beginning and that was the plan why did you support [28:10] it with me everyone can check the record i never supported it i asked a lot of questions and i was [28:15] pleased when borough president antonio reno so and council member shahana hanif uh said we need more [28:21] information we're going to issue an additional request for expressions of interest to learn more about [28:27] who's interested in the commercial uses of the waterfront to find out more about the transportation [28:31] and infrastructure that would be needed we'll get there on brooklyn marine terminal when i am [28:36] congress member but it's because i build good consensus and teams and bring neighbors together [28:42] that's what we did okay just to be clear that is a flat out lie it's not what happened flat out lie i have [28:48] the text messages let's leave let's we'll we'll we'll leave that for now um i want to ask you both about [28:52] the housing authority which has a 78 billion dollar capital deficit multiple developments in need of [28:58] repair or replacement including several in the 10th district i'm talking about uh the uh the red hook [29:04] houses uh we're talking about all of the developments on the lower east side without getting too deeply into [29:10] these programs the acronyms like rad or pact or the preservation trust do you generally support the use [29:16] of public-private partnerships to improve conditions at nysha developments in the district we'll start with [29:21] you mr goldman well i'm proud to co-lead the bill in congress with congresswoman nydia velasquez the [29:29] public emergent public housing emergency response act which would give more than 30 billion dollars for [29:34] capital improvements to nysha it is essential and we are working to push it through over obstruction [29:41] from the republicans um there are 31 nysha developments in our district and i am very proud to have [29:50] nearly every single nysha ta president supporting me including ones that were in brad's council district [29:58] when he was a council member and the reason they're supporting me is that i am thinking big on this [30:04] issues and i am focusing on the ground we have closed more than 400 cases i have also brought back 11 [30:11] different projects with appropriations funding of 10 million dollars for different nysha developments [30:18] because we need to be thinking all of the above here to help our nysha residents and i've been doing [30:25] that work and that's why they are supporting me as i mentioned in the guanis rezoning we want 200 [30:31] million dollars for the comprehensive modernization of both guanis houses and wyckoff gardens some of the [30:37] only places in the city where buildings are being renovated while staying traditional public housing and [30:42] i'm really proud of that at the same time i agree uh all hands all tools in the toolkit is needed but [30:48] residents need to vote and have a say when i was controller i created the first ever nysha resident [30:55] audit committee that published an audit to help people understand if we make different choices of [31:00] public-private partnership what might happen so that we could they can make good decisions and i support [31:06] the way the mumdani administration is looking to use that information to give residents choices one thing i [31:11] really hope will happen that came out of that committee is an app we designed uh called yelp [31:17] for nicher repairs we can't trademark it that way but residents say when contractors come into our [31:22] units they don't even do the work we've mocked up an app that will let them give feedback just like you [31:27] can on your uber driver or your yelp restaurant review it'll save money it'll get us scorecards on [31:34] vendors it'll deliver better life quality of life for nicher residents and i agree that is a good idea [31:40] okay we're going to move on to another topic and that is both of your experience you both have an [31:45] array of experience at different levels of government please describe what your biggest [31:49] accomplishment has been thus far while in public service and name one thing you admire about your [31:56] opponent's time while they've served in elected office and we're going to start with you mr goldman [32:01] well i consider public service to be more than just elected office and i've only been in elected office for [32:07] three and a half years i'm very proud of my record as a prosecutor holding uh wall street cheats mob [32:14] bosses to account and putting them in jail i'm very proud of the work that i did in leading the first [32:21] impeachment investigation of donald trump where we proved the case we got mitt romney the first [32:27] senator to vote to convict a president of his own party and then eight months later donald trump was [32:34] voted out of office and that's exactly the kind of experience that is necessary right now with this [32:42] tyrant in the white house who is abusing absolutely abusing our constitution and every value that we hold [32:50] dear i am a senior member of the judiciary committee and i will not only have that skills and experience [32:57] but i will also be in a position to lead those investigations my opponent has neither the skills [33:04] or experience nor will he have the seniority or position to do that when we take back the majority thank [33:10] you mr goldman did you want to mention one thing that you do admire about your yes yes happily um i [33:16] think brad has been a long long time uh public servant really doing a yeoman's work and trying to uh bring [33:26] working families forward um i i think your work on affordable housing uh is very admirable mr lander [33:34] i'll be a little more specific i admire the clinic you set up at 290 broadway to help immigrant families [33:40] i'll keep it there when i win this seat and make sure that we continue to provide the good services that you [33:45] uh have established um the legislation i am proudest of in my time in the city council was legislation [33:51] that helped workers take on corporate abusive bosses so uber drivers came and said we're getting [33:57] screwed we're only making six bucks an hour past the first legislation in the country guaranteeing a [34:02] living wage for uber and lyft drivers you better believe uber and lyft fought it [34:07] then deliveristas said the same and we did the same we're the first city in the country where [34:11] deliveristas are guaranteed a living wage and you better believe that seamless and doordash fought [34:17] against it fast food workers were facing really abusive schedules that were getting canceled they [34:23] couldn't get advanced notice they couldn't get full-time jobs and therefore health insurance we [34:28] passed the first legislation in the country in a big city guaranteeing a fair work week for fast food [34:33] workers you better believe mcdonald's and chipotle fought it but i fought back and passed that [34:39] legislation and now there's billions of dollars in working people's pockets similarly the freelances [34:44] and free act protects freelancers from wage theft we desegregated the middle schools of district 15 [34:50] something people thought could not be done when you bring neighbors together and fight back against [34:55] bullies and billionaires you can deliver for working families okay um gentlemen we're going to move on [35:02] now to the cross-examination where each candidate gets the chance to ask one question of their [35:07] adversary and they'll get uh one answer from that adversary uh you'll go first mr lander congressman [35:14] the last time that you were in this room you told arrow that you don't take corporate pack contributions [35:19] but you do not into your current campaign account but into your leadership account which is called [35:24] democracy action now or dan for short which which is cute um that account this cycle has cash checks [35:32] from american express from walmart from google from aflac why do you think it's appropriate to take [35:38] corporate pack contributions into your leadership account um and how can voters trust you when you [35:44] lied about it well you are right i do not take any corporate pack money in my own campaign account to [35:49] use on my own campaign and you also are correct that i do take corporate pack money in my leadership pack [35:55] that leadership pack cannot be used for me it cannot be used for my campaign it is only used to help my [36:03] colleagues win back the majority and i have no problem taking money from anyone who wants to give it to [36:10] me to help the democrats take back the majority that's only the only purpose it's used for and i have [36:17] i am proud to be able to be the number one person in my class who has supported democrats in the last [36:26] term and i'll continue to do that so we get the majority okay um your turn to ask a question mr goldman [36:33] um brad you do like to focus so much on israel so so let's talk about it again for a minute [36:40] in 2020 you uh told the new york times that you were a proud member of the dsa for over 30 years [36:48] since you were a freshman in college last year in the mayoral election you said that you renounced [36:56] your membership of dsa after october 7th and you did not seek the endorsement of the dsa why did you [37:04] leave the dsa i mean i think the answer was pretty clear on october 8th they advertised a rally that i [37:13] thought was heinous that spoke about hamas uh in ways that i just thought were vile and i could not [37:20] continue uh to be a member um that said when the choice came about how to handle the mayoral election [37:27] and the dsa endorsed candidates are on mamdani was the choice between him and andrew cuomo i did not [37:34] hesitate to cross endorse him so that we wouldn't live in a city with andrew cuomo as our mayor and you [37:40] could not even uh support him in the general election you're the democratic congress member [37:46] he's the democratic nominee for mayor running against a serial sexual harasser who betrayed [37:52] our party so yes i know how to build good coalitions when you disagree you speak up about it sometimes you [37:58] can do that privately sometimes you have to do it publicly but we can build a coalition that includes [38:05] democratic socialists and progressives and liberals and moderates who are fed up with the ways corporate [38:11] democrats are taking cash hand over fist and failing to deliver for working families okay gentlemen it is [38:17] time for our lightning round uh we're gonna ask you a couple of questions a brief response usually yes or [38:24] no will get us through it um mr lander where is the last the last vacation you took where was it oh the [38:32] first week of this year we went to morocco mr goldman i went to visit my daughter studying spanish in [38:41] argentina are you going to attend an nba finals game mr golden yes absolutely mr lander i'm gonna attend [38:51] a watch party but there's no way i could afford those get in prices give us one idea to reform the supreme [38:58] court mr lander expand it to 13 justices it used to have the same number of justices as there [39:04] are circuit courts and it should again mr goldman i think what we need to do is put term limits for [39:12] sure but also expand the court in a prospective way the court's credibility is destroyed i have [39:18] introduced a bill that would require an ethics and an independent investigative body which we need [39:24] but if we can expand the court so that it is depoliticized that will maintain its credibility [39:31] and that is the way that i think we need to deal with it would you support this the lightning round [39:37] yes some short yes or no short as brief as you can would you support senator schumer if he ran for [39:43] reelection in 2028 we'll start with mr lander um i think it's time for a new leadership in the [39:49] democratic party and that's why i'm running in this race again against representative goldman i have not [39:56] thought about it i have no idea whether he's going to run or not we'll deal with that uh when the time [40:01] comes mr goldman should new york city allow self-driving cars like waymo on the streets [40:06] i think if we can ensure as long as they are safe mr lander i've offered a plan for how we can do it in [40:14] a way that achieves a real transition a bit at a time so that worked workers actually can keep getting [40:21] the income they need to pay their mortgages and their rents okay when was the last time you used [40:26] an ai chat bot and what did you ask to mr goldman probably yesterday i would imagine um i have no [40:36] idea i do not remember i use it pretty frequently mr lander um i used it today to check on one of [40:42] representative goldman's votes an all-important question uh name of one of your favorite restaurants [40:48] in the district mr lander oh i love masala wallah on fifth avenue i love miriam i'll go with those two [40:55] mr goldman yeah casa adela on the lower east side that's good okay all right gentlemen um we're [41:01] going to talk now about um the uh direction of the democratic party um mr lander this is for you mr [41:09] goldman currently sits on the judiciary and the intelligence committees two panels that have direct [41:14] oversight over the trump administration if democrats take back congress he'll be directly [41:19] positioned to take on trump why should voters trade that for a freshman member i mean look we [41:26] we absolutely need to take back the house and have control of it but we also need better democrats [41:31] and i believe that corporate democrats who take money from wall street and private equity and [41:37] crypto and apac are not getting the job done i'll use crypto as an example um the representative [41:43] has an a rating from stan with crypto their super pac has supported him in the past and then he [41:50] republicans for the two crypto bills the genius act and the clarity act that make it so that [41:56] crypto investors would get bailed out if there was a bank failure before regular working people [42:01] that have helped donald trump enrich himself that would allow corporations to issue their own [42:07] crypto currencies so i think we need bold new leadership and i will work to serve on the house [42:12] financial services committee which has oversight of housing policy and i can bring my controller [42:18] background to rooting out financial corruption and the foreign affairs committee to make sure we have a [42:23] human power uh foreign policy that's consistent with human rights international law okay did you want [42:29] to answer that yeah i i agree uh that we need a new type of leadership um and that's what i provide [42:36] having been in congress now just for three and a half years brad is a career politician who has changed [42:42] back and forth any number of different positions over the years just to get elected this is exactly what the [42:49] problem is with our party i am there with bold creative new ideas and aggressiveness and i will as [42:57] you indicated errol be in position to lead the charge with my skills and experience to hold donald trump [43:05] accountable but also to push forward with an affirmative agenda to tax billionaires and make sure our working [43:13] families are getting the support that they need now those working families that brad says i do not uh support [43:22] are all supporting me nica is supporting me the overwhelming number of unions the teachers the building [43:29] trades all supporting me planned parenthood sierra club brady action fund they're all supporting me because [43:36] i have been doing the work on the ground for the last three and a half years and they know it because [43:42] those are the people who need the most help and that's who are supporting me i'm supported by the [43:48] united auto workers by new york state nurses by seiu 32 bj our building service workers by local 100 the [43:55] communications workers the working families party indivisible move on most of the local elected [43:59] officials and district leaders in the district so the working families in this district know who the [44:04] progressive champion is in this race and if i could just add one one thing you're talking about what the [44:10] agenda is right when we take back the house uh last week or a week two weeks ago um mr lander said that [44:19] we are going to have to wait until 2029 to change policy that is exactly the type of weak weak approach [44:29] that we do not need i am not waiting until 2029 i did not wait until the next election when i was denied [44:36] access to the ice detention facilities i filed a lawsuit and i won and i can assure you that i am [44:41] not waiting until 2029 to abolish ice or to change any other policies we are going to get it done and i [44:49] know how to do it let's get a quick response on that and then i have a question for you mr goldman i mean [44:53] no one's waiting until 2029 i gave an answer talking about what we can do on health care next term when we [44:58] use our budget power to restore subsidies on the exchanges and get medicare and medicaid back [45:03] so we set it up so we can do medicare for all after we elect a democratic president and that is [45:09] what will be required medicare for all is another area where he's uh danny come lately ran against it [45:16] when he ran four years ago he is supporting it now i don't know if he really cares about it or not that [45:21] we're not going to be able to do next year but we can do meaningful work next year and then keep [45:26] building on it to deliver for working families again that's why bernie sanders that's not at all [45:31] what he said and i'm an original co-sponsor of medicare for all and the green new deal as private [45:36] insurance companies have taken over our health care we need medicare for all and that's why i [45:42] support i got a question for you mr goldman um you recently said publicly that you believe [45:47] president trump intends to try and cancel the fall elections um your opponent has said that this is a [45:53] political moment that has a lot at stake and that leaders have to resort to actions that go beyond [45:58] the normal sequence of hearings and speeches and bill drafting and that civil disobedience [46:04] might even be necessary at this point uh i'm wondering if you agree with that assessment given [46:10] what is at stake and if so what are you prepared to do to protect democracy well i i'm more worried that [46:17] he's gonna rig the election um because he has put election deniers in positions of oversight of our [46:25] election system um he has obviously been trying to partisan gerrymander as much as he can he's been [46:33] trying to get voter rolls that he is not allowed to there's no question that he's rigging them [46:39] there are a number of things we can do and public protesting is absolutely essential we need to speak [46:44] up we need the public to speak up to get out there and make their voices heard but it would be a waste [46:50] of my position in congress if that's all i did because we have power that the average person does not [46:58] have and if i am just out there protesting and rallying i'm wasting the opportunity that i have to [47:05] amplify these issues to introduce legislation which i have done to prevent dhs from seizing voting machines [47:13] and to amplify these issues and put pressure on the republicans who see donald trump's uh poll ratings [47:21] drop and are starting to feel the heat all right that's how things work in congress got it yeah look [47:27] i see uh elected public service as a partnership between inside and outside every one of those bills [47:33] i mentioned before for fast food workers and deliveristas and freelancers was organizing with [47:38] them sometimes out in the streets and then writing the bills to get it passed in the city council [47:43] that's my style and i think that's how you get things done the place that i saw this work best [47:48] most recently was in minneapolis where i went after alex preddy and renee good were killed house [47:53] leadership apparently told congress members not to go but you could see on the ground how people were [47:59] pushing ice and bovino out of their city through peaceful protest through ice watch through mutual aid [48:06] and yeah we have to be worthy of that movement at this moment and sometimes that means civil [48:10] disobedience if he disrupts the election that will be one of those times okay uh candidates i want to [48:15] get you on the record um on a couple of things uh by show of hands do you both intend to join the [48:21] progressive caucus if you're serving in the next congress i'm a member you remember um do you both [48:27] support hakeem jeffries as leader of the democratic conference in the house if you should be a member okay [48:32] and to hold him accountable just like voters should hold us accountable and um and i guess [48:36] really endorsed me do you both support a third impeachment of president trump yes but after [48:43] investigations okay all right courtney okay we're going to move on to another topic mayor [48:49] mondani hinged much of his candidacy on taxing the rich mr lander you supported that endeavor mr [48:55] goldman you have said taxing the wealthy should be done on the federal level why do you have that [49:01] position and how should the federal government approach this mr bolton well look our system is [49:08] rigged out of control and donald trump is making it exponentially worse so we need to do everything [49:13] that we can do what i believe is we need systemic change and that requires federal legislation and as [49:21] a federal elected official that's what my focus is on last fall i introduced a bill called the robin [49:27] hood act which would make billionaires pay their fair share who pay almost no taxes the top 25 wealthiest [49:35] americans pay a 3.4 percent federal income tax rate jeff bezos pays one percent and the reason is they [49:44] don't get a w-2 or income that it be uh taxed with income tax they have their money and assets in stock [49:52] and rather than sell their stock to pay for their yachts or their mansions or whatever it is [49:58] they instead borrow against it so they avoid paying capital gains that's how they pay so little my bill [50:04] would tax those loans and it has broad support in the democratic party it has serious interest in the [50:10] republican party and that's the way to actually structurally change things to generate 30 billion [50:17] dollars of revenue that can pay for universal child care and have money left over for health care [50:23] housing and food nutrition mr coleman let me just ask you a quick follow-up when you talk about taxing [50:29] the wealthy who do you should it just be the the uber wealthy like you were speaking of who should [50:35] receive additional taxes or should people who are just average wealthy be also taxed at a higher rate [50:41] uh well i don't know how exactly you define it i i am i support just about every single bill in congress [50:48] to increase taxes on the wealthy the reason i am pushing this one is that it is actually targeted [50:56] at the problem it is a solution for the biggest problem not the only problem but the biggest problem [51:02] and uh my opponent uh likes to say now that he supports taxing the rich in the city but when he was [51:09] running for mayor he opposed it then it wasn't so convenient now it is convenient he will continue [51:15] to flip-flop and he cannot be trusted mr lander uh i mean dan said he should we should do everything [51:21] we can do but this spring when he had a chance to do something he totally whiffed he was nowhere to [51:27] be found we were fighting for universal child care in albany mayor mumdani said we need to tax the rich [51:33] to do it and what our congressman said is i don't think it's a good idea to do state-level taxes [51:39] and and thankfully that did not happen the pied-a-terre tax is going in and we are significantly [51:46] increasing funding for universal child care props to mayor mumdani and governor hochel for getting [51:51] that done um the thing he's referring to is a fight i helped lead to save 400 million dollars in cuts [51:58] that eric adams proposed to our school system and when we figured out a way to use pandemic funds rather [52:04] than tax increases i said i thought pandemic funds were a great way to fill in the gap his robin hood [52:10] act he also only introduced after i started announced my campaign or got ready to run for congress it's [52:15] so he can put a mailer in your mailbox in addition that act would raise over 10 years less than 300 [52:22] billion dollars senator warren's uh wealth tax uh two cents over 50 million dollars three cents on net [52:29] wealth of wealth over a billion would raise six trillion that's the scale we need to deliver universal [52:35] child care and medicare for all and genuinely affordable housing if i could briefly respond uh i do [52:42] support taxing uh the wealthy at any level that we can but we have to be thoughtful about it and um while [52:50] i do support the pied-a-terre tax and i said that i don't think that's going to make a significant impact [52:56] on the problem this we're talking we're running here for congress we are not running for city council [53:02] or state legislature the congress is the one who can make big structural change and my robin hood act [53:10] actually is something that was well developed in advance that is an idea that has attraction on [53:17] the other side from the republicans brad continues to cite other people's bills he has no ideas of his [53:24] own mr goldman it is also no secret that you yourself are a very wealthy person in fact you just [53:29] announced recently that you're going to be matching some contributions to your campaign that could [53:34] potentially break up to millions of dollars what do you say to voters who say you cannot understand [53:40] their affordability concerns well i urge my voters to look at who is supporting me and look at my [53:48] record i have been on record as supporting taxes that would increase in taxes that would apply to me [53:56] and i have been doing the work on the ground to fight for universal child care i am a founding father [54:03] of the dads caucus to advocate for universal child care paid family leave early child tax credit [54:10] i support every single one of these critical critical progressive programs that our working [54:16] families need thank you so i i that's all i fair enough i just urge everybody to look at the record [54:23] and look who's supporting me thank you and to mr lander just similarly very wealthy people have served in [54:30] office before everyone from fdr to mike bloomberg and some have said that they are beyond any kind of [54:36] conflict of interest what do you say to that argument when thinking about mr goldman's wealth i mean [54:42] first i do think it's offensive when uh multi-millionaires seek to buy office it's not illegal [54:49] but democracy is supposed to be regular people that's why the matching fund program that i helped [54:54] strengthen in the new york city council and i passed the strongest independent expenditure disclosure act [55:00] anywhere in the country is public dollars to match the contributions of regular people it's not a [55:06] multi-millionaire saying i'll match contributions to me i don't know if his program is like two to [55:12] one for private equity and three to one for crypto and four to one for a pack donors but a real [55:17] matching funds program would be great federal policy respond because he just uh attacked me here [55:24] we're at june 1st three weeks before the election this is the very first time that we have been in [55:30] the same room because my opponent will not debate me until now he's withdrawn from forums he's pulled [55:38] out he's actually made forums go back to back so that we wouldn't be uh actually have to face each [55:44] other and the question that i have is that if you can't stand up to me how are you going to stand up to [55:50] donald trump i'm facing you right now and we've done 30 forums several of them i was there in person [55:56] and you didn't even show up like what are you doing while i was there you didn't even come yeah [56:00] because i actually have a job in washington that's where i was guys gentlemen we're going to make [56:05] the best of our last few minutes um for years the only federal prison in new york is in sunset park [56:11] notorious for horrible conditions lockdowns violence uh the representative of new york 10 will [56:17] represent this facility very very quickly please try and make it 30 seconds if you can uh what would [56:22] you do to improve conditions there you as uh as a candidate and you as an incumbent yeah so i started [56:30] going there when the power and the heat were out i think it was in 2018 and we were part of like a [56:36] series of all-night protests to help get the power and the heat back on that's the first time i was in [56:40] there it's another area where i will give some praise to representative goldman who has shown up there [56:45] uh and demanded access because in addition to some of the high profile people that are in there like [56:51] you know sbf and and others there are a couple of hundred of our immigrant neighbors being kept in [56:57] appalling conditions there's a tuesday night vigil that i would urge people to go out and join [57:02] while fight as a member of congress but you could get involved right now mr goldman standing up uh i've been [57:09] conducting serious oversight of the mdc since i came into congress three and a half years [57:14] uh i have met with the warden and the senior brass i have met with the marshal of the uh bop overall to [57:20] discuss this i have introduced a bill that would increase the uh salaries for staff at the mdc because [57:30] they are suffering from staffing issues that leads to so many different problems and yes [57:35] i have visited the immigration wing of mdc three times meeting with detainees who are there [57:42] indefinitely non-violent non-criminal and who are being held in conditions just like a criminal jail [57:49] very good it is unacceptable okay okay we're going to do a few lightning round questions before we wrap [57:55] up the first is do you support the two borough-based jail facilities that are within the district the [58:00] first being in manhattan's chinatown the second being in downtown brooklyn mr goldman well i support [58:07] closing rikers and so we do need lightning rounds yes we do need borough park borough jails you support [58:13] the one in manhattan and the one in brooklyn mr mr lander you support both the manhattan and brooklyn jail [58:20] well i i am uh i'm not the the one in chinatown is is a is a real problem but i support i support them [58:27] both no one wants to build jails but rikers is a lightning nightmare okay that brings us to the end of [58:35] our time thank you very much candidates that's going to do it for tonight's debate i'd like to [58:39] thank the candidates for joining us and all of you at home for watching if you missed any part of [58:43] tonight's broadcast you can watch it in its entirety at ny1.com or on the spectrum news app and of course [58:49] on our youtube channel as well and be sure to tune in wednesday night for a primary debate for new york's [58:54] 7th congressional district in the race to succeed retiring congresswoman nidia velasquez you can watch it [58:59] right here on your one this wednesday night at 7 p.m and don't forget early voting is set to begin [59:04] across the city on saturday june 13th election day is on june 23rd on behalf of new york one thank you [59:11] all for watching and have a great evening