i'll see you tomorrow on "gma." new york. what makes it think bigger? go bolder? push for a living wage that's higher. for tuition-free public college. justice that works for all. for a middle-class that... must. be. saved. you do. values. forged in new york. brooklyn born. native son. who knows what we know: we're all in this together. i'm bernie sanders and i approve this message. i said the first 18 years of my life in apartment 2c

>> he was born in new york. and still has that distint brooklyn accent. >> for me, it's great being back in new york. >> she calls new york her adopted home. and spent eight years representing the state in the u.s. senate. >> it's great to be home. this is home. it's great to be home. >> and he spent his entire life in new york. recon firing the skyline -- configuring the skyline with his buildings. and for the first time in decades, the votes of new yorkers could help determine who will call the white house home. starting next january. >> we are competing and competing hard in new york. >> it's like being so alive being in new york. >> and good evening everybody, welcome to a special edition of "up close." i'm bill ritter, now on the empire state. that's not happened in the presidential primary here in the last 40 years, the candidates are in a new york

new york the second biggest prize left, only california has more at stake. polls now show the national front runners ahead here as well in new york. on the republican side, donald trump maintained a large lead over both john kasich and ted cruz, well over 0% of the vote -- 50% of the vote. in a few moments we will speak with governor kasich and on the democratic side, all the recent polls show that hillary clinton leads sanders here by double digits of varying amounts but the national polls are getting tighter. new york mayor and hillary clinton supporter bill de blasio is joining me in studio in a few minutes, but before we get to the may your, our political -- mayor, our political reporter dave evans sat down one-on-one with hillary clinton. >> people of new york took a chance on me twice in 2000 and 2006 when they elected me senator. they voted for me in very large numbers. i just feel so committed to this state. and obviously i want to do well but more than that, i want to make it clear that they have my backing i'm going to have new

>> are you feeling confident? >> i feel good. i feel good. but i never make predictions and i never like to feel that it's over before it's over because it's not. >> his main critique i think of you specially last night was -- especially last night was how can you be an agent of change to reform wall street and the banking industry in america come from that industry? critique. critique. and of course yesterday when pressed by the moderator he continue come up with a single instance that could be in any way traced to any kind of contribution, because i've never been influenced by any contribution of any kind. but think about this dave, barack obama took more money from wall street in 2008 than anybody who ever ran for president before. and did that stop him from passing the dodd frank law which is the toughest set oaf registration laces we've had since the great -- regulations we've had since the great depression?

when i was a senator from new wall street. and i have a record of not just doing that when i was senator, but the plan i put forward is the strongest of anybody's and i thought it was very telling when senator sanders was interviewed at length by the "new york daily news," the core of his campaign is about breaking up the big banks. he could not even answer questions. i've studied the legislation. i said for a year here's what we have to do to make it work. i will break up the banks. if they pose a risk to our economy. i have said repeatedly that i'm going to appoint the toughest regulators that are going to hold wall street seat to the fire but i want to go further and senator sanders never understood this or at least has never agreed you know we have to go after hedge funds and big mortgage companies. to our economy. that's why paul drugman and others including barney frank

that's why frank endorsed me. >> do you think it's unfair for you, when people say oh, they think you're qualified? dishonest. >> i think it's really regrettable. the people of new york voted for me twice. they counted on me. they trusted me. for good reason. for new york. and i would do again as president. i ran a really hard campaign against barack obama. he turned around and asked me to be secretary of state. so people who know me, people i've represented and i've worked with. they don't understand this, this kind of seems to be in the atmosphere every time you run for something. -- i run for something. when i have a job i get really high approval ratings and i get very good marks for working with republicans. but when i run for something, oh my gosh, they pile on and i just keep forging ahead because i know once i get the job, people will once again say hey, she's really working hard. she's producing results.

race and 2008 -- in the last week -- is nasty. did you -- >> well, you know, i have really been somewhat surprised to see the kinds of things that the sanders' campaign is saying and implying you know going up to the edge and making all these you know, insinuations. but then trying to disown them and some of the people that are his surrogates have been you know, not just you know attacking me. they attack anybody who supports me which i find really beyond the pale. they can run their campaign however they wish. sanders repeatedly said i never run a negative campaign. he needs to listen to the people who talk before he gets on at the rallies. >> do you think he is? >> i think he's played along with the negativity. look what matters is we've tried to stay on the issues. i've tried to put forth very

what i want new yorkers to know is that what i will do. you know, it's not enough to diagnose the problem. we all know what the problems are. too much inequality. not just in the economy, but in education, in health care, in the criminal justice system. in discrimination against not just women, but lgbt community, people with disabilities, so much more. now it's okay to diagnose the problem. but that's not enough. you also have to have solutions for the problems. >> you don't he has solutions. >> i haven't heard -- think he has solutions. >> i haven't heard them and that interview with the "new revealing. in the end of it they got to go at both of us for more than an hour. they endorsed me because even they were shocked. he couldn't answer basic questions. he just keeps diagnosing the problems. >> do you think he's unqualified? >> look, i've said i will take mean i'll take bernie substantial doubters over trump or ted cruz any way. and i mean -- day.

on the $15 minimum wage an hour, i don't think you supported that federally. but last night it seemed like you said you do support that. >> no, i support the $15 minimum wage wherever it can be passed in the state and local governments. but when i was asked, if a democratic congress passed it would i sign it? of course the answer is yes. our problem is, if we still have a republican congress, we've got to get an increase from where we are this is $7.25 an hour. and we've got to get it to where i think it can be attracting republican support. namely $12. but i want everybody to go above that if i can they can to get to -- if they can to get to 15. >> are you already prepping for the likelihood of two new yorkers in the st. paul in. >> i love -- fall? >> i love being here dave. you covered me back in the day. i love traveling around this city. you and i are talking today and of course the senior center

the energy, the resilience of people here in this city and state is just so -- incredibly uplifting for me. so i'm going to be campaigning hard no matter who the republicans nominate. >> one other question here. kind of a potential question. i love the -- personal question. i love the little kids. i know you have a new granddaughter. >> i do yes. 18 months. >> charlotte. what does she call you? >> grandma. >> what does she call bill clinton? >> pop pop. >> okay, how do we -- >> i have no idea where it came from. my daughter doesn't really -- out of the blue one day, she goes grandma, pop pop. and we -- she sees us as a matched pair. so if one of us shows up without the other, she'll greet the one that's there and go grandma and then she'll start looking around and go pop pop or vice versa. when we do face time she does the same thing. and we're going to have another little baby in the summer, so we couldn't be happier. >> relishing family life,

speaking of politics secretary clinton may have the delegate the momentum. he's won the last eight out of nine contests mostly in states out of west. but he was here in new york, that the senator sanders stepped up his attacks against mrs. clinton challenging everything from qualifications to ties to wall street. the senator joined us earlier this morning on eyewitness news. >> i am talking to the issues that impact working families. the the need to raise the minimum rage to $15 -- wage to $15 an hour. the need to pass paid family and medical leave. the need to combat climate change and transform the energy system. when you're out leading and people respond to the issues, when you are with people respond saying other candidates have to follow you. where i would say to the african-american community, look at my record. look at our agenda on criminal justice issues. the need to reform a broken,

which hold police officers who break the law accountable. the need to rethink this so- called war on drugs. too many lives, black and white, and latino, have been destroyed because of possession of marijuana. i would take marijuana out of the federal control and substance act and look at my economic agenda. health care for every man woman and wild is a right -- child is a right. the u.s. joining the rest of the industrialized world. making tuition free public colleges and universities by imposing a tax on wall street speculation. if you look at the economic agenda, look at the criminal justice record. it's the strongest record out there. palestinians are human beings. and palestinians are suffering. and gaza lives today in ruins. these are issues that we as americans have got the deal with. israel -- i lived there -- it has absolutely the right not only to exist but to exist in peace, in security and free from terrorist attacks. there's no debate about that. but the american government has

palestinians are suffering as well. long-term if we're going to have peace to the region that's seen so much hatred and some conflict. we are going to have to reach out. when you have a handful obviously financial institutions, that today have enormous economic and political power, when you have the top six financial institutions i think assets, equivalent to 58% of gdp of this country. issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, in my view they are too big to fall. i don't want to see us bailing them out again. and by the way forget the risk element. that's too much power in the hands of too few people. up. secondary clinton does not. -- secretary clinton does not. i've known her for 25 years and i know her and i respect her but i have been displainted by the -- disappointed by the kinds of attacks that her campaign has leveed against me. what i want to see right now is a debat about the differences

bottom line here, the major difference that we have, is can you go out and raise huge amounts of money from wall street and the most powerful special interests and you know, then go vote and say to the american people, i'm going to take them on? i think most people really don't believe that's the case. every national poll out there now has the defeating trump by significantly larger numbers than hillary clinton is. not sure for the other republican candidates as well. so i think a lot of democrats taking a look out there and saying who's the better candidate to defeat trump and the answer is bernie sanders. >> drawing huge crowds. in fact that washington square park rally attracted thousands of people. the police say more than 11,000, the sanders' campaign says more than 35,000. either way, these are rallies we have not seen in new york city since another democratic presidential candidate. barack obama, spoke in the village back in 2007. in that new york primary by the way, hillary clinton defeated the future president.

sunday morning with "up close," special edition, mayor de blasio joins me in studio breaking down the election and responds to some of the republican candidates who have criticized him and yes we'll

american workers know how to fight back and rebuild an economy. so does she. we need jobs that provide dignity and a bright future. new penalties to stop companies from moving profits and jobs overseas. for businesses that create manufacturing jobs, a new tax credit. and let's invest in clean energy jobs, with 500 million solar panels installed by the end of her first term. a real plan to create new jobs and industries of the future. hillary clinton.

welcome back to "up close," the budget of new york city $82 billion, not many states have bigger budgets than that. this is a big job. before he was mayor bill de blasio was new york city public advocate with an office that is just a couple of million in the budget. it was quite a promotion. the 109th mayor. new york city joining us now to talk about the race to become the 45th president.

>> it's great to be here. you were endorsing and campaigning busily this weekend for hillary clinton. >> absolutely. >> and it's been a long time since new york was the center of the political universe in terms of having anything to do in terms of meaning with the presidential primary. >> or democrats a quarter century almost. >> 1976 i think was really the last time -- >> '92 to some extent but it's been a long time. >> serving both parties, 1976. what's it fell like all of a sudden to be -- feel like all of a sudden to be the center of the political universe? >> it's really good fornew york because look now some have cast dispersions on new york values. >> i heard that. >> yes have you heard about it? but look, real new york values are multicultural society. respect for immigration. believing a government does a lot of good in people's lives. that's certainly what we've shown here in new york city over decades. and i think it's fantastic that these candidates have to compete for new york votes. i'm thinking about new york city in particular. but obviously for new york

because it's a chance for them to have to speak to people who have shown that some things work. we've shown emigration works in the city for example. the national debate is raging but in this city, we've shown immigration is a strength. income inequality is now the core of the national debate. what are we doing about it? it's all on hillary clinton's platform. raise taxes on the wealthy to fund the kind of initiatives the country nodes. the invest -- needs. the investments and roads and transit. higher wages and benefits. not just the minimum wage which i think is absolutely crucial. also allowing that family to of each other is. the investments in the future of the country. it was very gratifying during the debate to hear hillary clinton talk about pre-k. but i believe hillary clinton is the kind of person who can get pre- country. if we're going compete in the world the kids need an early strong education. every child in the country should get quality full day pre-

>> 71,000 kids, 4-year-olds in new york city now getting universal pre-k. 19,000 before you took office. so that process a lot of people say educators, begins to narrow the income inequality that you believe needs so much narrowing. >> look, we have to address level. because as americans and as new yorkers, we've not believed in society. the history of america says we believe in equality and opportunity, but second this is not going to be sustainable to have an economy where everybody else makes it and everybody backwards. when you get kids you not only set up that child's future, because we're all going to need better and better educations to compete and be effective. second also taking a huge expense off the family. pre-k if you have to pay for the same thing for the 4-year- old at a private facility, it's $10,000 or $15,000. >> or higher. >> that's out of the struggling

budget so it has an immediate impact on reducing the inquestion quality and the burdens people face. >> let's get in the weeds little bit about the campaign. because you're backing hillary clinton. you talked about raising a tax on the wealthy. what is wealthy especially in new york city? when you have an income ceiling of $175,000 before someone is ineligible to live in a rent stabilized apartment? >> well, wealthy -- look, i'm obviously talking about billionaires and millionaires, but two examples i believe in both in hillary clinton's platform. the buffett rule. warren buffett says his own secretary shouldn't pay a higher tax rate than he does and that's been the reality. of many millionaires and billionaires have been arable to pay the -- age to pay the artificially low rate. >> because of the capitals. >> the buffett rule says let's have a tax system that actually

what the rest of do as aerated. i know your politics and see how passionate you are. >> say you know your poll tucks are more similar to -- politics are more similar to bernie sanders than to hillary clinton. was it a tough call to endorse hillary clinton rather than sanders? >> i've known hillary clinton for a long time. i saw the platform she developed. now until the platform came out i said i'm holding back because i want to see a vision for addressing the urgent issues. you know what she came up? paid sick leave and paid family leave. higher minimum wage and et cetera. her platform, when she walks in the door at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. she will have the most progressive platform walking in the door of any president in a half a century. that's how important it is i think that she has put together this set of ideas. but here's the oh thing about hillary i know this very personally. she's very serious and effective at jetting the -- getting the job done. when she says this is my vision, i have great respect

really helped along the american discussion. but i haven't seen in his history with all due respect to him. the ability i've seen the hillary clinton repeatedly, that ability to take the ball and run with it and make change. she's done it so many times, i have faith she is the one to actually achieve the changes. >> she has energized though the younger voters in the country and there are a lot of clinton supporters who worry the other supporters once this thing is over the hillary clinton gets the nomination, may -- boycott and not vote come november. >> i tell you what -- i disagree. it's an issue but i don't worry for two reasons. one, the same concerns are being raised around this time in 2008 with the hillary obama? well, ultimately they did and large measure because hillary led the way to unity. but people did come around. and i was -- the stakes are even higher now.

when i was out in iowa, we went out to iowa for hill we and we -- hillary and we talked to young people. they said a lot of them were passionately for bernie but they said we can support hillary too. and vice versa. in the end, i think what young people are looking for is change. they can respect the fact there's different candidates but with the vote against a trump or a cruz? it's not going to be a hard decision for a lot of young people. >> donald trump obviously a big force in new york city. a big player and big real estate developer, do you have nil relationship with them. -- any relationship with him? >> i may have met him in passing but no real relationship and you know a reporter asked me a while back, is he relevant in new york city today? no, he has no impact in new york city. >> neither has ted cruz and i want a play a couple of soundbytes. >> they're quite good. >> you will hear them and i'll get your reaction, play both of them if we can andy. >> moment when the brave men

stood up and turned their backs on mayor bill de blasio. i cheered for those new york cops and i'll tell you people all across america did. >> it's just a great city. it's a vibrancy and amazing city. we have to be careful. our mayor has to be careful. because he can blow it very quickly if he keeps going the way he's going. not doing good. we better be careful. mr. mayor. >> so first of all, here's what i love. the uninformed nature of these two republican candidates. new york city right now last two years, we've gained 250,000 jobs. the highest number of jobs gained in the two year period in the history of the city. at the same time crime has gone down the first three months of the year, the lowest numbers of shootings and murders in the recorded history of new york. so when you look at what's happening in the city, there's so many good things we're going to have the highest never tourists we ever had. almost 60 million by the end of the year, that doesn't mean there's not work to do.

understand the strength of new york city, and what's working in new york city, they haven't done their home work. >> your relationship with the new york police department by all accounts has changed since that moment and that had to be painful personally to you. >> look i differentiate unions from the rank and file of all the now almost 36,000 cops by the way. i'm pretty proud we're adding 2,000 more cops on the beat by the end of this year, but there's 36,000 people who protect us every day. they all have a range of viewpoints a lot of them live in the city. people with different backgrounds they have different viewpoints, unions, never surprises me when they take a particular view towards their boss. but in the end, yes, a lot has happened since then and i think one thing that's become clear to a lot of people any nypd is we're investing in them. new vests to protect them. better training and new technology like shot spotter so we can help keep communities and officers safe.

think there's a universal understanding of, we want -- one of the best things i did for the men and women of the new york police department is give them the best leader in the country is bill bratton. when you look at the amazing progress he made for the city. >> there has been just enormous amounts of vitriol in this campaign. vitriol and i don't think we've seen before. >> more on the republican side by far than the democratic side. >> fair enough. and you just sort of -- toll republican candidates take you on. as a dad, we have kids about the same age, what -- i know how i feel. what do you feel when you talk to them about the level of discourse in this? this is their first election they're going to vote? >> they're excited about it. you know doughnut is 18. >> kiara is 21. they are worldly wise even at this young age. and i think a lot of this generation is. they came up in the wake of the great recession. they came up at a time when people were struggling

went to college would they have crushing student debt and would they have opportunity in the future even if they had a college degree? i think they're very clear eyed and yeah, they see a lot of things that are off putting to say the least. and the negative nature of some of this republican dialogue in particular. it could sour you. but i can say for my kids and a lot of the other young people that i talked to, i think a certain righteous anger has emerged and i give them credit for it. rather than cursing the darkness, they're lighting a single candle and they're trying to do something about it. they're wondering how our generation and the generations before us didn't address some things like global warming and one thing or the other and instead of turning away a lot of them are accepting responsibility and stepping up. so i have -- actually a lot of hope about this next generation and what they can do. >> do you think it's turned off a lot of kids to politics? >> look it's impossible to miss the fact that such negative discourse is a lot of what happens almost the entertainment value of a lot of the political discourse is undercutting the seriousness. it makes it hard for a lot of

but i'm saying my experience with young people, is they recognize this is literally about the survival of the planet with climate change. and it is about economic fairness that they need too. it's very personal. they need opportunity. >> quick question, about one of the items in the news today about your administration. the fbi investigation into two people who fund raised for you and were involved in contributing to your inauguration and election. and then you talked about having a transparent administration. you said you didn't want the talk about this issue but it's hard not to. what do you tell new yorkers to convince them your administration is not involved in what the fbi is investigating and what's turning into a minor police scandal? >> what i said is not that i don't want to talk about i but i explained everything i know. but for you i will. we -- look, i hold myself to a very high standard and i hold my administration to a very high standard. the highest standard and new york city has come a long way that from a city was filled with government corruption to a

efficient government. it will bottom line here? not only have i not heard from any federal agency, forhas anyone associated with me. i asked my lawyer to reach out to the u.s. attorney's office and say how can we help you? if you need information we'd be happy to help you. there's not been a request. >> a response after your request? >> thank you. that was it. and. >> yet you're returning the contribution at least one of them. >> what i can say is meanwhile our own internal affairs bureau and this is also why i believe in new york city government. we have a strong internal affairs bureau at the nypd. we have tremendously strong oversight entities and internal affairs frowned. there were some police leaders who did the wrong thing. and have come to the -- already to the determination that they needed to be transferred or disciplined. that was all i needed to see to give back those contributions. but the bottom line is, i have made very, very clear to my team that we need to run a clean effective government for the people. and by the way, i said very

conferences, one of the reporters said, what can you tell people about what donors to campaigns can expect? in exchange for their donation? i said i tell you what they can expect. nothing, they're making a donation, it's because they believe somebody should be a good public servant. >> but the candidate said this is part of the problem when you have private sector people donating to public sector candidates. >> ultimately. not only overturn the decision of the supreme court, we should go even further and to a pure public financing system. which has been done in other countries. where the only money in the process comes from the public side of the equation. and individuals don't even get to give donations. that's world i'd like to create but until we're there. play by the rules and disclose all donations. and don't make governmental decisions because of what donors want. those are the standards i hold and i'm very adamant about those standards. >> thank you mr. mayor for that explanation and thank you for joining us on "up close." predictions about tuesday?