Hour 3: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it's Friday, so at least you don't have to
commute if you live in New Jersey over the weekend.
But man, what happened. What we all feared was going
to happen, happened the first Jersey transit strike in over
thirty years, and that's leaving three hundred and fifty thousand
riders trying to figure out how they're going to get

(00:22):
to work.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I have to drive either to Harrison or to Hoboken
or straight in, and like it's gonna stink.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's a lose lose situation.

Speaker 4 (00:31):
Off to go to Hoboken and take the path which
is add next for like forty minutes.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well we'll take the bus or drive in to try
to you know, work from home as much as possible.
And it just cracks me up that Governor Murphy now
is going to give updates. I heard that in Jacqueline
Carl's News, get to give updates. Now, all of a sudden,
we see Phil Murphy now that the cameras are involved,
now that it's a bigger story. It's big enough for
Phil Murphy to be involved. He wasn't that involved before

(00:57):
the strike, trying to stop the strike. But now you
know what it's like. It's like groundhog Day. When the
story's big enough. You can tell how big the story
is by if Phil Murphy appears and you know he
doesn't do his job as governor, but he's there for
the camera time, he'll be there for this part of it.
Now he's involved. Now you can bet you he's gonna

(01:18):
stop this strike. By the way, they were really close
to settling this. They claim they were. At ten o'clock
they cut off talks, Jersey Transit did, and the union says, wait,
wait a second, we're close. So it sounds like they
might talk again on Sunday. So hopefully we have a
problem today and maybe we won't have it on Monday. Also,

(01:40):
the mayor of Newark, Ross Baraka, who is loving this,
had his first appearance in federal court after being arrested
for trespassing at an ice facility. Afterwards, of course, he
spoke to the protesters outside.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
We cannot arrest people simply because they disagree with us.
We can't target people because their political views are separate
from ours. We cannot subjugate people, take their pictures, munk shots,
and fingerprints because.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
We believe that somehow they oppose to our.

Speaker 5 (02:12):
Position that ladies and gentlemen is authoritarianism.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
But you can arrest people if you truspass at ice facilities.
He left that part out. Did I mention he's running
for governor by the way, Yeah, he's running for governor.
That's what this is all about. In the Sean Diddy
Combs trial, the defense got its chance to shoot holes
in the compelling testimony of ex girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Cassie's doing a great job on cross examination.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
It's very long cross examination. Hopefully it ends tomorrow and.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
So she can be.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Done by the end of the week and put this
entire chapter of her life rider. That was Prosecutor Douglas
Wigdor leaving court with that. Let's get right to Peter Harralambus,
who has been covering the trial from the beginning. Peter,
thanks a lot for being here today and giving us
your insights. Tell us exactly what happened yesterday. Was the

(03:11):
defense able to shoot any holes in the testimony?

Speaker 6 (03:15):
You know?

Speaker 2 (03:15):
The defense kind of used an interesting strategy yesterday. There
weren't that many questions during this cross examination. It was
more like a series of what prosecutors ended up calling filibusters,
where basically they put into evidence, you know, hundreds of
pieces of text messages over the last decade between Ventura
and Combs and basically had her reader read it into
the record or at least kind of look at them

(03:36):
as the jury read along. And part of this was
an attempt basically to cast down on her testimony and
also to highlight that at times she was an eager
participant in these freak offs, that she was being affectionate
with Combs, that they were kind of behaving like what
would seem like a normal couple. It's a little bit
of an effort to cast down on her, a little
bit of an effort to humanize Combs, and overall it

(03:59):
just became a day of largely reading text messages in court.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Talk about why that is so important because all of
the domestic abuse we saw he's not being charged with.
But of course for the sex trafficking and the racketeering,
those type of charges you have to you have to
be able to prove she was coerced.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Right, Yeah, that's exactly right. And this isn't the argument
that the defense has been making. Part of that argument
is that one on what you're seeing in those videos
might be domestic violence, but that's not a federal crime.
And they've also said, and they've told this during multiple times,
to take a step back from the testimony and look
at the evidence from the real time when this happened,

(04:40):
look at the text messages. They say, text messages don't lie,
see what they say, and that that strategy is kind
of attempting to separate what she alleged over two days
of testimony, somewhat vile testimony, from you know, these somewhat
normal looking text messages, to suggest that this is kind
of a story she's exagger rated, allegedly or changed over time.

(05:02):
And to a skeptical witness, especially someone who who you know,
doesn't necessarily take every word she's saying at face value,
this could be an effective strategy in terms of poking
holes in this idea that she was coursed to participate
in these freak offs.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah, and one of the big questions is why didn't
she walk away? And you know, in the beginning, when
he first brought it up, she seemed to be willing,
and as it went on, she was less willing, according
to the prosecution, But years and years, she was with
him for ten years, did that come up, it was
there ever a time you felt like you could walk away.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
You know, it's interesting because they made a big effort
to kind of highlight that these text messages weren't from
necessarily the honeymoon period of their relationship, right. They showed
some messages from the first few weeks, the first few months,
when everything was happy and good. But you know, we're
looking at messages through twenty twenty fifteen basically, which yes
there was tension, yes there was issues, but all things considered,

(06:00):
there was also some really positive messages. For example, I'm
this morning going through some of the evidence that were
uploaded overnight, and you know, they're they're they at times,
you know, and these messages, for example a from Tiny
twelve where they're wishing each other good morning and having
the best day ever and calling each other the kindest
terms possible. You know, it's an effort in a way

(06:21):
to make you know, combs look normal, look friendly, look kind. Honestly,
it's a kind of message. I mean, this one example,
and who knows if this is like the majority of
the MIRF they're being cherry picked here, but you know,
all things considered, it doesn't look like an abusive relationship
when you look at that one singular text message. That's

(06:41):
the thing, though, you know there are probably thousands of
text messages exchanged between these two, and you know, one
text message one morning doesn't necessarily reflect what Ventura has
said overall was a toxic and violent relationship.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Now, it's interesting that you brought up the early text
messages when they had their honeymoon period, when you would
expect her to want to it was a great relationship
and to want to please him. But as the relationship
went on, do they still have text messages that are
saying that she was a willing participant?

Speaker 2 (07:13):
I think you still get those text messages through there.
You do get more, you know, more tense exchanges. And
let's go to twenty sixteen for example. If you recall
that that's the year where that video was taken out
of the surveillance video from the Los Angeles hotel where
Comes can be seen assaulting Ventura. Prosecutors excuse me, defense
attorneys put into evidence a series of text messages from

(07:33):
that day in which it kind of suggested that Ventura
was the one suggesting having a freak off that day
and that she was excited for that and that Combs
was accommodating her preferences. That's something that seems to go
against part of her testimony where she made it seem
like she was forced into this, that she didn't really
want to do it because she had a movie premiere
the next day. The text message just suggested that she

(07:55):
was still eager to do it, and if anything, she
was thinking of ways to make sure that the freakoff
wouldn't necessarily interfere with that upcoming movie premiere. She eventually testified,
how you know, because Combs beat her so viciously, she
had to put a ton of makeup on so that
she could still look presentable and not suspicious when she
showed up to the red carpet. But I think overall
it could be an effective strategy for some jurors who

(08:17):
kind of need one or two examples of inconsistencies to
consider the testimony unreliable and you know, not consider it overall.
We'll see this is set to continue today. Ventura is
very pregnant. For what it's worth, Prosecutors are concerned she
could have she could give birth as early as this weekend.
They wanted her to get off the stand by noon today.
Defense overnight runin a led to the judge that they

(08:39):
really want to continue this cross examination until until at
least Monday morning, So we'll see how that works.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yeah, we are well test She's going to be still
testifying Monday morning. Is that what you said?

Speaker 2 (08:51):
They they asked for that this morning. The judge as
of yesterday was insistent that she got off the stands
this afternoon. But they're really making a plea. They're saying
they're willing to risk a mistrial basically to make sure
they get a few more hours of this cross examination.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Right Because I played the prosecutor just a moment ago
where he was saying he hopes it's all going to
be wrapped up today so she can get on with
her life. I guess that may not be happening. It'll
be interesting. I guess we'll find out today. Peter Harralambus,
ABC investigative reporter. As always, thank you so much for
your time.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
Thanks for having me, Larry Ticker, see you later.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Will your favorite NFL stars be playing in the next
Summer Olympics. Maybe, but they'll be playing flag football, not football,
not the football you're used to. We'll talk about it next.
Plus tickets to see the Beach Boys, and In a candid, hilarious,

(09:46):
and unexpectedly moving new episode of On Purpose, host Jay
Shetty sits down with comedian, actor and podcast superstar Bert
Kreischer for a conversation that goes way beyond the joke,
says Jay and Bert dive deep into the real stories
behind the spotlight, open the free iHeartRadio app and search

(10:09):
for On Purpose with Jay Shetty to listen. Now, Well,
I've heard Steve Sharippa on the air here. He was
on with Mark Simoon and yesterday, and I heard him
on the morning show before here, and I, uh, I
always I never got the chance to talk to him.
So I'm really excited about this right now because I'm
a huge soprano fan. I'm a huge Steve Sharipa fan,

(10:30):
and Steve, thank you so much. It's an honor.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Not yet we're talking football here.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Oh see how excited I was? You see how excited
I was? I know, darn it. Couldn't you have pretended
you were Steve sharia just to make.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
The experience so much tried? But no, I'm not.

Speaker 7 (10:52):
But I was really interested in this because first when
you said football in the Olympics, I was like, what,
but it's not quite football.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
No, it's still trying to get me back on the track.
I want to talk about Steve shariffa Yet that was
that was so that was so deaf. Did you hear
how she did that? She said, didn't even just correct me,
just got right just to say, led me into the story. No,
it's gonna be a sport in the next Olympics, and

(11:24):
it's flag football. But here's what's exciting. It's not just
flag football for women, it's flag football for men. So
football is officially going to be in the Olympics, just
not the football we're used to. And what is amazing
about that is how many NFL players, including one of
the best players in the leagues, the quarterback of the

(11:45):
Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, who wants to be in
the Olympics. But several quarterbacks are there going to be tryouts?
Are these guys gonna Does Patrick Mahomes have to tryout?
Does he have to you know, beat some of the
other people the league, some of the other great quarterbacks
in the league, to be the quarterback of the flag
football team.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
The flag football team. It sounds so eighth grade.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
It does. It does.

Speaker 7 (12:10):
But I know flag football, especially for women these days,
it's a big thing.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Oh, it's a big thing for everybody these days. It's
going to be high schools now have it as an
official sport for women, right colleges for women. But this
is going The NFL, by the way, is behind this.
As I've told you many times, my granddaughter is great
at flag football. She's really good. She's playing for the
championship this weekend. She's a quarterback of the team. And

(12:38):
all the uniforms are NFL uniforms. That's how much the
NFL is pushing this.

Speaker 7 (12:43):
They're absolutely supporting it and all across the country. Yeah,
I know it became a big thing a couple of
years ago when they did that, and I think that's great.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Absolutely.

Speaker 7 (12:53):
So tell me what sport do you think you could
play in the Olympics?

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Could I have? Or could I could you have? I
couldn't even you know, walk from event to event right now.
But back then, I mean I was a pretty good
basketball player, not good enough for the Olympics. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
It was your only sport that would translate.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
It was the only sport I really ever played.

Speaker 7 (13:18):
Mine's more interesting because I didn't really play any sports
at all as a kid was dancing.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
I was a dancer.

Speaker 7 (13:24):
I was not a break dancer, even though I grew
up in Staten Island in the eighties.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
Did not happen for me.

Speaker 7 (13:28):
But I did. I did do synchronize swimming.

Speaker 6 (13:33):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
I love that, really I did. I was a little kid. Yep,
you know in grade school?

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Did your parents take video of this or film?

Speaker 2 (13:44):
You know what?

Speaker 7 (13:44):
There probably is somewhere in the world. Yes, and I
would never want to watch it again. But I guess
that was the only Olympic sport I would have ever
had a chance at.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh, we have to get that, Yes, we have to
get hold of that. If if anyone has any access
to that video, please go ahead and send it to
wo R in my name, and I promise I'll give
up that you were the one that sent it to me.
I promised.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
Fifth grade.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Come on, that's why you wanted. That's even gonna be better.
That's either gonna be better. That's amazing. But you never
went onto the Olympics.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
I never went on to sixth grade.

Speaker 7 (14:24):
But you liked it when you're doing it, it was fun,
you know, Because I love dance and who didn't like
to be in a pool. And it was a group
of kids and we had a good time. We had
a coach, the whole thing. We put on a performance.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
You know, it was great. That's amazing. Getting back to
the original story for one second. It is amazing, by
the way, how many NFL players want to play all
the biggest names.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
It's their only chance of gold medal.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
That's right, that's exactly the reason. They just want the
gold medal and the experience. You know, it goes hand
in hand. We'll see what the next Olympics. It's like
how many they get. But for this one, well, it's
just like the NBA. You know, they all want to
play in the Olympics and support America. You get the
biggest stars in the world exactly because they weren't win
a gold medal like you could have if you had

(15:11):
stayed with synchronized wheen.

Speaker 7 (15:13):
Or they could could be embarrassed by some small, unknown
country that beats them.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Now do you imagine, No, what are the chances of that? Yeah,
that's right, that would be so funny now. Jacqueline Carl
with the eight to thirty News, Jacquelin.

Speaker 8 (15:28):
Thanks Larry new Jersey Transit is on strike. The Brotherhood
of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced it's four hundred and
fifty engineers and trainees will be on strike starting today
after fifteen hours of NonStop talks went nowhere on a
wage increase, and the New York City Department of Transportation
is encouraging people to take part in National Bike to

(15:51):
Work Day today.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
I guess it's a good day for it.

Speaker 9 (15:53):
The DOT says bike riders shape is at an all
time high, with more than two hundred and twenty five
million cycling trips taken across New York City each year.
Not every New Yorker are fully committing to biking to work.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
City Bike actually jump a site for Marls.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
So if I'm going here to Mid Sound might be
a better play.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
I'm off tomorrow, so if the weber breaks, then maybe
a lot of It's.

Speaker 9 (16:14):
Part of National Bike Month, with the Dot hosting helmet
and gear giveaways, self guided rides, and holding a full
day bike bonanza on the Upper West Side this Sunday.
The agency's encouragement comes as The New York Post reports
an increase in tickets being issued to cyclists.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
Natalie Migliori wo R News.

Speaker 8 (16:32):
So it's Friday at eight thirty. Lara, are you ready
for real or fake headlines?

Speaker 1 (16:36):
I am number one.

Speaker 8 (16:38):
Archaeologists find ancient cave painting of a surprisingly accurate Wi
Fi symbol.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
True, it's faked.

Speaker 8 (16:49):
It got that was like a poop emoji in there somewhere.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Okay.

Speaker 8 (16:54):
Two four ton tator is traveling the country on a
flatbed truck.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
Oh man, True it is.

Speaker 8 (17:02):
According to w R I see a giant four ton
potato on a truck rolled into Richmond, Virginia yesterday as
part of a cross country tour by the Idaho Potato Commission.
The big spud, which is twenty eight feet long and
twelve feet wide, stopped at Brown's Island to let people
take photos and learn fun facts about Idaho potatoes. The
potato has been traveling since August, and we'll keep going

(17:24):
till June. Should be cooked by then. Wait a minute,
like a year August till June. I know, I know, mean,
isn't the potato going to rot? I would say it would?

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Eyes on you, oh dad?

Speaker 3 (17:38):
Joke of the family. Okay.

Speaker 8 (17:41):
Number three family awarded one hundred thousand dollars after they
were falsely accused of leaving a restaurant without paying their bill. True,
it is, according to Oddity Central. In July, millionaire couple
Peter and Anne McGirr from Northern Ireland eight at the
Horse and Jockey restaurant. The restaurant posted a video on

(18:01):
Facebook claiming them a girk skipped out on their two
hundred dollars bill, so they girks took the restaurant to
court and brought them their receipt. The mcgers were awarded
one hundred thousand dollars in damages for the harm done.
I don't think it was worth it to post it
online when they were not actually so. Headline four Iowa

(18:22):
town alecs retired Crossing Guard as a mayor for her
unmatched whistle authority. True, that's fake, but it would have
been cool.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (18:31):
Five drivers crash. A driver crashes into a bank on
the same day of the week for the second time
in two months. True, it is. According to the Daily Voice.
An elderly driver crashed into the Webster Bank on Route
fifty nine and Nanuet, New York, for the second time
in two months, and both accidents were on a Friday.

(18:52):
The driver, whose name wasn't shared, wasn't hurt, and no
one inside the bank was injured either.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Thanks so much, Jack Lin Carl. Congratulations to David from
Manhattan who just want a pair of tickets to see
The Beach Boys at Town Hall on West forty third
Street on June thirteenth. Congratulations David. Tickets are now on
sale at ticketmaster dot com. Coming up next week, we'll
be giving away tickets to see the Brotherhood of Rock
Tour starring Styx, Ario Speedwagon lead singer Kevin Cronin, and

(19:21):
former Eagle Don Felder at the PNC Bank Art Center
at eight twenty five next week. Although not a lot
of the cast members are around right now, there is
still life after the Sopranos, and Steve Sharippa is living
proof of that. Have I talked about hele excited I
am to talk to Steve Sharippa. The actor has a

(19:44):
lot going on right now. We'll talk about it all
next well. As I said a while ago, a huge
Sopranos fan like everybody else in the world, and I'm
so excited to talk to Steve Sharippa. It's quite an honor, Sarah,
thanks for being here today. Hey Larry Ry, it's good
to talk to you. Are you going to the Knicks
game tonight?

Speaker 6 (20:05):
I sure am. I will be there, my friend.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Yeah, they gotta win tonight.

Speaker 6 (20:09):
The Knicks will wrap it up tonight. That's my prediction.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Oh give me, give me by how much so I
can lay a bet.

Speaker 6 (20:18):
Listen now that I don't know, but they they they
will win tonight. They will win tonight.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
I think they win very much.

Speaker 6 (20:28):
Look forward to it. I'm a die hard Nick guy,
you know.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Yeah, I think if you went to the game dressed
like Spike Lee, They're going to win.

Speaker 6 (20:37):
Yeah, there you go. Spike Lee's the mascot. You know.
The Knicks don't have a mascot. That's the mascot. You know.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Well, you got a lot of sporting events coming up.
You've got the next game tonight. They this is amazing,
this thing they're still doing at the Somerset Patriots, which
is the New York Yankees double A affiliate. It's like
Steve sharipa day, you're gonna be there? How long are
you going to be there that day?

Speaker 6 (21:02):
No, I'm gonna be there for you know, the whole night,
the whole game. And it's uh, we did it last year.
A soprano night. They show clips and the food specials
and I'll be on the concourse taking pictures. We throw
out the first pitch. It's a babblehead night, first thousand
fans getting Steve Shirpp. And I have a famous Wiena dog, Willie.

(21:24):
He'll be there and uh, I love your dog, Willie. Uh,
babblehead night, so we'll be there, and uh, it's a
lot of really is a lot of fun. And uh
we got a Q and A and we got all
kinds of different deals going on over there. So if
you go to uh Somerset Patriots dot com, you see
a lot going on. A really last year we did

(21:45):
over seventy five hundred people. We expect about the same
this year, and uh, only this year you get a bobblehead,
So it'll be a lot of fun. I'm a big
I'm also a big.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yankee fan, so I'm just so impressed how long you're
going to be there because many times when celebrities go
to these things, they make an appearance in their gone.
You're going to be there and you're so accessible people
can come up to you and talk to you.

Speaker 6 (22:06):
Right, Larry, I'm not a celebrity. I'm a regular guy
with a good job. That's it. I don't consider myself
a celebrity. I'm a regular guy like everybody else. I
just happen to do this for a living. And yes,
they could come up to me and take a picture,
and then it'll be I'll be there the whole evening. Honestly,
I'll say the whole time. I hate bringing my family

(22:28):
and friends. We'll be up in the box up stairs
and come back down and it really is a good night.
They have Karen's last Zdi and onion rings for the
table and Satia japeppers and they got some good stuff
going on. And Willie last year was great.

Speaker 7 (22:45):
And by the way, Willie his dog is an Internet
sensation and I think he has people want to come
to see him.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
He's the cutest dog ever.

Speaker 6 (22:55):
There's nowhere that I don't go. Every single day people
ask me, you know, as I walk you walk around
New York, where's Willy, Where's Willy? Where's the dog? The
people love this dog and it's amazing. I mean, he's
six years old. He's just a funny, funny, really nice dog.
So you know, people, he's got a lot of fans

(23:18):
out there.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Have you seen the bobblehead yet? Did they get the
essence of Sharipah?

Speaker 6 (23:24):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. We had to approve it. My
wife approved it. It looks pretty good. I'm actually skinnier
in the bobblehead, so I like that. But yeah, it
looks pretty good. It's a good one. But sometimes you
see a bobble head, you go, who's that guy that?
You'll know? It's me.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Hey, I'll tell you what. My wife loves Hallmark movies.
I know a lot of people that they are they
won't even take services if they don't have the Hallmark
channel on there. And now this is it seems strange
on its face, but I guess it makes sense. You're
doing a couple of Hallmark movies. You've already finished one,
you got another one coming up in November.

Speaker 6 (24:05):
It was November and it came out in Valentine's Day.
It was a Valentine's Day and it was like a
bucket listing. Honestly, you know. My agent called and I said,
I'd love to do a uh, you know, a Hallmark movie.
And it came and I did it and we had
a lot of fun. It was a great cast, you know,
no shooting, no yelling, none of that stuff. Just everything's

(24:27):
nice and now, which this is an exclusive because they're
not going to announce it until Monday on the Today Show.
But I'm doing one in Buffalo. I start shooting it
next week. A Buffalo Bill's Christmas movie. Did the Kansas
City Chief this year Buffalo Bills. A lot of the

(24:47):
cast will be in it, a lot of the players
will be in it. So I'm going up to Buffalo
for a few weeks to shoot that. So I'm looking
forward to that.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
That's really exciting. Hey, real quick, let's get this into
Are you're going to be at Sony Hall in New
York on August sixteenth? Tell us about that.

Speaker 6 (25:02):
Yeah, we do a show met Michael Imperiali at Vinnie
Pastor's Conversation with the Sopranos. We show clips and slides
and behind the scenes stories, a Q and a meet
and greet. We go all over the country. Matter of fact,
we're starting a ten city UK tour in February, so
we've been doing that for a number of years. It's

(25:22):
a you know, if you're a soprano fan, you don't
want to miss it. It's August sixteenth, We'll be a
Monca in New Jersey November twenty ninth and in Philly.
So we do that. That's a lot of fun. We
you know, do theaters all around. It's if you're a
soprano fan. You'll find out things that you never knew
about the show.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Hey, listen, before I let you go, I would love
to talk to you about a little bit of politics.
What do you think it looks like Andrew Cuomo's got
might have this thing wrapped up. How do you feel
about Andrew Cuomo as the mayor of New York City.

Speaker 6 (25:54):
Well, he's the best of the worst. That's all I
can tell you. Because there's no one here, you know
what I mean. The Blasio was the worst mayor in
the history of New York City. He destroyed the city. Right,
He's a communist, this mine. What's the guy's name, Mandannie?
Who's the other guy, Donnie?

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yet?

Speaker 6 (26:13):
Okay, he's a flat up communist. He's a fool. He's
throwing out the low rentike and the younger kids think
that that's gonna help. He's a complete fool. Andrew, who
I know is the best of the worst. Is I
can't believe there's no one going to be able to
beat him, and he's gonna win. And at least he's
a politician. I mean, at least he knows what's going on.

(26:34):
I mean, Adams has no clue, so that that was
a complete joke. So with Doom, Larry, yeah, yeah, he's right.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's a shame that we're in this situation. Thanks so much.

Speaker 6 (26:47):
It's honestly, I mean with Doom, I mean, how could
New York City not have someone that could step up?
You know, Listen, Bloomberg was a great mayor. Rudy before
he went off the rails, was a good mayor, you know,
cleaned up the city. Twenty years. We had this city
on what was on top of things, you know, and
then de Blasio came in and destroyed us, and and

(27:09):
Adams didn't have the brains to pull us out of it.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Steve Pyer, Yeah, perfect that you shot Steve. Thanks a lot.
You can see him at this ever, said Patriots. The
New York Yankees double a affiliate game Saturday, May thirty first,
six thirty five. They're gonna play in case you care.
The Akron, the Akron Rubber Ducks, commuter chaos, the New

(27:35):
Jersey transit strike, is leaving hundreds of thousands stranded. How
are commuters dealing with this? W o RS. Natalie Migliori
gets the Beat on the Street next.

Speaker 10 (27:46):
Now he's seventeen w o RS Beat on the Street
with Natalie Migliori.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Well, what else would Natalie ask about today? Then the
Jersey transit strike. That's the topick of her Beat on
the street. Good morning Natalie, Good morning Larry.

Speaker 11 (28:05):
We are less than twelve hours into the first NJ
Transit train engineer strike since nineteen eighty three, so with
no commuter rail running in out or around New Jersey.
Several commuters coming into Manhattan by bus through Port Authority
say they noticed the difference.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
Even on a Friday, bus was completely crowded when we
got on, maybe a few seats, maybe four or five seats,
left busier than usual.

Speaker 12 (28:29):
I definitely didn't have a seat, and I left maybe
an hour early, because everybody that catches the train is
probably catching the bus. Now, it wasn't so bad because
I left relatively early, but it was at least maybe
like ten to fifteen extra people on the bus normally
that early. There's much many more.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
Seats this morning. Yes, the bus is mostly full on
mornings is not ready to people standing, but standing people
are standing this morning.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Well I didn't.

Speaker 10 (28:51):
I don't notice anybody extra. The route I took, it
was regular for now. I'm sure later on this morning
is going to give you a hat a little crazier.

Speaker 11 (29:00):
Yeah, several commuters are telling me they're bracing for a
packed afternoon commute home. The union representing more than four
hundred and fifty train engineers saying members want more money,
and Governor Phil Murphy, along with NJ Transit President President
and CEO Chris Colories, say they want to give it
to them, but not at the risk of having other
union unions demanding the same amount of pay that could

(29:22):
lead to them spending even more money on paying people.
Union leaders say they'll meet with NJ Transit again as
long as they come back with a quote proper offer.
Some commuters bracing to have it even worse come next week.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
I haven't thought about it, but I'm off on Monday,
so I don't I don't care, and I don't have
to come in that I don't really care. Possibly, so
Momdy will be a big difference, obviously because Friday being Friday,
you know, so with she and Monday morning.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
It's going to be interesting Monday.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
I really don't know.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Monday's going to be the real test. So let's see
what happens.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
You can never tell when they strike for these things.
Hopefully it ends quickly. If not, I guess we'll be
on crowded buses.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
I'm not stress. And then there are other things to
worry about.

Speaker 13 (30:06):
This one now, just strike. They are really inconvenience everyone,
and they're gonna get whatever they want anyway.

Speaker 1 (30:12):
So what the heck? What's the pourbus of psyching it?

Speaker 11 (30:17):
Yeah, and and day Transit had said they can't afford
to pay engineers their desired amount, but the union argues
the agency could afford to give riders a fair holiday
and to build new headquarters in Newark. So it all
comes as riders brace for an unwanted fair hike in July.

Speaker 6 (30:33):
Okay, nobody deserved for the fair to go up.

Speaker 11 (30:36):
I mean, economy is like not in a great position
right now.

Speaker 12 (30:40):
So why would they raise up the prices if there's
a lot of delays? The workers do, but obviously it's
gonna affect the commuterst So but we have to do
we have.

Speaker 6 (30:48):
To do it.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Of course, the living is going up.

Speaker 10 (30:50):
You know, everybody, everybody deserves a pay raise, but NJ
Transit has to make sure they do it properly so
that everyone could, uh, you know, get a decent more
decent way agent, you know, be able.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
To live better.

Speaker 11 (31:03):
Yeah, and Larry, I did talk to somebody earlier this month,
before the strike who said, yeah, maybe if the fares
go up, they would instead pay the ride the workers
rather than putting it God knows where wherever the money
goes when the fair goes up. That's what a rider
had said. But with everything happening at Newark Airport these days,
this is just another transit tobacco. For Paul, who usually

(31:25):
takes the train but was forced to get up even
earlier for the boss this morning.

Speaker 13 (31:30):
Occasionally I'll take the bus whenever's you know, that's a delay.
You know NJ transits are always have delay anyway, So
what's a big deal. It's not new in New Jersey
about that. Even the airport is delayed. I got delay
in an airport. I have a flight to seven o'clock.

(31:50):
The plane left eleven o'clock for one hour trip. I'm
not surprised New Jersey is the worst transit and never
improve anything.

Speaker 6 (32:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (32:01):
I think this is the point with Paul here Larry
is if you can't cry about it, you can laugh
about it.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
So because yeah I did. I liked his attitude about
the whole thing, but I didn't connect the two together.
He's absolutely right, this is horrible for transportation in New Jersey.
You can't get anywhere. Yeah. Well, I don't know why
would people would want to leave, but you can't get anywhere.
Thanks a lot, Natalie, have a great weekend, Natalie. You'll
be back on Monday at eight point fifty with her

(32:30):
beat on the street. So how did we get to
this point? Speaking of the strike, We're going to talk
with the transportation and policy expert about what we can
expect now that New Jersey Transit is on strike. That's
coming up after the nine o'clock news