Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul is a Guest on CNN’s “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer”

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer."

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room: And we're back remembering 9/11 25, years later. That video was part of a tribute posted by New York Governor Kathy Hochul this morning. It was narrated by the actor Steve Buscemi, who is also a former New York City firefighter. Governor Hochul is joining us right now. Governor, thanks very much for being here on this very solemn day. What's your message, as we remember 9/11?

Governor Hochul: Well, I just left the reading of the names of the victims and my message is this - we are always united around tragedies. And you think about the heroic activities of people saving strangers and supporting each other and comforting each other on that day and the day after and many days after that. But it seems like we have an opportunity here on this 25th anniversary to rekindle that sense of oneness, that pride of being an American, the sense that we can represent different faiths and different ethnicities and different places where we come from - but we all have this common bond, and let's rekindle that at this time. That's my message to Americans and New Yorkers as I saw a lot of pain this morning. I hugged a lot of families and saw little babies that never knew their grandparents. And it's a hard time for New Yorkers, but we really do come through in the toughest of times together, more united.

Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room: You wrote a very important article for the New York Post, Governor, describing the stories of New Yorkers who as you put it, "turned pain into purpose." The men and women you featured in this article also all lost a loved one in the 9/11 attacks, but went on to choose a life serving their community in very different ways. Tell us about this and what the words 'Never Forget' mean when talking about these New Yorkers?

Governor Hochul: These people are living the message of never forget. They're the children of individuals who were lost parents and carrying on in their tradition, whether it's going into health care or firefighting service or being a police officer, or going to just one of the helping professions. That is how they never forget the fact that people that were true heroes were lost that day, or just people innocent going to their jobs as we still do every day. So that's the lesson of this. That's why I wanted to feature the individuals who didn't just talk about the slogan. It wasn't about branding - It's never forget. It is about living that message and how we can embody that in our daily lives. And I featured three individuals who were doing just that and so proud to meet a young police officer who carried on his father's footsteps, and his mother was a police officer. They met on the force, and I hugged her a couple of days ago at a ceremony commemorating those lost from the Port Authority. Those are the stories that touch your soul. They just take us back out of the sometimes the insanity of everyday news and what's happening. And all the incoming from Washington in particular, and you step back for a minute and you realize what matters. It's the love of family, the love of community, the love of country that brings us together.

Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room: Here's a moment, Governor, from earlier. You can see the former [New York City] Mayor Rudy Giuliani, shaking hands with the current Mayor Zohran Mamdani. What's your reaction to seeing this after everything we've heard from Giuliani and so many others over these past few days and weeks?

Governor Hochul: What happens in a moment like this, and I was literally standing right there, all the animosity seems to melt away. It's really hard to harbor hard feelings towards someone, even despite what you may have said days earlier, when you're surrounded by an environment, the reflecting pool and the names inscribed in the stone and the families that are looking so sad and so distraught. You can't harbor those hard feelings toward each other. This is a moment of common humanity, and that's what I saw on display when people who may say things in the moment - but at that moment, we were united.

Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room: Good point. This week you signed very important legislation, Governor, that is aimed at further supporting 9/11 victims responders and surviving family members. What's the significance of these new laws and what kind of impact do you hope they have?

Governor Hochul: Well, it's a continuation of a journey for these families. The number of people lost since that actual day is astounding. The number of funerals I have gone to personally of State Police officers who succumbed to an illness literally decades later. So I put more money toward a program to make sure we can be testing all the individuals. There are literally 2,000 samples that have not been properly tested because they ran out of money. So I stepped up with the money, and I wanted to make sure that we also are very transparent. If there's information to be known about that day - everybody has a right to know. They have a right to know, the surviving family members have a right to know. So our business is still unfinished. These families still need us, we're never walking away. A milestone like the 25th anniversary does not mean we're done - it means the journey continues.

Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room: Earlier this week, Governor, New York City released thousands of pages of documents that showed officials knew the air around Ground Zero was certainly not safe to breathe, they assured the public otherwise. What is your message to people who feel like they were let down by their public officials?

Governor Hochul: They were let down. People trusted the information that came out of the highest authority on the ground and in Washington. The Environmental Protection Agency, and the head of it, basically has admitted that the information was wrong. And so many people relied on that. Imagine if the EPA had said it's not safe to come back right now, we would have had other government officials, a Governor and a Mayor and others saying, "okay, we're not ready yet - let's make sure the air quality is safe" and thousands of lives could have been saved. And that's the harsh reality of what was released by the Mayor just this week.

Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room: And all these years later, people are still dying from the illnesses they got during the course of breathing that air. Today, there's also, as you well know, Governor, ramped up security for both 9/11 and the beginning of the Jewish high holy days. What's the State of New York doing now to try to ensure that everyone's safety today and this weekend will be secured?

Governor Hochul: Well, it is hard to have to say this, but we have to do even more to stop the spread of hate crimes. anti-Semitism in particular as we've seen a spike in hate crimes over the last year - and more than half of them are directed at Jewish New Yorkers. They have a right to be safe, going into a Synagogue to observe the holidays, whether it's going to taking your child to a Yeshiva and dropping them off or walking down the street. So I've allocated over $70 million - a tripling of the money that had been allocated just a few years ago - to give to synagogues and places that need to be secured. Money for security cameras, different lighting, different ways that people can feel safer. In addition, I created buffer zones. There's now a 50 foot buffer to protect people who are going to their services, protecting them from harassment and antagonistic comments from protesters, that was important as well.

I also have state police going to all of our locations, enhanced patrols from Buffalo - where you are from Wolfe, as I am - all the way down to Long Island. We're there to help this community know we have their backs. We know it's a heightened time of anxiety. It should be a joyful time celebrating the New Year, and I as Governor, will do everything I can to protect the Jewish community here in New York.

Wolf Blitzer, The Situation Room: And we are grateful to you for that. Governor Kathy Hochul, thanks so much for joining us. I appreciate it very much.

Governor Hochul: Alright thanks, Wolf.