The incoming mayor named a former de Blasio administration official to run the city’s legal operation and elevated a Queens hospital executive to oversee health and human services
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced additional senior appointments Tuesday, naming new leadership for the New York City’s legal operation and a hospital executive to oversee health and human services as he continues to assemble his administration ahead of inauguration.
Mamdani selected Steve Banks as corporation counsel, the city’s top lawyer, and appointed Ramzi Kassem as chief counsel, a senior advisory position that does not require City Council approval. Banks’ appointment as corporation counsel must be approved by the council.
Meanwhile……..
Mamdani has appointed Ramzi Kassem who defended al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Darbi in court, to be city’s chief council. 🤦🏼♀️ pic.twitter.com/5VvzCPng8P
Banks previously served as commissioner of New York City’s Department of Social Services under former Mayor Bill de Blasio and later led the Legal Aid Society. As corporation counsel, he would direct the Law Department, which represents the city and its agencies in litigation and provides legal guidance to City Hall.
Kassem is a law professor known for civil rights and constitutional litigation and has served in advisory roles at both the city and federal levels. As chief counsel, he will advise the mayor on legal strategy and policy matters but will not manage day-to-day litigation. Some critics have zeroed in on Mamdani’s choice of Kassem as chief counsel-they argue the pick implicates an “ideological” approach to the city’s legal leadership. One local critic via The NY Post said the appointment sends a message that “America haters … have a place in his City Hall.”
In a separate announcement, Mamdani named Helen Arteaga, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, as Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.
New: Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is appointing de Blasio administration veteran Steve Banks as NYC’s next corporation counsel.
He’s also tapping Elmhurst Hospital CEO Helen Arteaga as his deputy mayor for health and human services. https://t.co/dgRYy8v2pD
Arteaga has led Elmhurst Hospital, a major safety net and “ethnically-diverse” facility in Queens, since before the COVID-19 pandemic. In her new role, Arteaga will oversee agencies responsible for public health, hospitals, mental health services and social support programs.
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Mamdani said the appointments reflect his priorities heading into office, and additional senior positions remain unfilled as the transition continues. The Mayor-elect is scheduled to be sworn in at the start of the new year.
There are at least two Bill de Blasios in New York. But when a reporter for a British newspaper recently emailed one of them to get quotes for an article about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, he got the wrong one. The non-famous DeBlasio (who spells his name “DeBlasio,” not “de Blasio”) responded, reportedly using ChatGPT to make himself sound more like the former mayor. And that set off a chain of events that resulted in an article being pulled and raises questions about the future of journalism in the age of AI.
It all started when a reporter for the Times of London emailed a Bill DeBlasio to ask about “Zohran Mamdani’s policy plans and their estimated costs,” according to Semafor. Mamdani has become a political lightning rod nationally because he’s a democratic socialist, which has prompted Fox News and President Donald Trump to go after him as a “communist” who will destroy New York City if he’s elected mayor.
It makes sense for a reporter to get comment from de Blasio about Mamdani’s plans, given his unique role as a former mayor from the Democratic Party. But if you don’t actually find contact information for the right de Blasio, that’s obviously a problem. And to make things even more confusing, you may not know you reached the wrong de Blasio if anyone can now mimic a public figure’s voice with AI chatbot tools like ChatGPT.
The reporter had accidentally emailed a 59-year-old Long Island wine importer who “used ChatGPT to compose a response criticizing Mamdani’s tax plans, in particular, as unlikely to raise the requisite revenue,” according to Semafor. And the Times of London published the story with the headline, “Zohran Mamdani ally Bill de Blasio says his policies ‘don’t add up’.”
The Time of London article relied on DeBlasio’s fake quotes to insist the former mayor had said things like offering free buses and universal childcare—the foundation of Mamdani’s mayoral campaign—don’t hold up to scrutiny. It wasn’t long before de Blasio, the former mayor, chimed in on social media.
“I want to be 100% clear: The story in the Times of London is entirely false and fabricated,” de Blasio wrote in a tweet on Tuesday. “It was just brought to my attention and I’m appalled. I never spoke to that reporter and never said those things. Those quotes aren’t mine, don’t reflect my views.”
The Times of London deleted the article and issued a statement to the Associated Press that its reporter had been “misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor.”
This wasn’t the first time. Mel magazine wrote about the non-mayor DeBlasio in 2020, back when he was described as a 54-year-old cybersecurity professional who was often getting messages intended for the mayor. But he’s long played along with the confusion.
“Once, as a joke, I changed my profile picture to Bill de Blasio’s picture. Oh my God, I got 600 friend requests in like two weeks,” DeBlasio said at the time. He also admitted that he would say, “the most ridiculous, outrageous things” while pretending to be the mayor.
And nothing much has changed, except for the technology. DeBlasio now has access to a new tool that can help him impersonate the former mayor. It’s a tool that he didn’t have in 2020. Generative AI is at the disposal of anyone in 2025 who wants to carry on some form of deception. In journalism, that deception isn’t just something that comes from potential sources. It can be perpetrated by writers themselves.
At least six news outlets have deleted articles written by someone named Margaux Blanchard over the past year, according to the Press Gazette. Blanchard is believed to be an AI creation, but “she” was getting articles published at Wired, Business Insider, Mashable, and Fast Company. Wired wrote about the mistake in August, laying out the timeline of when the article was pitched to an editor and the red flags that appeared when the writer wanted to get paid.
Curiously, Wired wrote that Blanchard’s story had been run through two “third-party AI-detection tools,” which found that it was likely to be written by a human. But AI is not good at identifying when something is AI. Just ask Grok.
“Fabulists and plagiarists are as old as media itself,” Wired wrote. “But AI presents a new challenge. It lets anyone craft a perfect pitch with a simple prompt and play-act the role of journalist convincingly enough to fool, well, us. We acted quickly once we discovered the ruse, and we’ve taken steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again. In this new era, every newsroom should be prepared to do the same.”
Wired is absolutely correct that fabulists and plagiarists are as old as media itself. That kind of stuff has even been turned into some very good Hollywood movies, like 2003’s Shattered Glass, about the New Republic writer Stephen Glass from the 1990s who presented fake stories as factual. But there does seem to be a critical change happening with AI that helps people who are intent on deception achieve that more efficiently.
We can almost certainly expect more willful lying to take place in our current media landscape thanks to AI. And part of it is a numbers game. Most people probably won’t be fooled by a deepfake video of Elon Musk imploring them to invest in a scam crypto coin. But if you flood the internet with enough of that fakery, eventually the scammers will find their victims.
The same thing can happen in journalism. Who knows how many media outlets Margaux Blanchard pitched before she was successfully published? And once she got published at one outlet, it was presumably easier for her to take that validation to another outlet as implicit proof that she was real and reliable.
U.S. media is getting hollowed out, as publications struggle with Big Tech companies eating all their revenue and right-wing ideologues taking control at once-respected institutions like the Washington Post and CBS News. The editor who worked on that Bill de Blasio piece for the Times of London reportedly worked for the Free Press, a right-wing publication founded by the recently installed head of CBS News, Bari Weiss.
AI is just one more tool that seems to be hastening the obliteration of reliable information on the internet. And there’s not much that anyone can do about it besides remaining skeptical. But skepticism can only get you so far when tools like AI detection software don’t really work as advertised. Journalists are required to keep digging to figure out the truth by verifying information through multiple sources. But that work is only going to get harder as people looking to deceive can just keep throwing more bullshit at the wall, exerting no more effort than a simple one-line text prompt.
In a September op-ed, former mayor Bill de Blasio officially endorsed Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, praising his ambitious platform calling for universal child care, a rent freeze for tenants in stabilized apartments, and free buses.
“We don’t just need Zohran Mamdani to be our mayor because he has the right ideas, or because they can be achieved. We need him because in his heart and in his bones he cannot accept a city that prices out the people who built it and keep it running,” he wrote in the Daily News.
But the local political scene was briefly stunned when a reputable British newspaper published an article featuring quotes of the former mayor seemingly bashing Mamdani’s proposals, statements that de Blasio emphatically said he never made.
“I want to be 100% clear: The story in the Times of London is entirely false and fabricated. It was just brought to my attention and I’m appalled,” de Blasio wrote on social media. “I never spoke to that reporter and never said those things. Those quotes aren’t mine, don’t reflect my views.”
On Tuesday, the Times of London posted a piece with the headline “Zohran Mamdani Ally Bill de Blasio Says His Policies Don’t Add Up,” featuring quotes from de Blasio claiming he had gone through the assemblyman’s proposals and found them lacking. One quote read, “In my view, the math doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial.”
Then de Blasio quickly issued his own statement disavowing the article, telling the public that he never spoke to the Times of London and demanding a retraction. “It is an absolute violation of journalistic ethics. The truth is I fully support @ZohranKMamdani and believe his vision is both necessary and achievable,” he said.
Within the hour, the Times of London had removed the article from its website and a spokesman issued a statement saying its reporter had been duped. “The Times has apologised to Bill de Blasio and removed the article immediately after discovering that our reporter had been misled by an individual falsely claiming to be the former New York mayor,” the paper said in a statement to the New York Times.
The newspaper did not provide any additional details as to how the deception occurred. The Times of London is the oldest daily newspaper in the U.K. with a storied history dating back to its founding in 1785. The paper was purchased by media magnate Rupert Murdoch in 1981 and is currently operated by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
But the article still made the rounds despite its early deletion. The New York Postquickly aggregated the fake quotes, and staffers with former governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign shared the Post story, which was later updated with de Blasio’s actual quotes refuting it.
Bill de Blasio knows firsthand what the closing weeks of a mayoral race feel like. He is less familiar with a dramatic finish; in 2013 (after a hard-fought Democratic primary) and in 2017, de Blasio trounced his Republican opponents. This year’s front-runner, the democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, can’t breathe as easy, even if he does enjoy a hefty lead in the polls against Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, and scandal-plagued incumbent Eric Adams — not when the Trump administration is throwing its weight around to push Adams and Sliwa out and force a two-man race.
De Blasio endorsed Mamdani earlier this month, and the two have plenty of political common ground, such as a focus on affordability. But de Blasio’s admiration clearly runs deeper than any policy platform. I spoke with him about why he thinks Mamdani is a uniquely talented politician, how the end of the race might play out, and whether it matters that Chuck Schumer still won’t endorse.
The polls have been telling a very consistent story, with Mamdani getting support in the mid-40s, Cuomo in the mid-20s, and Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams well behind those two. What do you think would have to happen for Mamdani to lose at this point? Well, I’m certainly not here to give you doomsday scenarios, but I think I’d flip the equation and say the best way for him to guarantee his victory is to break 50 percent. I think about his trajectory from the primary until now, because the primary is always a measure of just Democratic voters, so it’s a smaller universe, and he ended up low mid-40s there. And then, of course, with the fuller distribution, even higher. But to convert that now to, give or take 45 percent of the overall city electorate — independents, Republicans, minor parties, everybody — that’s a major achievement, to basically take his primary performance and superimpose it on the general-election electorate. That’s a lot of movement.
So the first thing I’d say is that the trend line is extremely impressive and encouraging. And then the second piece is the turnout question, which has become more and more central in the last ten years. And I think we’ve seen here a shocking disparity between a candidate and a campaigner who has a truly well-defined, massive turnout operation, versus three other campaigns that show no evidence of that, and certainly no evidence of a grassroots organic turnout operation.
Yeah, Mamdani’s volunteers are everywhere. Right, and that really counts, considering so much of voting is emotional, spontaneous, last minute. Human contact in the final days is just immensely powerful in terms of actually motivating someone to vote. So I really do believe his current 45 percent or so in polling probably translates to 50 percent or more in actual vote terms, because of that turnout differential. But obviously he has to execute that. Whether he’s up against one opponent or three opponents, it’s academic if he breaks 50 percent.
We still don’t know the final candidate lineup. There are all sorts of possibilities — six weeks is forever. One or more candidates might drop out, and of course that will change things. But what that doesn’t change is the way people are running their campaigns. There’s really no such thing as six weeks out a candidate having a conversion experience and suddenly turning into a different or better candidate. If you have not produced a compelling campaign by now, it’s locked in, basically. That’s a reason why Zohran’s team should feel some confidence, but not overconfidence.
And there’s also just external events. Inevitably, things happen, and they do frame how people think. There’s been a lot of history of that in New York City. It doesn’t change anything about strategy. Something might happen in the world that affects people’s thinking, and you can’t plan for it. So what you do is continue the steady growth and continue to build a turnout operation. And then if something really fundamental happens in the world, or in the city, it’s a question of how each candidate quickly and agilely responds to it. And in that kind of scenario, I would give Zohran a much greater likelihood of knowing how to do that, doing it in a way that people felt was real.
One other thing I’d say is that I still expect a huge amount of money to be thrown against him toward the end, and attempts to misrepresent him, which we saw in the last weeks before the primary. I assume it’ll happen again. It wasn’t effective in the primary, but I don’t think that will stop folks with a lot of money from trying. And you just don’t know how that plays out.
I was struck by something you said recently about Mamdani, that “he is more talented in many ways” than you were. This was in the context of him reaching out to skeptical business leaders, which you said he did in a smart way. What in particular impresses you about Mamdani? I would say on the broader talent level, he’s just a natural, organic communicator. He has a really great ability to keep his message short and clear without dumbing it down. And I’ve noticed even in more spontaneous settings, his brain takes a question and breaks it down to something clear and understandable, but still emotionally meaningful. It’s just who he is. I would dare say I’d give some extra credit to his mom, because if you have a mother who explains the world to people in very emotional and visual terms, I’m sure that is a great influence. We’ve all been to movies where a single line or a brief scene can speak volumes. I think he’s organically learned that, and that’s a massive talent. His human ability to connect with people very fluidly — I have some of that, but I think he has more.
“Democratic socialism with a human face,” as you’ve put it. Yes, exactly. Look, you can drop me into any community in New York City and I can relate to anyone, but he has a way of doing it that’s particularly engaging. Talent is such an interesting thing. I think of this through a sport, particularly my beloved baseball. Some players show up and they just can do things other people can’t do. It’s just in their DNA, in their bloodstream, in their influences, whatever. This guy can do things most other politicians can’t do.
He’s also clearly moderating as he approaches the general election. He has backed off on the phrase “globalize the intifada,” for instance, and has said he would apologize to the NYPD for calling them racist in the past, although he hasn’t yet. The relationship between you and the police force was fraught for a time. What do you think of the way he’s handling this? I think it’s a good start. I always tell people from my own rich experience that the notion of referring to “the police” as a totality politically is an inaccurate frame. I always say there are three pieces. There’s the rank and file, who are, in broad strokes, about half from the city, half from the suburbs, half people of color, half white. They’re very diverse in every sense. They are not politically monolithic. And then you have the leadership, including the leadership that a mayor brings in and elevates, and folks who rise up the ranks, who are often also diverse in their worldview. They’re often very intelligent, subtle people who don’t just see the world in black-and-white terms.
And then you have the unions, and there are five of them. All five are different, and their leaders are different. The newer leaders at the PBA and SBA are different than their predecessors. There’s a common history with the PBA in particular of stirring the pot and often practicing a kind of right-wing populism, but it’s not monolithic.
So there’s no simple way of describing the police worldview. But I think, generally speaking, anybody would want to hear that you care about them, you respect them, that if you had some negative assumptions, you’ve reevaluated those and you want to make sure that they know that you’re listening to them, that you’re thinking objectively. He’s doing those things in his own way. I think those are the right things to do. It’ll take more, and also it will never be perfect. If an officer happens to have a more reform-minded worldview, they’ll give him more of the benefit of the doubt. If an officer happens to be a MAGA person, they’ll give him less benefit of the doubt. That’s just human reality.
But also it’s which leadership he chooses, how he relates to them, and then how he relates to the union leaders. And I had good days and bad days with that. I go back and look at the first months of my administration — we actually had a chance of having a more productive relationship with the police unions. And the death of Eric Garner, obviously, threw everything into a painful, conflictual dynamic. But again, each union is different. There are new leaders. He has a chance to establish his own cadence and connection. And none of this stuff is preordained.
You endorsed Mamdani in early September. Governor Hochul did a few days ago, but a bunch of prominent leaders, like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, haven’t yet. Well, I don’t know if I’d say a bunch anymore. It’s a pretty small number. Hochul came through; Yvette Clarke came through the other day. I think Schumer and Jeffries should endorse him for sure, but they’re in a very unusual position as the two leaders of the party in each chamber nationally, from one borough. When does that happen? But if you put them aside — the DNC is supporting him. So you’ve got Jay Jacobs, you’ve got Jeffries, you’ve got Schumer.
And Tom Suozzi. That’s four people. The vast majority of other Democrats, that I know of, are supporting him. So it’s almost like the ones who are not are such outliers at this point.
But the problem is that the ones who are not are two of the most powerful Democrats. But with deepest respect for them, in terms of moving a vote in New York City, I’m not sure I would say that.
I was going to ask if you had some sympathy for their position, and it sounds like you do. I understand they are representing a national worldview and a variety of constituencies, and I get that there’s some complexities. That said, he is the Democratic nominee. He won overwhelmingly, and they should support him, period. It’s time. It’s really not a good reason. I can see the complexity of their lives. I don’t think it changes anything. They should support it. But the real question is, at this point, when we’re talking about votes on the ground, is the absence of that handful of endorsements changing the reality of the ground? Not really.
Lastly, your feelings on Andrew Cuomo are well documented. The race isn’t over, but do you feel any sense of solace, or even triumph, watching him struggle to win this race? No, because it’s not over. I think the public has seen through him once and for all. I think the emperor has no clothes and his old tricks aren’t working, but that’s all academic until the votes are counted.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The FBI investigation appears focused on links between Turkey and the Adams campaign, a country with which the mayor has long fostered close ties. The New York Times, which obtained portions of the search warrant in the raid of the fundraiser’s home, reported that the FBI was investigating whether Adams’ campaign conspired with Turkey’s government to pocket illicit overseas donations.
Adams, a first-term Democrat, and the fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, 25, have not been accused of wrongdoing.
FBI agents leave the Brooklyn home of Mayor Adams’ campaign consultant, Brianna Suggs, earlier this month. (Obtained by Daily News)
New York City mayors have often found themselves caught up in corruption investigations. In this case, the publicly surfaced details of the inquiry into Adams’ campaign and the disclosure that the FBI seized the mayor’s devices have put questions about Turkey and its connection to New York City at the center of local politics.
“We are fully cooperating,” the mayor said at a news conference last week, referring to the FBI. “My role is to allow them to do their job without interference, and I have to do my job of continuing to make sure the city navigates the various issues that we are facing.”
Adams’ lawyer Boyd Johnson acknowledged that an unnamed individual acted “improperly.” The person has been placed on leave, according to City Hall.
Many details related to the inquiry remain unknown at this point. Here’s a look at key recent events, and what is known so far.
Nov. 2: The day the news broke
On Nov. 2, the mayor flew to Washington, D.C., for meetings with the White House on the migrant crisis, which he has described as the most pressing issue facing the city. But almost as soon as he had arrived in the nation’s capital, he turned around and headed back to New York to address what his office characterized as a “matter.”
That morning, FBI agents had raided the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Suggs, who has claimed credit for raising $18 million for Adams in the 2021 election cycle. The Suggs raid was reportedly not the only location the feds hit that day; CNN reported that about 100 FBI agents carried out searches or interviews at a dozen locations early that morning.
Federal agents raided the home of Brianna Suggs. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
According to a bombshell search warrant reported by The New York Times, the raid on Suggs’ townhouse home is part of a federal public corruption investigation into whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government and a Brooklyn construction firm to funnel foreign cash into the campaign’s coffers via straw donors.
The warrant reportedly sought evidence of a conspiracy to steal federal funds and make illegal campaign donations with foreign money and fraud, and whether Adams’ campaign secured perks for Turkish government officials and executives at the construction company, a Williamsburg-based outfit called KSK Construction Group.
Eleven employees of KSK, the Brooklyn construction firm listed in the search warrant, donated $13,950 each on the same day in May 2021 to Adams’ campaign, according to city records. Among the KSK employees listed as donating was the firm’s owner, Erden Arkan, who states on his LinkedIn profile that he received his education a Istanbul University in Turkey. Executives at the company appear to have close ties to one of Turkey’s largest political parties.
The FBI also searched Abbasova’s home, in New Jersey, and the home of Cenk Öcal, a one-time Turkish Airlines executive who worked on Adams’ transition team, according to the Times.
Evan Thies, a spokesman for Adams, said Friday that Suggs continues to work for the mayor’s 2025 campaign.
Suggs and Öcal could not be reached for comment.
An email reply from Abbasova on Friday said, “I am out of the office with no access to email.”
The mayor’s phones
As Adams was leaving an event on the night of Nov. 6, the FBI approached him and requested that he hand over electronic devices, according to a statement from the mayor’s lawyer. The FBI took at least two phones from the mayor, and returned them within days, according to a person with knowledge of the action.
Following that seizure, it emerged Adams had made an inquiry to the Fire Department regarding permitting for the new Turkish Consulate tower in Manhattan in 2021, when Adams was the Democratic nominee for mayor. Adams has acknowledged that he reached out to the then-fire commissioner, Daniel Nigro, about concerns that the building would not be open in time for the United Nations General Assembly at the end of summer 2021.
The mayor has presented his outreach to the Fire Department as constituent services. He has suggested he asked the FDNY to look into the matter, but did not direct the department to do anything.
“I had no authority to do so,” Adams said Tuesday. “I was the [Brooklyn] borough president.”
The building was granted a temporary certificate of occupancy that allowed it to open.
An FDNY chief involved in that process said he felt he would lose his job if he didn’t press for approval of an inspection at the new building even though the fire safety system wasn’t functioning. FDNY Chief Joseph Jardin, who is suing the FDNY, has been questioned by FBI investigators looking into allegations that the Turkish government funneled illegal foreign cash into the mayor’s campaign coffers in 2021, sources said.
Jardin was also questioned about a list of real estate developers City Hall allegedly wanted to fast-track through the FDNY’s fire safety inspection process. The list — known as the “DMO list” because it fell under the purview of the deputy mayor of operations — “became a mechanism to press the FDNY to permit politically connected developers to cut the inspection line,” according to Jardin’s lawsuit.
The list reportedly dated at least to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. De Blasio declined to comment.
Adams had held a lengthy news conference on Nov. 8, two days after the seizure, but the incident did not come up. News that the FBI had taken Adams’ devices did not emerge publicly until Nov. 10, when the Times reported the seizure.
Adams has defended not immediately disclosing the seizure to the news media.
“My information was completely accurate,” Adams said Tuesday. “As a former member of law enforcement, it is always my belief: Don’t interfere with an ongoing review, and don’t try to do these reviews through the press.”
Adams and Turkey: Multiple ties
Mayor Eric Adams, right, visits a Turkish mosque in Brooklyn where donations were being collected for victims of the earthquakes centered in southern Turkey in February 2023. At left is the consul general of Turkey in New York, Reyhan Ozgur. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
At the time, Adams was Brooklyn’s borough president.
Last year, Adams said he had visited Turkey about six times, expressing admiration for the country’s spirit and history. Overall, Adams attended nearly 80 events celebrating Turkey during his time as Brooklyn’s borough president, according to Politico.
Adams has traveled widely as a public official. And as mayor he has brought unique zest to flag raisings for dozens of countries, hailing New York’s status as a global city.
In a variation on the gray divorce trend, de Blasio and McCray said they’re not currently planning on divorcing and intend to still live together, at least for the time being. More surprisingly, though, they’re both OK with each other seeing other people.
In an in-depth interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, de Blasio, 62, and McCray, 68, said they’ll both stay in the Park Slope townhouse where they raised their two children, now in their 20s, while they figure out their new normal.
They told reporter Matt Flegenheimer that they’re both happier now than they have been in some time ― and have established ground rules for “what’s cool, and what’s not cool, and whatever else.”
“I can look back now and say, ‘Here were these inflection points where we should have been saying something to each other,’” de Blasio said, reflecting on what led to the separation. “And I think one of the things I should have said more is: ‘Are you happy? What will make you happy? What’s missing in your life?’”
“I never anticipated ever doing anything with hair color,” he said of his newer darker-hued close-crop, admitting to the Times that the shade may be a little too dark than he intended. “But I like feeling what I feel.”
McCray told the New York Post that she hopes that the pair can serve as a “model for how couples can communicate honestly about what their needs are and to conduct themselves when they find it’s time to move in another direction.”
Is this do-able? Here’s what experts say.
Do arrangements like the one McCray and de Blasio are attemptingwork, and if so, for how long? Marriage therapists and divorce attorneys we spoke with said it’s challenging, even for the most amicable of exes.
“If they can make this work, more power to them,” said Karen Covy, a mediator and a “recovering lawyer,” she joked.
“What’s puzzling to me is why they’re doing this,” Covy told HuffPost, noting that the divorcing couples she sees to do this are usually under financial constraints or still raising young children.
“We don’t know enough about the details of their situation to speculate about what’s really going on with them, but I can say that if they have a strong enough reason to make this kind of arrangement work ― and money, career and politics can be very strong reasons ― I’m sure they can pull it off, at least in the short term,” she said.
“They’re putting the best spin on it, but no matter how you slice it, it is the end of a relationship, or the end of the marital relationship, and there is really no good way to make it easy.”
– Randall Kessler, a high-profile divorce attorney in Atlanta, Georgia
Kurt Smith, a therapist in Northern California whose counseling practice specializes in helping men, noted that it’s usually men who propose these arrangements rather than their wives.
Things tend to get thorny when one partner starts dating, he said.
“It’s just too hard not to be negatively impacted emotionally and mentally, despite the good intentions,” he said. “Sure, people can deal with it for a while, but eventually it becomes too much, and in the case of exes, unnecessary.”
Randall Kessler, a divorce attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia, who’s represented a few “Real Housewives” stars, and Cardi B, among others, said de Blasio and his wife’s efforts sync up with a cultural shift toward kinder, more gentle divorces.
Think: Conscious uncoupling, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin were proponents of, or “nesting,” where the parents alternate use of the marital home while the children are there full time.
Kessler said that sometimes pre-divorcing couples stay living together as an eleventh-hour attempt to see if the marriage can work, though that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
“I think their approach is unique to them,” he said. “Being public figures, the mayor and his ex are trying to deal with this head on.”
Yana Paskova via Getty Images
De Blasio and his wife pictured at a press conference in front of Gracie Mansion on Sep. 20, 2019. De Blasio was announcing his decision to drop out of the 2020 U.S. presidential race. In her interview with the Times, McCray said she thought the run was “a distraction” from thinking about their post-City Hall life.
“They’re putting the best spin on it, but no matter how you slice it, it’s the end of a relationship, or the end of the marital relationship,” he said. “There’s really no good way to make it easy for the children, although this is much better than most.”
This type of arrangement isn’t as uncommon as you’d think.
Divorced people we spoke to who’ve tried to split in similar fashion ― dismantle the marriage, keep the household ― had a more positive outlook on the mayor and his wife’s plans: Most felt that if there’s still residual love and respect, it’s worth giving it a shot. (And certainly if money is an issue, as it was with every one of them.)
Kate Warren, an actor in New York City, separated from her husband in January 2016 for all the expected reasons: “There was a loss of love and passion that turned to a ‘roomie’-type relationship,” she said.
That said, she didn’t end up moving out of their 1,000-square-foot rental apartment in Greenwich Village until 2022.
They chose to do so for their three kids’ well-being, but mostly because they couldn’t possibly afford two apartments in New York City. (The yearslong cohabitation ended up inspiring “Messy,” a dark comedy web series created by and starring Warren.)
In the beginning, Warren’s ex was relegated to the couch.
“Then when our eldest child went to college, he took our son’s room and went back to the couch on breaks when my son came back,” she said. “We managed living like this until 2022. He traveled a lot and on long trips so that eased the strain and stress, for sure.”
Navigating dating was full of hiccups, she said.
“The subject of dating again came up during our ‘breakup’ conversation, and it wasn’t me who brought it up,” Warren admits. “I was a bit stunned, to be honest. Furthest thing on my mind.”
After some time ― and some gentle nudging from friends who swore to her that online dating apps weren’t that bad ― Warren decided to get back out there, too. Naturally, there were some awkward experiences.
“My family, mainly the kids, definitely noticed how ‘fancy’ I looked when I was going out,” she said. “They were used to a lot more casual mom-wear.
“She also accidentally sent some texts meant for dates to her ex, which was pretty cringey: ‘The kind of texting was quite different than what I’d usually send him,’” Warren said.
The actor’s advice for the mayor and his wife or any other couples navigating a similar arrangement?
“Keep family dinners intact, and if dating, err on the side of caution,” she said, and don’t bring people home until you’re confident the relationship has legs.
“Also, some advice for the mayor: Don’t send explicit pics to your date,” she joked. “We don’t like that.”
For Jo, who asked to use her first name only to protect her privacy, it was less of an outright decision to stay under the same roof with her ex-husband and more of a “let’s wait and see what happens while not having sex” situation.
The couple separated in 2016 after 12 years of marriage, and finalized their divorce in 2021, but they’re both still living in the same family home in Minnesota.
“It’s just so much easier for us financially and as parents in one household,” Jo told HuffPost.
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“Keep family dinners intact, and if dating, eron the side of caution,” said Kate Warren, an actor in New York City, who separated from her husband in January 2016 but didn’t end up moving out until 2022.
Th exes slept in the same bed, platonically, for about a year, though they eventually stopped doing that. Now, they’re back in the same bed.
“We’ve become a lot more comfortable with each other as the years have gone by, and at some point in the past year we started to sleep in the same room again,” the 41-year-old said. “There is still nothing physical between us, but I think we both feel comfort and security being together.”
When it comes to dating, they initially had a provisional “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but that was almost impossible to maintain, Jo said.
“We both actually found out accidentally, and I would say it was very painful for both of us,” Jo said. “Once we were able to openly discuss it and be honest with each other, things were a lot easier and less awkward.”
Neither parties are publicly (or Instagram-officially) dating anyone. Jo said that wasn’t a discussed choice, but more of a logistical and emotional consideration, given their close proximity.
“I don’t want to cause the other person any heartache that wasn’t necessary,” she said.
“Really, the only thing missing from my life is sex and romance, and I have realized I’m OK being without that part for the time being ― and of course, plenty of people that are still married are also living without those things,” she said.
Jo likens her arrangement to ethical non-monogamy where they’re each still “deeply considering each other’s feelings.”
The couples we spoke to said they tried to keep dating on the down low, to various levels of success.
What do others think, especially their dates?
“The person I was seeing had complete knowledge of my situation, had been through a really difficult divorce himself and wasn’t looking for a ‘traditional’ relationship per se,” she said. “I never met his children even though we saw each other for several years, he didn’t meet my family, we didn’t go out much publicly in our town or spend holidays together.”
Their close friends know about the divorce, but many of their acquaintances just figure they’re another married couple in town.
“Honestly, we probably seem to get along better than many married couples, so in our community we’ve faced very little awkwardness,” she said.
Ultimately, Jo said, she couldn’t care less if anyone has the record straight: “Married or not, other people don’t really have to know what goes on at anyone’s home or bedroom.”
David, a divorced man in Northern California who also asked that his last name not be published to protect his privacy, is still living with his ex-wife as well. They separated in 2008, after about eight years together and raising his ex’s two kids from an earlier relationship together.
It wasn’t just finances that kept them under one roof initially; at the time, David’s ex was dealing with some undiagnosed mental health issues, and he wanted to be there to help. (“I was also incredibly self-centered and almost wholly disconnected from my emotions at the time,” he told HuffPost.)
David’s ex was the first to start dating, but only because she was more successful at it, he said. The exes even tried to take a stab at their relationship again at some point.
“When that didn’t work, I tried to date again, but I wasn’t clear in my ending things with my ex,” he said. “She was devastated when she found out I was trying to date while she was still hoping we could make it work.”
When she found out, the couple got into a shouting match that was so loud, the neighbors called the police on them.
“It was an ugly mess that I still regret to this day,” David said. “It reached the point that I went to live at a friend’s for six months instead.”
“I assumed [our living arrangement] would be a huge red flag for women, but as it turned out, the first couple of women I went on dates with were in the same situation.”
– David, a divorced man in Northern California who still lives with his ex after separating in 2008
Therapy ― and plenty of emotional growth on both their parts ― followed, and after those six months, the former couple moved back in together, now just to save money.
Fifteen years later, they’re still living together. They mulled going their separate ways, but then COVID happened. “It’s funny how clarifying the pandemic was in a lot of ways, because shortly before it hit, we were talking about selling the house and either getting a better place or going our own ways,” he said. “But then it turned out going through lockdowns, distancing, and all the rest was a lot easier with someone else in the house.”
His ex-wife is now in a relationship with a guy who David thinks is great. David dates here and there, too: “I assumed [our living arrangement] would be a huge red flag for women, but as it turned out, the first couple of women I went on dates with were in the same situation,” he said.
David’s advice to Mayor Bill and his wife is simple: Communicate, early and often.
“Not just talk, but communicate,” he said. “You have to be able to have the difficult talks, and you need to be able to not just set your own boundaries, but respect theirs, too.”
While arrangements like his may seem unconventional ― they certainly don’t get spoken about often ― David thinks such scenarios will be a growing trend.
“Until housing is stabilized in the U.S., I think a lot more people are going to end up in this situation, and society is going to have to adjust to it whether it wants to or not,” he said.
Exes will have to adjust, too, and the best way to do that is to try to excavate the friendship at the root of a marriage.
“My first therapist said that what happens in a lot of relationships is that people lack the self-awareness or self-honesty to own their own mistakes,” he recalled. “So when the relationship fails, they blame everything on their ex and end up hating them.”
You’re exes for a reason, David said. “But if you’re willing to own your own shit and show grace towards their mistakes, you can find a way to leave [the negativity] in the past.”
Not in a “just bury it and don’t think about it kind of way,” either, he said.
“You really have to acknowledge the hurt you both gave and received, while also recognizing how you’ve both grown, too,” he said.
The Federal Election Commission has imposed a $53,100 fine on three committees associated with former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s failed bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
The commission said the De Blasio 2020 campaign committee accepted improper contributions from two political action committees de Blasio and others had set up, Fairness PAC and NY Fairness PAC, and failed to disclose the donations in campaign filings.
The FEC action comes in response to a complaint filed in 2019 by the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center alleging that the campaign had “concocted a shell game” to let donors contribute to de Blasio’s presidential run above legal limits by routing money through the two PACs.
The FEC said in an April 19 report closing out the case that the de Blasio campaign committee admitted it accepted $52,851.89 from the NY Fairness PAC for travel and digital services and $123,000 from the Fairness PAC for polling.
The commission said the de Blasio campaign has agreed to pay the fine and amend its FEC filings.
“There were some accounting errors here and we immediately worked to get it right. We are happy to have it settled,” longtime de Blasio adviser Peter Ragone said in a statement Friday.
De Blasio, whose second term as New York City mayor ended last year, announced in May 2019 that he was joining the crowded race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but his campaign never won wide support and he suspended it months later.
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