Governor Hochul: “Because of the high cost of everything… We announced this past week, and people are so excited about this, $500 back for families from our inflation surplus. I'm going to put it back in the pockets of those who are paying $5 a gallon for milk and $7 for eggs.”

Hochul: “I've already told the Governor of Pennsylvania in multiple conversations, Josh Shapiro, and he's working with me on this. So I want to get him back here in the State of New York and run him through our criminal justice system… You cannot assassinate an individual on the streets of New York. Not now, not ever.”

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

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

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

Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC: The Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul joins us now at the table. Also with us, president of the National Action Network and host of MSNBC's Politics Nation, Reverend Al Sharpton. Good to have you all with us this morning.

Governor, I guess first of all, is there any more in this case that there's so many different angles to this and some of them deeply, all of it deeply disturbing? But any new information on this case?

Governor Hochul: It feels like the evidence is very compelling.

Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC: Yeah.

Governor Hochul: I trust the DA here in Manhattan to make sure that he puts forth an indictment that is going to be iron clad. And that's why there's been a little time-people say, “Why hasn't something happened already?” You want to get this right? You don't want to have anybody, a defense attorney, be able to attack what you've done. You have to get it right. We expect that to be issued any day now and at the second that happens, I'm issuing a warrant for extradition. I've already told the Governor of Pennsylvania in multiple conversations, Josh Shapiro, and he's working with me on this. So I want to get him back here in the State of New York and run him through our criminal justice system. Because that horrific attack occurred on our streets. And the people of our city know, deserve to have that sense of calm that this perpetrator has been caught and he will never see the light of day again if there is justice. You cannot assassinate an individual on the streets of New York. Not now, not ever.

Willie Geist, MSNBC: Yeah, just in the last 24 hours, as Mika said, we've got shell casings that match the gun he used, we've got fingerprints on the water bottle and the candy bar wrapper as well. I just want to dig a little deeper on the extradition because he is fighting extradition. Some people say this could take a long time just to get him back here. What kind of timeline do you expect once you put, submit that warrant to Governor Shapiro in Pennsylvania?

Governor Hochul: I will issue it, he will sign it, but the judge has already set a date for a hearing on December 23rd. We'll see whether that date has to hold. The Governor and I both want him brought back to New York as soon as possible. So there will be some legal activities from the defense lawyer side, but I believe that the judge will say he's going back to New York. So we're expecting that to happen any day now.

Jonathan Lemire, MSNBC: So Governor, we obviously have learned some of what the suspects writings and may have targeted this individual who is a CEO of a healthcare company. But there’s been great alarm in the business community among executives since this shooting. There's no greater hub of chief executives than obviously New York City, Manhattan in particular. What sort of message do you want to send to these companies? What sort of extra security perhaps could be provided?

Governor Hochul: I already spoke to them. I spoke to Kathy Wilde, who runs the partnership, the largest organization representing many CEOs. I've called them individually, and I said this: “Bring together your top security officials with my state police and our intelligent lead leadership and NYPD. Let's have a meeting and we can share information, not just best practices because they always have top notch, usually former law enforcement, security forces.” But when I see some trend occurring from our intelligence that a certain classification of individuals are being targeted, a certain industry, we can share that information. So I want to be much more proactive and work with them closely to protect them. We protect everybody on the streets of New York, not just CEOs. Everybody deserves the protection of our law enforcement. I want to make sure that happens. It's my number one priority.

Jonathan Lemire, MSNBC: Well on that note about broader public safety, this comes at a time where that's been under a real spotlight here in New York. We just had the verdict in the subway case. The Jordan Neely case. This obviously, what message do you have for New Yorkers and visitors alike? It's obviously the holidays here in New York. Crowds are here. And is there more that you need to keep the city safe?

Governor Hochul: We're going to make sure that people have that sense of security they deserve. I'll be making announcements shortly about our activities in the subways for example. A lot of people come here. They take the subways. It's how it's the best way to get around. We know that. And I actually still have the National Guard that I spoke about on this show back when I put them in the subways in the spring when then we started seeing a spike in crime. Crime on the subway is down to pre-pandemic levels. I understand people may not feel that way. There's a lot of anxiety. I understand that to my core. But that being said, the subways which carry now over six and a half million people. We still have a small number of instances, but I'll tell you what bothers me the most-it's the anxiety people feel when they see someone in the throes of a mental health crisis. And they don't know whether this person is going to be self contained and just make some noise or whether they're going to do harm to them. And that is something no one should have to face. And so what I'm going to be working on, and I'll tell you this, it’s coming, we're working more on the whole issue of involuntary removal. We have a program for that, but here's what happens. If someone doesn't take care of themselves, we can remove them. They go to the hospital, they're cycled back the next hour. The system is not working. And I have stronger regulations on that, that are going into effect just in a couple of weeks. We've opened a thousand hospital beds. So people who really do need care get the care they need. The system has failed people. I want people to feel safe. They deserve that here in the streets of New York.

Reverend Al, President of the National Action Network and Host of MSNBC's Politics Nation: And that picking up on that, as you want to see, and all of us want to see people feel safe, the way you deal with mental health situations has to be escalated as you are beginning.

And the concern some of us have, you know I preached at Jordan Neely’s funeral is that you cannot therefore inspire people to take law into their own hands and ends up with fatalities. We have a verdict, have to live with the verdict. I may have disagreed with it, but that's not my debate. My debate is how do we deal with people that have mental health issues but not inspire other people that they can take the law into their own hand and we end up with people dead.

Governor Hochul: That's right.

Reverend Al, President of the National Action Network and Host of MSNBC's Politics Nation: For whatever reasons that have had a mental health problem. We can't overlook that.

Governor Hochul: Jordan Neely never should have been in that situation. He should have been identified as someone who has mental health issues. And he should have been in compassionate care. And I've allocated $1 billion, more than any Governor in this country for mental health because I know at a human level, he deserved that, everyone deserves that, but society deserves to feel safe and not threatened from individuals who are not getting the care they need.

So we have more to do. I've been laser focused on this mental health issue for the last three years. We have over 750 people who are long term homeless in our subways. Some of them seem threatening to people. They are now in support of housing because of the work that I've done with the mayor as well. This is how we're doing it.

We're going into this - I was there yesterday, going into the subways, identifying people who need help and saying, “We're here to move you here, so you get the help that you need. And the people you've left behind in that system are going to feel a lot safer.” We have to be aggressive about this.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: This was a difficult case for a lot of New Yorkers. They understood the tragedy of Jordan Neely. They also saw a lot of the police cams that showed almost everybody on that subway saying they felt like their safety was in danger. And most of them did not see Daniel Penney as a bad guy. But they felt like their safety was in danger. And there was - I thought, a really good New York Times article explaining how the fear that New Yorkers felt is what framed that tragedy.

And so you have the mental health crisis and - you also have though, Jordan Neely being arrested. How many times? 20, 30, 40 times, right? So this recidivism where you talked about people going in and out of mental health treatment. It's the same thing. New Yorkers are saying, “Are you really going to- Are we really going to live in a city where somebody goes to jail 20, 30, 40 times and then comes down on the subway and starts talking about, not caring if he dies and not caring if he does harm to other people?” How does New York get their arms around that so New Yorkers feel safe and we don't have tragedies like this?

Governor Hochul: Joe, when I became governor three years ago, I had to change the bail laws that had been changed before I became governor by my predecessor. Let me just say that. They were so loose that someone who was committing crime after crime was being let out. I had to work and get through the legislature, and this was not the easiest thing I've ever done, to get them to understand that we cannot have a system that doesn't work.

When I'm up in the Bronx, where I was yesterday, I walk the streets, I talk to shop owners. They should not be in fear that someone who robbed them the day before, took everything they have, is going to be back on the streets the next day. I changed the laws. Now here's the issue I have.

The application of the laws is wildly diverse from upstate and downstate. I track all the state numbers. When I see that judges and sometimes prosecutors in New York City have a very different philosophy about how to handle the question of whether or not bail should be granted versus others. I want to make sure that they're following the state laws that we've now empowered them to use when we're not there.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: So why is there a difference between Upstate and Downstate? You would think the judges in the City would want people that live around them to be as safe as people in upstate.

Governor Hochul: Joe, you would think that. I'm not seeing those same results. And for people to blame now the State Legislature and myself who changed the laws and empowered judges. To say, “This is a person who needs help, they should be in a mental health program, this is a person who's a repeat offender, keeps terrorizing people, hurting retail clerks and workers, hurting people on the streets. You should not be out again. You should not be out.”

“You have the power to keep them. Shame on you if you don't exercise that power,” is what I say.

Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC: And just quickly before you go you're taking steps to help your constituents with inflation. Tell us about it.

Governor Hochul: Yes, I am. Because of the high cost of everything, groceries and just sneakers you buy for your kids, we collected more money than anticipated in sales tax revenues.

Now, I could spend that on the state's programs, and I said, “Wait a minute, this money belongs back in the pockets of the people that had to pay the higher prices.” So we announced this past week, and people are so excited about this, $500 back for families from our inflation surplus. I'm going to put it back in the pockets of those who are paying $5 a gallon for milk and $7 for eggs.

I went shopping in Albany yesterday. I was shopping in Williamsburg yesterday and in Flatbush. People are-I walk up to shoppers like, what would an extra $500 do for you? They're so excited to know that government is responding. And I didn't need an election to tell me that affordability is the number one issue on people's minds.

And let's stop talking about it, even as Democrats. Let's stop talking about it. “We feel your pain.” Do something about it. Put the money back in their pockets. That's how you start changing people's lives in a profound way. I'm really excited about this.

Reverend Al, President of the National Action Network and Host of MSNBC's Politics Nation: Are you signing your name on the checks, the $500 checks?

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: It's a good move apparently.

Governor Hochul: Reverend Al, you think I should? I'll leave it up to you. You think I should, Rev?

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: It's worked before.

Willie Geist, MSNBC: By the way, Joe Biden said this week he was stupid not to put his name on the COVID checks. And look at that guy. He might have won. Let me ask you one last thing before - I know you've got to run, governor - but this idea that the Trump administration has put forward about mass deportation, which is coming into communities, and using perhaps state, perhaps local police to assist in getting people here illegally out of their homes. What do you view the role to be of the state in this operation?

Governor Hochul: I have a very strong opinion on this. I will work with you, as we do now. If someone is on a terrorist watch list, has a warrant for their arrest in their home country, or had the audacity to commit crimes once they arrived here in the State of New York - I will work with you. I will tell you who they are. I'll tell the federal government who they are. But I want to put them through our criminal justice system and make sure they do their time. Because otherwise, if you deport them right away and they're a threat to society, they'll be back. I need to protect New Yorkers. I'm not letting you come back. I’m putting you in jail if you've committed these crimes. For families that have been here a long time, a lot of them have jobs, they’re taxpayers, their kids are in schools - I am not going to let anyone tear apart the families in the State of New York. I will stand up and protect them.

And my National Guard and my State Police - I just want to send a message out - they're busy protecting New Yorkers in the subways and keeping guns off the streets. They're kind of busy right now. So, I know what they're going to be doing here in the State of New York.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: Willie, since we came back from the war, started this show, we've always done weather and sports. Especially for Buffalo - always Buffalo. So first of all, we're going to go sports first because you feel overlooked. The only team to play football in New York. You say those of us around this table do not talk about the team that I've already predicted is going to beat the Chiefs and get to the Super Bowl. Your Buffalo Bills, tell us about it.

Governor Hochul: We beat the Chiefs already in regular season. We beat the 49ers. We had a heartbreaking, but exhilarating, game against Los Angeles a couple days ago. We'll take on the Lions and we'll beat the Lions in a couple days. Sorry, Gretchen Whitmer. Governors are very competitive. We talk about this all the time. I come from Buffalo. My parents lived in a trailer park and we had nothing. We were working class people. We bought our clothes and used clothing and we struggled. People in Buffalo know what struggle is. And when you go to four Super Bowls, and you don't come home with a brass ring - it does something to the psychology.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: That hurts. Can we pray for Jim Kelly right now? That hurts.

Governor Hochul: God bless Jim Kelly. God bless Jim. But it makes you strong and resilient and ever hopeful. There's always that next season, and right now, it is the next season. So this is our year, Joe.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: Okay. And now the weather. I found out that you and I have something in common. I was in upstate New York in 1978. For those who were in upstate New York in 1978 -

Governor Hochul: It was the blizzard.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: It was the blizzard of ‘78. We were from the south, had just got there. We would actually climb up in the back, get a ladder, second floor, the snow drifts went up 10 feet -

Governor Hochul: You can jump out the window.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: No! We would slide off the roof. It was like nothing I ever saw. You talked about the blizzard and we're bringing this up because -

Governor Hochul: I'm heading there tonight. I’m going to imagine it’s just like that.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: There's one going right now. But talk about - during the blizzard of ‘78 in Buffalo, your mom was trapped in a bar for ten days.

Governor Hochul: Sure. Now, my mom never drank, so it's ironic. She never had a drink, so - of all people to be stuck in a bar. But, she had to drive home through a blizzard, and you couldn't take the Skyway, you had to go through the streets of South Buffalo, and her car gets stuck, the snow was piling up over her. So she has to literally sleep on a table in a bar for days and days.

I was in college, but happened to be home then. And so my dad was stuck somewhere, so I had to take care of all my younger siblings. We're running out of food. We're scared. It's cold. I didn't realize you're not supposed to do this, but when your power is out, you should not turn on the oven. I know that now, but I was a dumb kid. Okay. So, I'm trying to keep the family warm. It was crazy. But, I'll tell you: when I was governor, we had seven feet of snow just a couple years ago. My own power in my condo in Buffalo was out. We lost power. We had a flood and the pipes froze. My condo wasn't fixed for about almost a year. So I was at a hotel. It was crazy, and it was Christmas two years ago. But, the people there suffered tremendously, but my God, they're strong and they're believers. And one more thing: The Buffalo Bills could have had a dome stadium. They didn't want it! They’re tough.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: No way! Come on. That's for like Tampa baseball, that's not for the Bills.

Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC: Governor, it's great to have you on.

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: Let's go Bills.

Governor Hochul: Let's go Bills.