New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday suggested that petroleum companies were responsible for Hurricane Sandy, and expressed concerns about President Donald Trump's mental fitness.
On MSNBC's "Morning Joe," de Blasio discussed his plan to divest the city's pension funds from oil investments, which he explained by saying that fossil fuels are "not a great long-term investment because the world rightfully is more and more moving away" from them.
"We think it's bad for the earth," he said. "We think it's causing the climate change that afflicts coastal cities like New York."
He added that New York City is suing "five of the biggest petroleum companies" for contributing to climate change and hiding evidence of it.
"That's why we're suing five of the biggest petroleum companies, because like the tobacco companies some years ago, they understood this crisis," de Blasio said. "They tried very intently to cover up the information about climate change and to project a propaganda campaign suggesting that climate change wasn't real and go ahead and keep using your fossil fuels."
He then said that the oil companies "damaged our society. In a city like New York that's meant billions and billions of dollars of damage for example from Hurricane Sandy. So at the local level we have to act now, especially because our national government is not."
The mayor was eventually asked about Trump, and the recent medical exam he had with the White House doctor, which included a cognitive screening test.
"Obviously, I hope he is sane. His actions don't suggest it," de Blasio said, prompting host Mika Brzezinski to reply, "I know."
The mayor then admitted that he's not qualified to speculate on Trump's mental health, saying, "I don't know. I'm not a psychiatrist. I don't know where to separate a clinical issue from a judgment issue or ego issue."
De Blasio also said that Trump's actions are "inconsistent with American values."
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