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Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday asserted his control over the $ 2.475 billion deal to sell the Mets to Steve Cohen – saying he would not comply with Friday’s Major League Baseball deadline or share his personal opinion of the funder.
“It is not appropriate to comment on those involved,” Hizzoner said during his daily press briefing on Thursday. “The legal department takes care of that. I am not going to express personal opinions in the middle of this type of review. “
The mayor also declined to discuss details of his phone call to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred earlier this month – when sources told De Blasio’s Post he opposed the purchase of the Mets by the billionaire.
Sources said de Blasio tried to prevent the colossal deal from being reached by militarizing the Legal Department, which is examining the sale involving city-owned land.
“I want to respect a private conversation,” de Blasio told reporters on Thursday of the call. “I contacted Commissioner Manfred simply to let him know that we have this legal responsibility, that we are pursuing it and that we are doing our due diligence.”
De Blasio reiterated that his decision on whether or not to sign the agreement – seen more as a rubber stamp – would come “very soon”.
“We understand MLB has its process, but we have our process,” he said. “It was just important for me to let him know that we have a legal obligation and that we will respect it.
But what the mayor has said publicly and what he has told people in the city government seem to disagree, and multiple sources told the Post that the mayor pushed the city’s lawyers to find a way to stop Cohen’s sale by using a buried clause. in the Citi Field lease.
“The ‘due diligence’ line is bulls-t,” a source close to town hall told The Post on Wednesday. “He said [Major League] Baseball, he doesn’t want Cohen and he told his legal department to find a way to stop him.
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