Presidential candidate de Blasio insults 'con don'

(16 May 2019) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus117142 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that he will seek the Democratic nomination for president, adding his name to an already long list of candidates itching for a chance to take on Donald Trump. The mayor announced his run with a video released by his campaign, then headed to the Statue of Liberty, where he said the country is in an "identity crisis" around immigration, which he called "the founding and unifying element of the American experience." On his campaign's first day, he dove into an insult match with Trump. Speaking to the press after returning from the Statue of Liberty, de Blasio borrowed one of Trump's tactics by giving the president a disparaging nickname: Con Don. "I'm going to keep calling him "Con Don" because that's what he deserves to be called. He's a con man. And we New Yorkers know a con man when we see one," de Blasio said. "And I know how to challenge this guy. I've been watching him his whole born life his whole adult life and I've seen all of his tricks. And we're gonna go right at him," de Blasio said. Trump tweeted that de Blasio was "considered the worst mayor in the U.S." The president said, "He is a JOKE, but if you like high taxes & crime, he's your man. NYC HATES HIM!" In announcing his candidacy, de Blasio, 58, seeks to claim a role on the national stage that has eluded him as mayor of the biggest U.S. city. When he took office in 2014, de Blasio seemed briefly poised to become a leading voice for an emerging left wing of the Democratic Party. His central message then and now is fighting income inequality, a theme he hit in the video announcing his candidacy. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...