Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that now is not the time to play politics regarding the attack in New York City.
“This is the time to forge alliances with our allies. I spoke with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu this morning, who has lived with this for a very long time,” Mr. Cuomo, New York Democrat, said on MSNBC, referring to Israel’s prime minister. “This is about info sharing. This is about coalitions. This is about offering people hope and not spreading fear, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Mr. Cuomo was reacting to the attack in New York City on Tuesday that occurred near in Lower Manhattan. A man drove a rental truck down a bike path, got out of the vehicle, and displayed a paintball gun and a pellet gun before being shot by police. Eight people have died while another 11 recover from injuries.
Mr. Cuomo said President Trump’s reaction to the attack in a series of tweets tying Sen. Charles E. Schumer to the immigration system were questionable.
“Are they factual is normally the first question on the president’s tweets. But I don’t think this is the time to get political. We had a policy, an immigration policy in place in the ’90s, it was a bipartisan policy. It was signed by a Republican president. There’s no doubt that we have to be smarter and have more intelligence,” Mr. Cuomo said.
Mr. Trump referred to the lottery system for distributing permanent resident visas in his tweets, saying the suspect in the New York City attack came into the U.S. through this system. This has not been confirmed, however, but Mr. Trump said it’s part of the reason he’s advocating for a merit-based immigration system.
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump slams Chuck Schumer, immigration system in wake of NYC attack
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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