New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday he’s not going to engage in a personal political fight with President Trump amid a battle over state and federal powers on the response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The president will have no fight with me,” the governor said. “If he wants a fight, he’s not going to get it from me — period.”
Mr. Cuomo has said this week that Mr. Trump is incorrect in his contention that the president has absolute authority on when states loosen the restrictions they’ve imposed to try to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr. Trump ripped Mr. Cuomo earlier Tuesday, saying that the governor has been “begging” him for needed supplies for his state amid the outbreak.
“I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!” the president said on Twitter.
Mr. Cuomo did acknowledge that Mr. Trump delivered on a number of his requests for supplies and expanded hospital capacity.
“He did do the travel ban with China, and he was right on the travel ban with China,” the governor said. “The close-down of the economy was left to the governors.”
Mr. Cuomo and six other northeastern governors announced Monday that they plan to coordinate on a gradual reopening of their states’ economies when it’s safe to do so.
The Democratic governors of California, Washington and Oregon had announced a similar pact.
The president seemed to back away from escalating the feud with governors on Tuesday afternoon.
“What I do is going to be done in conjunction with governors,” Mr. Trump said at the White House. “We have tremendous support from governors.”
Mr. Cuomo has warned that he could sue if the federal government tries to order New York to reopen and he feels it’s not safe to do so.
But he said Tuesday he doesn’t foresee things getting to that point.
“He is wrong on the law. I don’t think this is a legal issue,” Mr. Cuomo said. “You don’t even have the luxury for the argument and there’s too much to do for everyone. … I can’t do it. He can’t do it.”
The governor was asked how his calls for a cease-fire square with new comments like his drawing comparisons between Mr. Trump and a king.
Mr. Cuomo said he had to push back on the president’s contention that he has total authority over the states.
“It’s just a factual statement that is factually wrong,” the governor said. “That statement cannot stand … it’s not only violative to the Constitution, it’s violative to the very concept of democracy.”
The governor also said earlier Tuesday his fellow governors shouldn’t bother watching Mr. Trump’s daily briefings if the president conducts himself like he did Monday.
“A governor should not watch that — there’s no value in it,” Mr. Cuomo said on MSNBC. “It is infuriating and offensive and frankly ignorant of the facts.”
Mr. Trump used Monday’s briefing to air a campaign-style compilation of complimentary comments from governors such as Mr. Cuomo and past pundit commentary downplaying the risk of the virus to the U.S.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.