Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Responds to Report President Trump Has Ordered Federal Government to Attempt to Defund New York City

Press Conference

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo responded to a news report that President Trump has ordered his federal administration to attempt to defund New York City among other cities.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you very much. Thank you everyone for joining us. We're joined by Melissa DeRosa, Robert Mujica, Beth Garvey.

President trump put out a statement saying that he wanted to defund New York City, D.C., Seattle and Portland because of the protests that they're having and violence in the city but you can see his statement for whatever it's worth. I just want to comment on that.

First, from the point of view of New York City, this has been the worst president in history. President Ford said, drop dead. President has actively been trying to kill New York City ever since he's been elected and it's a personal animus as it normally is with the President. I think it's because he is from New York City and New York City rejected him always. He was dismissed as a clown in New York City. Those who know him best like him least. That's true about New York City. It's true about his own family and I think that's more and more clear to Americans.

He's going to defund New York City. Everything that he could possibly do in his power to hurt New York City he has done. This is an administration that has just arbitrarily and capriciously and I believe illegally stopped funding for the Second Avenue Subway. Every past administration, Democratic and Republican, funded it as a partnership.

He stopped it. He has stopped the AirTrain from LaGuardia Airport to New York City. He's doing an environmental review that is a protracted process and means the airport will be finished before the AirTrain is finished. This is a President who has bemoaned the environmental review process and the SEQRA process and all these regulations that government has that stope development. We will build an airport before the President of the United States finishes his environmental review on an AirTrain. I mean how incredible is that?

He won't approve congestion pricing which is a technical federal approval matter but they won't approve congestion pricing. This is on top of SALT which stole $14 billion from New York.

Look, the best thing he did for New York City was leave. Good riddance, let him go to Florida, be careful not to get COVID.

Also, the main situation that New York City had to deal with, that I had to deal with as Governor, was the COVID pandemic. Remember, COVID ambushed New York due to Trump's negligence. It was his negligence that allowed the virus to ambush New York, and that's not rhetorical. It was his negligence that believed the virus was still in China. He calls it the "China virus." It's not the "China virus." It's the European virus. It came here from Europe. January, February, March, he did nothing until March. March 15th is when he did the European travel ban. We know for a fact, says the CDC, his CDC, says Dr. Fauci. We know for a fact the virus came here from Europe, January, February and March. And he missed it. He is the cause of COVID in New York. It is his negligence that brought it here and then his arrogance where he won't provide state and local funding to help states and cities to recover from the pandemic that his negligence caused.

He wants to do something about public safety - here's something he can do about public safety. You know how many people are dying from COVID around the world? In Italy, which was one of the hardest hit countries as you know, about 8 people are dying per day. Canada, about 6 are dying. UK about 9 are dying. Germany about 11 are dying. France about 20 are dying per day. United States of America? 1,000. You want to do something about public safety. Try doing your job. 1,000 people under your federal leadership are dying currently per day from COVID. You have the worst record on the globe in terms of leadership. You want to do something on public safety? That's what you can do.

As far as this statement he's going to stop funding for New York City - he's not a king. He thinks he's a king but he's not. He's a President. But there's the Constitution and there are laws, nothing that he knows anything about. But the federal budget is appropriated by law with conditions of funding by law. Part of the funding went to Department of Housing and Urban Development which I used to head. The statutes contain the conditions and he can't override the law. I suspect it's more of a political statement that he's making than anything else, but it's also illegal what he's talking about. So that's my response to the President.

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