Cuomo to Trump: ‘I’m Not Going to Engage in Politics’
by Dan Clark • Published on March 30, 2020 • Last modified on March 31, 2020 • 0 Comments
Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters on Monday, March 20, 2020.
Credit: Office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Health
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not running for president. Really — he is not seeking to replace former Vice President Joseph Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, and he doesn’t care, right now, if people wouldn’t mind him on the ticket.
That was his message Monday for President Donald Trump, who suggested in a television interview earlier in the day that Cuomo would make a better opponent in this year’s presidential election than Biden.
But Trump, speaking on ‘Fox and Friends,’ said he would still win in a head-to-head match with the three-term governor of New York.
“I wouldn’t mind running against Andrew. I’ve known Andrew for a long time. I wouldn’t mind that, but I’ll be honest, I think he’d be a better candidate than Sleepy Joe,” Trump said.
Cuomo, speaking at his daily press briefing on COVID-19 Monday, said he wouldn’t “rise to the bait.”
“I’m not engaging the president in politics. My only goal is to engage the president in partnership. This is no time for politics and lead by example,” Cuomo said. “I’m not going to get into a political dispute with the president. I’m not going to rise to the bait of a political challenge.”
And even if he was interested in talking politics with the president, running to replace him is off the table, Cuomo said.
“I’m not running for president. I was never running for president. I said from day one I wasn’t running for president. I’m not running for president now,” Cuomo said. “I’m not playing politics. I just want partnership to deal with this.”
The ‘this’ Cuomo was referring to is the growing number of COVID-19 cases in New York. As of Monday, more than 66,000 people had tested positive for the disease in New York, and 1,218 had died.
