President Donald Trump and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo publicly sparred over who has the authority to reopen the U.S. economy, Bloomberg reported.
President Trump is wrong on constitutional grounds when he says he has final say on plans to resume normal life in the states, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. But, he said, “the President will have no fight with me.”
“I will not engage in it,” Cuomo said Tuesday at his daily virus briefing, after the leaders traded barbs earlier over Trump’s statement Monday claiming “the ultimate authority.”
Cuomo’s comments seemed intended to stop the escalation of words between the Democratic governor and Republican president, who had displayed an unusual bonhomie for most of the coronavirus crisis, talking frequently as New York became the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, Bloomberg informed.
Their conflict intensified Monday after Cuomo announced a partnership with six other Northeast states to plan for a gradual resumption of the regional economy.
Cuomo’s comments came as New York reported 778 new virus fatalities in 24 hours, pushing the total near 11,000. Total confirmed infections now exceed 200,000, taxing the capabilities of the city’s health system.
“Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc. I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!” Trump tweeted Tuesday.
During Monday’s White House news conference, Trump declared that “when somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total” and said the White House would provide a legal justification for that assertion.
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