May call Bill to testify in donor trial
GOV. CUOMO spoke out Wednesday about the corruption conviction of his former top aide Joseph Percoco — with a little help from a handwritten note.
In his first public appearance since a jury convicted Joseph Percoco of accepting more than $300,000 in cash bribes, Cuomo referred to the note with his talking points as he discussed fallout of the trial with reporters.
A photo of the note taken by a Daily News reporter showed the abbreviated notes echoed his main thrusts of his remarks before taking questions — “Personal sad SHOCK-FAMILY, 2 young daughters” and “Viol everyth ADM Believes, Not who we R.”
The scene was slightly reminiscent of President Trump’s meeting last month with survivors of the Parkland shooting, where the President was famously photographed holding a note with his talking points. “I hear you,” was one of Trump’s.
A spokesman for the governor, Rich Azzopardi, said of the picture, “The governor spent some time collecting his thoughts putting together a prepared statement that he gave before taking questions with reporters, as he takes this issue very seriously. He did the same on gun control.”
Cuomo was in Manhattan to attend a walkout by students protesting the Florida shooting, but knew he’d be peppered with questions about Percoco’s corruption conviction on Tuesday.
Percoco, 48, faces up to 50 years in prison when he’s sentenced on June 6.
“On a personal level this is both sad and shocking. I feel for the Percoco family,” Cuomo said. “He has two young daughters who are going to have to live with this trauma and I feel for them and the pain they are going to go through.”
Cuomo insisted that Percoco’s behavior “violates everything that my administration is about. We strive for total integrity and this is a total aberration from the people who work in the administration.”
The governor took questions for about 20 minutes, rejecting as “political garbage” any notion that he was culpable for Percoco’s actions. “This was a two-year trial, investigation,” he said. “There was absolutely no suggestion ever made that I had anything to do with anything.” Cuomo also downplayed evidence Percoco continued to use his government office even after he left the administration to work on the governor’s 2014 reelection campaign. “When he left state government he would come back into the office to handle transition matters,” which “is fine,” Cuomo said. “But there should be no other work done from a government office besides that transition work, and in the trial there was a suggestion that there was and that’s a violation of the rules.” State GOP Chairman Ed Cox ripped Cuomo’s comments as “outright lies” and revisionist history. ALBANY — As he continues to rack up endorsements, Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro said Wednesday he will make his bid for governor official on April 2. In announcing his plans “to reclaim New York,” Molinaro, a Republican, sent out an email referencing Tuesday’s conviction of longtime top Cuomo aide and confidant Joseph Percoco on three felony corruption charges. “(The) verdict is an indictment, not just of one of man, but of the cynical systematic corruption within in a state government Governor Cuomo has led,” Molinaro wrote. “New Yorkers deserve better. “He added that “now more than at any time in our lifetime, New Yorkers need new leadership in the Capitol, which is why I am a candidate for governor.” After saying in January he would not run, Molinaro on March 2 informed state and county leaders in a private meeting that he changed his mind. HE WASN’T mentioned much in court on Wednesday, but Mayor de Blasio could yet wind up playing a role in a Long Island corruption trial featuring one of his former donors — a lawyer for one of the defendants said he might try to call the mayor to the witness stand.
De Blasio donor Harendra Singh (photo) is expected to testify that he showered two Long Island pols with items such as luxury vacations, high-end chairs, expensive limo rides, a hardwood floor and a pricey watch so he could get his way, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The prosecution says ex-Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto were on the take for years from rotten restaurateurturned-star witness Singh.
The pair tried hooking up Singh with contracts and shady loan guarantees “all disgustingly and shamefully at the expense of Nassau County taxpayers,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Treinis Gatz said in her opening statement.
In 2016, Singh secretly admitted to bribing the pair, as well as de Blasio. Singh will be testifying “with the hope of less jail time,” Gatz said.
De Blasio hasn’t been charged by the feds in Long Island or Manhattan for his fund-raising practices — and there was just one passing reference to him by Venditto’s lawyer inside the packed Central Islip courtroom.
But there was plenty of beating up on Singh from the lawyers for Venditto, Mangano and his wife, Linda.
Marc Agnifilo, Venditto’s lawyer, told jurors Singh had a “dark side” and Venditto “got nothing of any consequence” from him.
After court, Agnifilo told reporters he was leaving the door open on calling de Blasio to testify.
“We don’t know yet. It depends what Singh says,” Agnifilo said.
Singh is expected to take the stand Thursday.
Mangano’s lawyers urged jurors not to believe a single note when Singh sings.
“A man incapable of telling the truth is the centerpiece of the government case,” Kevin Keating told jurors.
A spokesman for de Blasio, Eric Phillips, said, “the mayor’s got nothing to do with that case and we don’t know anything about the rumor” that he might testify.
The trial is expected to take about two months.