Cuomo calls Trump a liar on COVID-19

Gov. Cuomo lashed out at President Trump for bungling the coronavirus pandemic as the situation on the ground deteriorates.

“The national situation is getting worse, it’s not getting better,” Cuomo said. “That’s an inarguable fact. Look at what’s happening in Florida, in California, in Texas.”

The governor accused Trump of lying to the American people about the dangers the pandemic posed and the harsh sacrifices needed.

“Start with the truth,” he said. “It starts with the president of the United States. If we’re going to press reset … it should start by saying it was wrong to deny and downplay COVID six months ago.”

Cuomo said it was entirely predictable that the pandemic would eventually spread across the nation. He mocked coronavirus task force leader Dr. Deborah Birx for suggesting that the pandemic has recently entered a “new phase” of “extensive spread.”

“Extensive spread is a new phase?” he asked. “What was the old phase? That was limited spread what we went through?”

Even as most of the country battles a major resurgence of illness and death, Cuomo said New York is still doing a relatively good job of containing the virus.

Some 545 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday out of about 51,000 tests, a rate of near 1% that has remained remarkably steady for weeks. Just three deaths from coronavirus were reported, a far cry from the toll of close to 1,000 that the state experienced in April.

Cuomo demanded that leaders from both parties include aid to hard-hit states like New York in the coronavirus stimulus package that is being debated behind closed doors in Washington.

He has warned Democrats for months that Republicans would seek to shaft New York for bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

“I’m not letting Washington off the hook,” he said. “They have to deliver. If the bill is not good for New York, don’t pass it.”