'Campaign ad': Trump faces backlash for playing 'selective' clips of Cuomo praising him during a coronavirus briefing
US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Mike Pence look on as a video plays of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo giving a press conference in an earlier breifing during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on
The United States is currently under a strong grip of COVID-19, with over 40,000 deaths reported so far - the highest for any country.
President Donald Trump has been holding daily press briefings. Recently, he played a clip of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo praising him.
Critics were quick to slam him for turning a pandemic briefing into a “campaign ad”, as The Guardian put it.
Andre Cuomo has staunchly criticised Trump’s reaction to the pandemic. His state - New York has witnessed the highest number of cases in the entire country and continues to remain the hardest-hit.
The clips showed Cuomo saying “What the federal government did, working with states ... was a phenomenal accomplishment… These were just extraordinary efforts and acts of mobilisation, and the federal government stepped up and was a great partner, and I’m the first to say it. We needed help and they were there.”
Just two days before the clips emerged, Cuomo launched a scathing attack against Trump and said, “First of all, if he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work, right”
“Second, let’s keep emotion and politics out of this and personal ego if we can because this is about the people and our job and let’s try to focus on that”, he further added.
It turns out, Cuomo indeed acknowledged Trump’s quick decision to increase hospital capacity, he did fact-check Trump on his claims that the Javits Center, which had been converted into a hospital, had not been used. Cuomo said that the centre is well in use for patients.
“The president doesn’t want to help on testing. I said 11 times, I said the one issue we need help with is testing. He said 11 times: ‘I don’t want to get involved in testing, it’s too complicated, it’s too hard.’ I know it’s too complicated and too hard. That’s why we need help. I can’t do an international supply chain”, Cuomo further added.
“He wants to say: ‘Well I did enough.’ Yeah, none of us have done enough. We haven’t, because it’s not over ... We have a lot more to do and no one can do the posture of ‘Just say thank you for what I’ve done, and I’m now out, I’m not doing anything else. I’ve done my part”, Cuomo said.
Trump is now moving on to reopen the economy and to focus on his reelection campaign, reports suggest.