September 3, 2020
From Governor Andrew Cuomo:
The President says he’s going to have a vaccine. CDC is talking about a vaccine in early November. How convenient. It’s going to be an Election Day miracle drug. Some people are concerned that the vaccine may wind up being hydroxychloroquine, so the State Department of Health before we recommend that New Yorkers take a vaccine, the State Department of Health will be reviewing all the protocol and research by the FDA and whatever federal authorities say it’s safe and effective. So, we will, before we recommend New Yorkers take any vaccine, we will have the state Department of Health review it.
The President has been tweeting up a storm. This is his way. I believe the President is fundamentally a bully which I’ve said too many times and I’ve known him very well for a very long period of time. It doesn’t work in New York because you can’t bully New Yorkers. We just don’t get bullied. We don’t respond well to it and I want to talk about facts. You know the President says a lot of things but facts still matter even in this political environment, right? When it comes to protests in New York City and public safety, and I’m concerned about public safety in New York City also, New Yorkers are all concerned about it. City residents are concerned about it. But public safety is not a federal responsibility – not constitutionally in New York City. It’s a state and local issue. The federal responsibility for public safety is national security and that has been a great failure by this President. He said that his protection of Americans against these protests is akin to World War II. No. World War II – I’ll tell you what’s akin to World War II: It was the COVID attack. This nation has not been attacked by an enemy who has killed more and ravaged more than COVID since World War II and the President as a commander-in-chief has been an abysmal failure in the war against COVID. That’s on the facts. You look at the number of deaths from COVID just the past couple of days: Spain: 42; France: 25 Germany: 8; Italy: very badly hit. 6. You know how many were in the United States? 1,074. 1,074. Commander Trump, you’re losing. You’re losing the World War. Other countries are doing much better and losing far few people then the United States is losing.
Second point, the President said New York did not do a good job in handling COVID. No. It’s not that New York didn’t do a good job. COVID problem in New York was a function of the federal government’s negligence. How do I know that? Because they admitted that they were negligent. They admitted it. The virus came from Europe, not China. The President calls it the China virus. It’s not the China virus. It’s the European virus and it came here because the federal government was negligent in protecting Americans and New Yorkers.
How can I say that? I’m not saying that. The federal government admitted their failure. Dr. Fauci on June 23, ‘Everybody was looking at China and it came from Europe.’ That’s Dr. Fauci.
Dr. Fauci on April 9: ‘We cut off the travel from China relatively early, but we were seeded with a relatively few number of cases from China but very quickly the epicenter switched to Europe. Particularly Northern Italy. Given the travel and air traffic from anywhere in Italy, but also particularly Northern Italy, it’s just not surprising that unfortunately and inadvertently, New York was seeded before we knew what was going on.’
Well that’s Dr. Fauci, President doesn’t like Dr. Fauci. How about CDC Director Robert Redfield, who he appointed. His CDC Director. Sworn testimony March 10: ‘Right now the new China is Europe. And there’s a lot of people coming back and forth from Europe that are now starting to seed these communities.’
CDC Report, July 17: ‘Although travel restrictions are an important mitigation factor, by the time the European restrictions were implemented, importation and community transmission of COVID had already occurred in New York City.’
CDC. CDC Principal Director Anne Shout, May 1: ‘I think in retrospect, taking action earlier could have delayed the further amplification or delayed the speed of it. The extent of travel from Europe, once Europe was having outbreaks, really accelerated our importation and the rapid spread.’
CDC Robert Redfield, July 28: ‘The introduction from Europe happened before we realized what was happening.’
The introduction from Europe happened before we realized what was happening. CDC, Dr. Fauci – these are federal agencies who have admitted that the virus came to New York from Europe and they blew it. They missed it. It was their failure. It was their negligence. They have admitted it in their words. This is not a back and forth. It’s not a political discussion; well he said this, they say that. He says the world is flat, I say the world is round. No. The world is round. That is a fact. Well he says it’s flat. I know, but he’s wrong. The situation in New York with COVID came from Europe because the federal government was negligent and they admitted it. It’s their words.
President says he’s going to win New York State in the election. President says a lot of things. Whatever he would like to wager on his winning New York, I would take him up on it. If he is serious, old expression put your money where your mouth is. How much do you want to wager that you’re going to win New York? He’s going to lose New York. Why? Because those who know the President best like him the least. New Yorkers know him. He grew up here. We watched him as tabloid fodder for years. We know him and those who know him, know he’s unsuited to be President.
Not just New Yorkers, people who know him best. You know who knows him best? His family. You know what his sister said? His sister, by the way, is not just his sister. His sister is a former federal judge who’s a credible person. His sister said, quote, ‘The change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying – holy s**t. He has no principles. He doesn’t read. Donald is cruel. He was a brat. You can’t trust him. It was all about him.’
Who said that? His sister. Former federal judge. Now look, there’s only two options: Either the sister is mentally not competent or she’s accurate. I don’t hear anyone trying to overturn her decisions based on a lack of mental competence. So, former federal judge says that about her brother. Those who know him best, like him least. Those are the words, quoted, from his sister a former federal judge.
President then says my puppet prosecutors are illegally prosecuting him. We don’t have public prosecutors in New York. I don’t appoint the prosecutors. The President appoints public prosecutors, he appoints William Barr. Who, I understand from the President’s point of view, yes, William Barr is his puppet. Yes, William Barr is a prosecutor. That doesn’t happen in New York. That’s a federal situation. Cy Vance, the District Attorney in Manhattan, gets elected. He ran in Manhattan. There’s an election, people vote and he’s the District Attorney. Cy Vance has asked for his taxes. It’s not illegal. Judges have sided with Cy Vance and I’m sure Cy Vance, who’s an experienced prosecutor, has a probable cause to ask for his taxes.
The President desperately is trying to secret his taxes. I don’t know why. I release my taxes. I don’t understand why the President has such great fear about releasing his taxes. To go through all this extent, there must be something he really doesn’t want people to see. Otherwise, it’s wholly illogical what he’s doing. Cy Vance is not a puppet of mine. He was elected. He’s not William Barr. The prosecutors aren’t acting illegally. The prosecutors are seeking to prove illegality and that’s why they want the taxes.
Those are facts, my friends. They’re not he said, she said. They’re just facts. If he wants to refute the facts, a thousand people didn’t die in the United States. Forty-two people didn’t die in Spain. Okay, refute the facts. My sister didn’t say that. Okay, except she did. Redfield didn’t say – well, Redfield did say you missed the virus coming from Europe. They didn’t do the European travel ban until mid-March. It was too late. They all admitted it. It’s his negligence, it’s his liability that brought it to New York.
If this was an actual war he could be court-martialed for dereliction of duty. He brought it to New York. World War II, COVID was World War II and you have the worst performance on the globe of any commander-in-chief. If these were missiles rather than a viral transmission, the United States would have been devastated. These are all facts, which I say in response to the President’s tweets.
