Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday claimed President Trump will stage a takeover of New York Metropolis if Zohran Mamdani is elected mayor – as he additionally once more tried to shift blame for the bail reforms he handed as governor.
Cuomo, throughout an occasion in Harlem close to the place an harmless girl was fatally shot by a stray bullet, forged Mamdani’s insurance policies as “actually harmful” for town’s public security.
“President Trump will wind up being Mayor Trump if Mamdani is elected,” mentioned Cuomo, who’s working as an impartial within the November election after being bested by Mamdani within the Democratic main.
He argued if the socialist, arguably soft-on-crime Mamdani is elected, it could give Trump a pretext to ship federal troops into the Massive Apple, as he did in Washington, DC — and has threatened to do if the Queens assemblyman turns into mayor.
“I don’t even assume he would await Mamdani to be inaugurated,” Cuomo warned. “I feel if Mamdani received the election, the following day I wouldn’t be shocked should you noticed President Trump act.”
Trump wouldn’t ship the feds into town if Cuomo was mayor, he argued, claiming “there could be completely no rationale in any respect” to take action.
However for all of Cuomo’s harping on Mamdani’s public security stances, the previous governor refused to take any blame for the 2019 bail reforms he signed into legislation — which critics argue led to a surge in recidivist-based crime on town’s streets.
Cuomo blamed dastardly state legislators for not giving judges the power to avoid the mandate and order suspects they believed to be harmful held behind bars.
“I wished so as to add in that first legislation – judicial discretion on dangerousness. The legislature wouldn’t conform to it on the time,” he mentioned, inside minutes of casting himself as a steadfast bulwark in opposition to a power-mad Trump.
The thrice-elected Democrat’s declare of helplessness got here as Trump on Monday issued an govt order aiming to finish cashless bail — a key promise of the reform that Cuomo signed into legislation.
Trump’s vaguely worded directive threatened to chop off federal funding for states and native jurisdictions that “considerably eradicated” money bail, giving accused criminals a an opportunity to commit extra crimes, together with violent offenses.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, in response to Trump’s order, argued New York doesn’t have cashless bail as a result of violent crimes akin to homicide, rape and theft are nonetheless bail-eligible. The reforms largely eradicated bail for misdemeanors and non-violent offenses.
Cuomo largely stayed silent over Trump’s govt order till Wednesday, when he mentioned, “We don’t have cashless bail.”
His assertion stands in distinction to his 2019 State of the State proposal, which clearly states: “Governor Cuomo is advancing laws that can finish money bail as soon as and for all.”
The proposal requires judges to contemplate whether or not a defendant represents a “present risk.”
Cuomo asserted that he at all times wished that “judicial discretion,” and famous tweaks to the reforms through the years have added it.
The ex-gov’s assaults on Mamdani and his supposed weak spot in opposition to the president unfolded as his rival was marching on Wall Avenue to protest the Trump administration alongside the Rev. Al Sharpton.
A spokesperson for Mamdani’s marketing campaign famous that Sharpton referred to as out Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams for not attending the march.
— Extra reporting by Vaughn Golden
