By Dan Murphy
Former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo made some news last week when, on WABC 770AM radio, he warned NY democrats about the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
When commenting on Trump’s indictment by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Cuomo said, “I think it’s all politics and I think that’s what the people of this country are saying,” Cuomo said. “It just feeds that anger and cynicism and partisanship. It’s a coincidence that Bragg goes after Trump, that Tish James goes after Trump, and Georgia goes after Trump? That’s all a coincidence? I think it feeds the cynicism, and that’s the cancer in our body politic right now.”
Cuomo warned about the possibility of a Trump indictment “boomeranging” and coming back to hurt democrats. “That’s what these indictments by Manhattan DA Bragg might do. It can boomerang on the democrats -and actually might help Trump. What do we think the American people think when they hear about all of these lawsuits being brought by democrats against Trump?
“Democrats are treading on dangerous ground. Playing cheap, unethical politics to appeal to NY democrats could actually alienate the very voters we need to attract in a national election.
Cuomo added that the election law violations that Trump is alleged to have made when he reimbursed his then attorney Michael Cohen $130,000 for paying porn star Stormy Daniels, “is only a misdemeanor. The federal government reviewed it and didn’t find a (criminal) charge.”
Cuomo added that Trump shot himself in the foot by posting a photo of himself with a baseball bat pointed at DA Brag.
On the issue of bail reform, which is holding up the NYS budget process, Cuomo said, “I passed bail reform several years ago. If you were a kid and couldn’t pay bail, you could wind up in Riker’s for two years and you haven’t been convicted of a minor crime.”
“But we always have to come back and tweak it. I had proposed that the Judge should be able to consider the dangerousness standard of the individual. But the legislature didn’t do it. It turns out that we do need the dangerousness standard. Last year, that was the consensus, but the legislature doesn’t want to do it. The Governor does want to do it, I say good for you, stand your ground.”
Cuomo also said that the anology that if you fix bail reform you will fix crime is wrong. “If you reform bail tomorrow, the crime numbers won’t change. We need to be honest about the problems with crime. We need more police, better trained police. But we also need the dangerous standard for judges, and the Governor can get it.
“Democrats don’t want to acknowledge the issue of crime, that’s why they won’t do bail reform and that’s why they don’t want to hire more police.”
Listen to the interview between John Katsimatidis and A. Cuomo at:
https://wabcradio.com/episode/john-catsimatidis-governor-cuomo-03-29-2023/
