Full video of Cuomo's response below
Well, the short-lived era of peace between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump appears to have hit some turbulence, with the three-term governor delivering a lengthy response Friday to a suggestion from the president that he spend more time “doing” and “stop complaining.”
Trump issued the tweet while Cuomo was giving his daily press briefing, during which he called on the federal government to help New York continue to ramp up testing related to COVID-19.
The tweet, in full, appeared to frame Cuomo’s briefing Friday as a waste of time, which Trump said could be used instead to combat the state’s COVID-19 caseload.
“Governor Cuomo should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining’. Get out there and get the job done. Stop talking!” Trump tweeted.
“We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn’t need or use, gave large numbers of Ventilators that you should have had, and helped you with testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!” Trump continued, posting a second tweet.
A reporter at the briefing read the first part of Trump’s comments aloud, and asked Cuomo to respond. He delivered a nine-minute response, and then continued with another seven minutes when asked a follow-up question about his relationship with the president.
That’s not counting other points, following those questions, that Cuomo interjected with other, shorter, responses to the president’s tweets.
“First of all, if he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work, right?” Cuomo said at the start of his response.
Here's a full video of Cuomo's response:
He went on to defend the state’s actions, and requests from the federal government, by pointing to projections on the trajectory of COVID-19 from both the Centers for Disease Control and the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Both groups predicted the disease — without severe mitigation efforts — would hospitalize thousands more than what’s been seen in New York. So, the state planned its efforts based on those numbers, Cuomo said.
“They’re your projections Mr. President. So, were we foolish for relying on your projections, Mr. President?” Cuomo said. “We relied on your projections. Okay, shouldn’t have relied on your projections.”
Cuomo went on to say that Trump has been “very helpful” to the state by providing temporary hospital space to house COVID-19 patients.
He, later in the briefing, asked a top aide to place specific slides on the television screens behind them. Those slides showed the projections from the CDC and the White House and how the disease could play out without strict actions.
At one point, Cuomo even suggested that Trump fire the individuals who came up with those projections if he thought the states were wrong to follow them.
Trump, for his part, did not take kindly to Cuomo’s response.
“Cuomo ridiculously wanted ‘40 thousand Ventilators’. We gave him a small fraction of that number, and it was plenty. State should have had them in stockpile!” Trump tweeted.
As of Thursday, 4,294 were intubated in relation to the disease, meaning they're placed on a ventilator. That's a long shot from what the state projected it would need at the peak, but Cuomo has largely attributed the lower demand to widespread testing and social distancing efforts.
The net number of intubations on Thursday, which was reported on Friday, was actually down compared to Wednesday. The net number of hospitalizations was also down, according to state data.
As of Thursday, 229,642 had tested positive for COVID-19 in New York. An additional 630 people died of the disease Thursday, bringing the total number of fatalities in New York to 12,822.