Cuomo: Trump claiming he has authority to reopen economy “absurd”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo dismissed President Trump’s claim that he has the sole authority to reopen the U.S. economy as “absurd” during an appearance on “CBS This Morning” Tuesday. Cuomo and the governors of several other eastern states announced Monday that they would join forces to coordinate the reopening of the region and its economy after the coronavirus pandemic upended regular daily life throughout the country. 

Hours after the governors’ plan was announced, the president stood at the podium during the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing and said his “authority is total” in regards to lockdown rules across the country.

“It’s not the law. It’s not the Constitution. We don’t have a king, we have a president,” Cuomo said, stressing the need to work together through the current phase. “We need a public health strategy and an economic strategy.” 

The governor explained that the coordinated bipartisan effort with the governors of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware and Rhode Island was done because the virus “doesn’t stop at a state border.” 

“To come back from this we should do it regionally and share information… let’s put the best minds around the table, come up with a regional strategy,” he said. 

Cuomo said the coalition had spoken to the White House about the announcement, and Mr. Trump’s position that he had authority over U.S. governors was a “total reversal of the president’s first position.”

“He has total authority to open up the economy — then why didn’t he have authority to close the economy? Why did he leave it to the states and the governors to close it down?” he asked.

Cuomo pointed out that the president had, in the past, said it was up to the states to do things like purchase medical equipment. He called Mr. Trump’s shift “a total 180.” 

“If he wants to do more on the reopening, God bless. This is a daunting task for anyone,” Cuomo said. “You want to figure out how to do widespread testing, which the federal government should, do it. But it has to be cooperative and it has to be mutual.”

Despite noting the “hyper partisan environment” and the fact that “the president is running for re-election,” Cuomo said he was most concerned with Americans rather than agendas.

“I am going to work with the federal government, whoever it is, hand-in-hand because that’s in the best interest of the people of my state. And nobody can do this alone, because nobody’s done it before,” he said.