Gov. Cuomo left his critics in stitches Tuesday by claiming to have completely missed the controversy over the firing of his prosecutorial nemesis, former Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.
During an appearance on live, national TV, Cuomo professed total ignorance when asked for his thoughts on Bharara’s unexpected ouster by President Trump.
“You know, I don’t really know. I didn’t follow the situation,” Cuomo told CBS’ “This Morning” while standing in the snow outside his Manhattan office.
“There’s a transition from one administration to the next, uh, but beyond that, I haven’t followed it.”
The assertion — Cuomo’s first public comments since Bharara got canned — drew howls of disbelief from political observers.
Former Republican Congressman John Sweeney likened the governor’s response to a classic comedy bit from 1960’s TV.
“That clip you just played reminds me of Sgt. Schultz on ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ — ‘I know nothing!’” Sweeney told host Fred Dicker on Albany radio station Talk 1300 AM.
State Republican Chairman Ed Cox said Cuomo has obviously “fumbled the question” because he was “very nervous” talking about the federal corruption-buster who bedeviled him for years.
“I’m laughing because he’s so transparent,” Cox said.
John Kaehny of the Reinvent Albany reform group called Cuomo’ s answer a “political response from a master politician.”
“If anyone on Earth is in interested in the Preet Bharara saga, it’s Andrew Cuomo. His [former] top aide and fund-raisers are under indictment,” Kaenhy said, referring to the pending charges tied to Cuomo’s “Buffalo Billion” project.
Cuomo would have to have spent the past four days in a cave to not know that Bharara was fired Saturday, a day after refusing to resign as ordered with 45 other Obama-appointed US attorneys.
Bharara was the subject of front-page reports in all four New York City newspapers, he was discussed Sunday on both ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” and his hero’s send-off from the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office was covered live on at least two cable-TV channels on Monday.
The Post even sought comment — in vain — from Cuomo’s press office about Bharara’s blistering Sunday tweet, in which he compared getting canned to Cuomo’s abrupt shuttering of the anti-corruption “Moreland Commission” in 2014.
Bharara investigated the panel’s “premature closing” but later said that “absent any additional proof that may develop, there is insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime.”
In addition to denying any knowledge about Bharara getting the boot, Cuomo insisted he wasn’t scared when asked about the possibility that Bharara “might go after your job.”
“Somebody’s gonna run, that’s why they call it democracy. I feel good about the job I’m doing and I’m gonna be running for re-election next year,” he said.
.@NYGovCuomo on Preet Bharara: pic.twitter.com/BaSPNBEsC8
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) March 14, 2017