11 August 2021: Biden Says Cuomo Did "Hell of a Job"

Biden says apart from personal behavior, Cuomo did a "hell of a job" as governor

President Joe Biden reacted to Andrew M. Cuomo's announced resignation in disgrace by saying he did a "hell of a job". Here's a portion of the transcript from the President's 10 August 2021 press briefing, when he was asked about the resignation by CBS' Ed O'Keefe.

O'KEEFE: "One of the Democrats through the years that you spoke with about infrastructure the most was Andrew Cuomo, who is resigning, who announced he's resigning today. You had traveled New York with him when you were vice president to the launch of the reconstruction of LaGuardia. He was someone who supported your campaign early on. I know you called on him to resign. I know you condemned the alleged behavior. But you're someone who spends a lot of time with mayors and governors. How would you assess his ten-and-a-half years as governor of the state?"

BIDEN: "In terms of his personal behavior or what he's done as a governor?"

O'KEEFE: "What he's done as a governor."

BIDEN: "I thought he's done a hell of a job. I thought he's done a hell of a job. And uh, I mean both on everything from access to voting to infrastructure to a whole range of things. That's why it's so sad."

That striking comment was quickly followed up by CNN's Kaitlin Collins and O'Keefe:

COLLINS: "Can I quickly follow up on your comment on Governor Cuomo? Can you really say that he has done a, quote, 'hell of a job' if he's accused of sexual harassing women, on the job?"

BIDEN: "Look, you're asking two different questions. The substantive, should he remain as governor is one question. And women should be believed when they make accusations that are able to on the face of them make sense, they're investigated, and the judgement was made that what they said was correct. That's one thing. The question is, did he do a good job on infrastructure? That was the question. He did."

COLLINS: "The question was how did he do as a governor?"

BIDEN: "No, the question was -- correct me if I'm wrong --"

O'KEEFE: "How was he as a governor generally?"

BIDEN: "Well as a governor generally—"

O'KEEFE: "Outside of his personal behavior, outside of his personal behavior."

BIDEN: "Outside of his personal behavior? Okay."

COLLINS: "But can you separate the two?"

BIDEN: "No, I'm not. I was asked a specific question. I'm trying to answer specifically. What do you want to ask me specifically?"

The Biden DOJ dropped its investigation of excess COVID deaths in New York's state-operated nursing homes on 23 July 2021. President Biden has long signalled he is okay with Cuomo's excess COVID nursing home deaths resulting from his administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and their cover-up.