Chris Cuomo blasts Trump over photo with Goya products: ‘In the middle of a pandemic, they’re selling beans’

CNN host Chris Cuomo railed against President Trump’s “pandemic priorities” on Wednesday evening after the president posed for an Oval Office photo with several Goya Foods products as the White House doubled down on its support of the company amid boycott calls after its CEO praised Trump. 

“You tell me how a president, in the middle of a pandemic, has got time for this bullshit,” Cuomo said on his nightly news program. “Are you kidding me?” 

Trump earlier in the day shared on Instagram a photo of himself sitting at the Resolute Desk with a variety of Goya products in front of him.

The photo was shared just a day after Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a White House senior adviser, shared a similar tweet that said, “if it’s Goya, it has to be good.”

“This is what [Trump’s] resolute about,” Cuomo said. “Are you kidding me?”

“On your dime, in the middle of a pandemic, they’re selling beans,” he added. “Are you kidding me? Seriously, seriously. This is not left and right, this is reasonable, my brothers and sisters. The guy is sitting on the Resolute Desk with a bunch of Goya products.” 

“On your dime, in the middle of a pandemic, they’re selling beans!” says @ChrisCuomo, outraged over Pres. Trump’s “magic beans” photo.

“Are you kidding me? Seriously. Seriously… what good reason?” pic.twitter.com/zih858VuBB

— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) July 15, 2020

Calls to boycott Goya, which claims to be the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the U.S., first gained traction after CEO Robert Unanue said at a White House event last week that “we’re all truly blessed” to have Trump as president. 

In an apparent show of support for the company, Ivanka Trump on Tuesday shared a photo on Twitter of herself with a can of Goya beans. In addition to his Instagram photo on Wednesday, Trump also tweeted that Goya Foods is “doing GREAT” while attacking the “The Radical Left smear machine.”

The posts, however, raised concerns about potential violations of federal ethics rules for public officials. According to the Justice Department, a federal employee’s position should not be used “to coerce; to endorse any product, service or enterprise; or to give the appearance of governmental sanction.”

“If you tout the company’s product in an obvious response to the backlash the company is facing for the CEO’s remarks about your father-president, you knowingly link your account in people’s minds to your official activities; you create the appearance of official sanction,” Walter Shaub, a former director of the Office of Government Ethics, said in a series of tweets.

Others, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), mocked the younger Trump’s message. The first-term congresswoman tweeted in Spanish, “If it’s Trump, he has to be corrupt.”

The White House blamed the media and the “cancel culture movement” for the criticism Ivanka Trump’s social media post received. 

“Only the media and the cancel culture movement would criticize Ivanka for showing her personal support for a company that has been unfairly mocked, boycotted and ridiculed for supporting this administration — one that has consistently fought for and delivered for the Hispanic community,” White House specialty media director Carolina Hurley said in a statement.

Cuomo said that the picture of Trump and the Goya products exemplified why the U.S. needed Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, amid the health crisis. Fauci has been targeted by multiple administration officials in recent days over some of the warnings he’s issued amid the pandemic. 

“The idea of [Trump] messing with Fauci when he’s selling magic beans is crazy,” Cuomo said.