President Trump showed a video clip of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) praising the federal government’s efforts in the coronavirus pandemic but said his staff “left out the good part.”
The president requested that a clip of Cuomo’s Sunday press briefing be played at the White House press briefing, but afterward, he said he thought there was more to show.
“They left out the good part,” he said, adding, “Good job, fellas. They did a better job on ventilators.”
In the clip, the New York governor applauds the federal government for working with the state most affected by the coronavirus pandemic so far.
“The federal government stepped up and was a great partner,” he said. “I’m the first one to say it. We needed help, and they were there.”
Following the clip, a reporter asked Trump what “good part” was left out.
“Andrew had something else to say that was really nice, but we won’t go through that,” he said.
“You want to put the rest of it up, or do you not have it?” he asked a member of his staff before saying, “I just think it’s so good for people because it’s bipartisan.”
“This is not about Democrats, Republicans,” he added. “This is about a thing that hit our country, the likes of which has never happened to us before.”
Trump then thanked Cuomo for his comments before telling a staff member offering to find the missing video, “Well, that’s OK. Whatever.”
The rest of the video was eventually played during the briefing.
Cuomo celebrated a trend of decreasing hospitalization rates during his Sunday briefing, saying that if the current trends continue, New York’s outbreak will have peaked and started its descent.
The exchange occurred days after Trump and Cuomo slammed each other over disagreements regarding federal funding for states during the pandemic. The president responded to Cuomo’s requests for more funding by saying the governor “should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining’” in a tweet.
–Morgan Chalfant contributed to this report, which was updated on April 20 at 9:30 a.m.