Trump says he’ll meet with Cuomo at White House on Tuesday

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will visit the White House for a meeting in the Oval Office to discuss the state’s coronavirus response, President Trump said Monday.

“They’re getting it together in New York. A lot of good things are happening in New York. And I think the governor’s going to come in to see us tomorrow,” Trump said during a press briefing. “Andrew is going to be coming in with some of his people. So we look forward to that.”

Governors have largely communicated with the White House via video conference in recent week as the coronavirus curbs travel.

Trump and Cuomo have had a complex back-and-forth throughout the pandemic, which has hit New York harder than any other area in the country. The president has oscillated between using Cuomo as a foil when the governor has been critical and citing Cuomo’s more complimentary remarks about the federal response.

Cuomo has emerged as the Democratic answer to Trump’s daily press briefings, giving his own updates on the state’s situation each afternoon before the president takes the podium in the evenings.

Trump has been known to watch Cuomo’s briefings and respond to them in real time. The two traded barbs on Friday after the governor bemoaned the lack of federal assistance to increase testing capacity.

“Governor Cuomo should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining’. Get out there and get the job done,” Trump tweeted.

The president on Sunday played a video clip of Cuomo expressing gratitude for the federal government being a “great partner.” The governor has been adamant about the need for collaboration between states and the federal government on matters such as testing and acquiring personal protective equipment even as Trump insists both should fall largely on the states.

The coronavirus has infected more than 782,000 people in the U.S., including more than 141,000 in New York City, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.