Cuomo pushes back on report he left dog at governor’s mansion

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday pushed back on a local news report saying that he asked staffers if anyone would like to keep his dog after moving out of the governor’s mansion. 

The Albany Times Union reported Sunday that two New York State Police sources said that Cuomo allegedly left his dog, Captain, in the state capital while staying with one of his sisters in Westchester County during his final days in office. 

The sources told the local news outlet that Captain, a shepherd, Siberian and malamute mix, has nipped some people since Cuomo first adopted him in 2018. 

One mansion staffer took the dog home for a few days, but returned him after alleged difficulties with the pet, according to the Times Union. 

Cuomo refuted the news report in a Monday evening tweet, writing, “Some people just can’t get the facts straight,” along with a 2020 photo of him, his three daughters and Captain. 

“Yes, I was downstate monitoring storm response for a few days, but Captain and I are a man and his dog,” he added, referring to storm Henri, which was eventually downgraded to a tropical cyclone after battering the Northeast over the weekend. 

Cuomo went on to say that Captain “is part of our family and that’s the way it will always be.” 

Some people just can’t get the facts straight. Yes, I was downstate monitoring storm response for a few days, but Captain and I are a man and his dog. He is part of our family and that’s the way it will always be. pic.twitter.com/x2KMpBLKwL

— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 23, 2021

Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser and spokesman for Cuomo, had also railed against the report over the weekend, telling the Times Union that the former governor was looking for someone to temporarily watch Captain while he goes on vacation. 

“Captain is part of the governor’s family and for your nameless ill-informed source to imply they’ve been trying to give him away is untrue,” Azzopardi said. “Someone offered to watch him for a few days while the transition was ongoing but for that to be weaponized and morph from a game of telephone into the pages of your paper is absurd — now excuse us, we’re preparing for a major storm.”

Cuomo officially left office at midnight early Tuesday, with his lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul (D), sworn in as New York’s first female governor later in the day. 

Cuomo just two weeks ago resigned amid several sexual harassment allegations against him, and in a recorded farewell address released Monday said the New York attorney general’s bombshell report that detailed the accusations was “a political firecracker on an explosive topic.”

“And it did work,” he added.