CUOMO DAM BREAKING? — Over the past few weeks, New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO has held firm that he wouldn’t step down over allegations of sexual misconduct and his handling of nursing home Covid-19 deaths — even as more of those allegations kept surfacing, and the condemnations grew louder, and some of the condemnations turned into calls for his resignation. On Thursday, state lawmakers launched an impeachment investigation and one of the allegations was referred to the Albany police.
But this morning, Cuomo’s political crisis reached a new fever pitch. In a rush, several Democratic members of New York’s congressional delegation called on him to step down: Reps. Jerry Nadler, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sean Patrick Maloney, Mondaire Jones, Jamaal Bowman, Nydia Velazquez, Carolyn Maloney, Adriano Espaillat, Yvette Clarke, Antonio Delgado, Brian Higgins and Grace Meng. That’s a majority of the delegation now. More from Nick Niedzwiadek
And a new story from N.Y. Mag’s Rebecca Traister lays out fresh allegations: “Abuse and Power: Andrew Cuomo’s governorship has been defined by cruelty that disguised chronic mismanagement. Why was that celebrated for so long?”: “Not long after she started, she said, Cuomo’s people rented out Dorrian’s for a Super Bowl party. At the end of the night, after the bar opened to the public, Cuomo was sitting in the back room talking to a young woman with a dove tattooed on her hand. At a staff meeting the next morning, Kaitlin said, Cuomo asked his aides to find the woman with the dove tattoo and to consider offering her a job. Kaitlin described the uncanny realization that this was likely how it had gone the morning after she’d met him.
“After every public event, Kaitlin sorted through photographs of Cuomo posing with guests, selecting images to which he would append personal notes. She said he always paid special attention to pictures of himself with pretty women. If he didn’t like how he looked in them, he would yell at Kaitlin. ‘I got screamed at for a lot of bad photos,’ she told me.”
— Former Albany reporter and POLITICO alum Jessica Bakeman in N.Y. Mag: “Cuomo Never Let Me Forget I Was a Woman”: “I never thought the governor wanted to have sex with me. It wasn’t about sex. It was about power. He wanted me to know that I was powerless, that I was small and weak, that I did not deserve what relative power I had: a platform to hold him accountable for his words and actions. He wanted me to know that he could take my dignity away at any moment with an inappropriate comment or a hand on my waist.”
Will this new wave of pressure finally push Cuomo out the door, or will he hang on? It’s worth noting the shoes that haven’t dropped (yet), most prominently Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries. Looming over this crisis is the memory of 2019, when Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam powered through a blackface scandal even when both his state’s senators pulled their support.
We may have some answers soon enough: Cuomo is holding a press conference at 1 p.m. But WaPo’s Josh Dawsey reports that it’s a pandemic briefing, not a resignation.
Happy Friday afternoon. Send us tips and scoops: Garrett Ross and Eli Okun.
THE FIRST HOUSE RETIREMENT — “Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick won’t seek reelection: ‘I’m sort of term-limiting myself,’” Arizona Republic: “Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick says her fifth term in Congress will be her last. Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., [announced] Friday that she will not seek another term representing the Tucson area, a move that comes as the state's political boundaries will be redrawn ahead of the 2022 elections.
“At 70, Kirkpatrick said her health and recovery from alcohol dependency was ‘not a factor at all’ in her decision. … Kirkpatrick’s departure is likely to boost Republican interest in challenging for a House seat in that area, which had been among the nation’s most competitive until the Trump era, when Kirkpatrick breezed to a pair of easy wins.”
— NEXT UP, via Ally Mutnick: “Democratic state Rep. Randy Friese, a trauma surgeon who treated then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) after she was shot in the head in 2011, is likely to run for the seat, according to a source familiar with his thinking. … Another possible candidate is Matt Heinz, the 2016 Democratic nominee for the seat who is now on the Pima County Board of Supervisors.”
THE TRUMP INVESTIGATIONS — “Can Cyrus Vance, Jr., Nail Trump?” The New Yorker: “He declined to discuss the Trump case, as legal ethics require, but he did disclose that he will not seek a fourth term, and that he plans to retire from the D.A.’s office on December 31st. … Among [Trump’s] social circle in Palm Beach, speculation abounds that Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, an ally, might not honor an extradition request from New York if a bench warrant were issued for Trump’s arrest. …
“Several knowledgeable sources told me that, in the past two months, the tone and the pace of Vance’s grand-jury probe have picked up dramatically. A person who has been extensively involved in the investigation said, ‘It’s night and day.’ Another source, who complained that things had seemed to stall while Vance waited for Trump to leave the White House, and then waited for his tax records, said, of the D.A.’s office, ‘They mean business now.’”
— “New Adversary Looms for Trump as Vance Exits Manhattan D.A. Race,” NYT
UNION PUSH GOES BIPARTISAN … Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) in USA TODAY: “Amazon should face unionization drive without Republican support”: “[T]he days of conservatives being taken for granted by the business community are over. Here’s my standard: When the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values, the choice is easy — I support the workers. And that’s why I stand with those at Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse today.”
— This is yet more evidence that in today’s GOP, no policy stance is firm enough not to get subsumed into partisan culture war.
INSIDE THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE — “Biden’s biggest goals crowd the agenda of one Senate panel,” by Marianne LeVine: “The panel’s to-do list is long, encompassing everything from immigration to voting rights to criminal justice reform to gun violence to expanding LGBTQ rights — and its mission is complicated by a roster of senators on both sides of the aisle with bigger national ambitions. …
“[Chair Dick Durbin] named the topic he’s led years of painstaking talks on as his first priority: ‘I’m looking for the first opportunity I can find for a timely presentation of an issue near and dear to me — immigration.’ … [Sen. Lindsey] Graham said in an interview Wednesday that Durbin has always been an ‘honest broker’ on immigration but that a surge in border crossings is ‘overshadowing any legislative breakthroughs.’ ‘I don’t see anything getting through any committee until you turn around the tide,’ the close Trump ally said. … [S]enators from both parties suggested that a second criminal justice overhaul could be more likely.”
IMMIGRATION FILES — “Biden admin to end Trump policy that let DHS deport caregivers for migrant children,” NBC: “The Biden administration said Friday it will end a Trump-era policy that let U.S. border agents collect information about the immigration status of people who came forward to care for unaccompanied migrant children so it could potentially deport them.
“The policy, which began in 2018, allowed the Department of Homeland Security to identify and deport those would-be caregivers who were in the country illegally. It meant that immigrant parents who came to the U.S. and then later sent for their children to cross the border faced possible deportation when they tried to pick up their children from Health and Human Services custody.”
ABOUT THAT BORDER SURGE — “Biden has options for the border. They’re just politically painful,” by Anita Kumar: “[T]hey are searching for emergency shelters for minors traveling alone across the border and activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency … They are also considering placing Health and Human Services staff at the border to more quickly assist children, and looking for ways to more quickly vet adults who could take care of those kids, including waiving fingerprint requirements in lieu of background checks …
“Whatever step Biden takes, confidantes predict, the criticism against him will be fierce. … But privately, some Biden allies worry that the current situation will make it even harder to move that [comprehensive reform] bill.”
THE GOP VS. SWALWELL — KEVIN MCCARTHY (@GOPLeader): “Pelosi just reappointed Eric Swalwell to the Intelligence Committee. Based on the briefing she and I received together, Swalwell should not be on the panel in charge of guarding our nation’s secrets. Next week, I will offer a resolution to remove him from the Intel Committee.”
PPP PROBLEMS — “Trump supporters, big businesses lined up early to get PPP loans. Then gave them back,” McClatchy: “[A] unique analysis of government spending data from the USASpending.gov website suggests that far more businesses than previously known were approved for loans in the earliest days of the program that were later returned or cancelled.
“The recipients included some of the biggest restaurant and hospitality chains in the country, including a Florida-based timeshare tycoon, a handful of companies tied to a Miami healthcare magnate, and numerous owners with close ties to former President Donald Trump, including at least one former White House staffer.”
MUCK READ — “Rogue Trumpists Create Groups To Raise Unlimited Cash from Secret Donors,” The Daily Beast: “The founding members of the group—a 501(c)(4) nonprofit called Defending the Republic Inc—include Joe Flynn, the QAnon-happy brother of former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and Emily Newman, the White House liaison turned renegade election litigator. A sister super PAC by the same name, sharing the same mailbox, was created around the same time.
“The group was founded the day after MyPillow CEO and MAGA die-hard Mike Lindell was hit with a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit. Incorporation documents list Lindell as one of the original board members, but he told The Daily Beast that he was ‘too busy’ and resigned ‘a couple weeks ago.’”
JAN. 6 FALLOUT — “Prosecutors seek a slowdown in Capitol attack cases, calling probe the ‘most complex’ in history,” by Kyle Cheney
2021 WATCH — “Split opposition boosts McAuliffe’s comeback bid in Virginia,” by Maya King: “The field of Democratic hopefuls for governor in Virginia is historically diverse. But that very diversity and its crowded size are causing a conflict. That’s because the outside groups formed to support women and candidates of color are still mostly on the sidelines. And it’s leaving former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a white man and longtime Democratic insider, as the overriding frontrunner with less than three months until the primary.”
2022 WATCH — “Trump dives into battle for Senate,” by Burgess Everett: “The former president is dialing up GOP senators to back their campaigns and talk strategy, weighing how to approach primaries in critical open seats and making sure he leaves an imprint on the midterm elections. Trump’s involvement, revealed in interviews with a dozen GOP senators, shows how far the 50-member conference has come two months after they weighed a clean break with the former president following the insurrection at the Capitol by his supporters.”
SPOTTED: Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and his fiancee Ginger Luckey on a Thursday afternoon United flight from DCA to Denver.
MEDIAWATCH — Vivian Salama is returning to the WSJ to cover national security. She currently is national security correspondent at CNN. … Andrew Freedman is returning to Axios to cover climate change. He currently covers weather and climate for WaPo. …
… Sara Sorcher, deputy editor of WaPo’s PowerPost, will become the newspaper’s London hub editor. Announcement … Liz Landers is now Vice’s first chief political correspondent, leading on-air political coverage and guest anchoring “Vice News Tonight.” She previously was a political correspondent for Vice, and is a CNN alum.
BONUS BIRTHDAY: D.C. photographer Neshan Naltchayan
March 13, 2021 at 12:52AM
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