NY Gov. Cuomo: Doesn't Help to 'Sugarcoat' Bombing, This Was Terrorism

It doesn't help anyone to "sugarcoat the truth" when it comes to the explosion that rocked lower Manhattan Saturday night, or the bomb that was detonated by a police department robot early Monday morning, and that truth is the New York City bomb was a terrorism attack, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday morning, following a weekend of officials and the presidential nominees wrangling over the words.

"What happened yesterday is you had almost an argument over semantics and politics," the Democratic governor told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "Let's be honest. We're in the political silly season. It's even heightened this season. I've never seen a presidential election like it."

"What did Hillary Clinton call it? What did Donald Trump call it? And how does that inform people about their political predisposition?" he continued. "Prosecutors — and again, I was a former attorney general — prosecutors will be careful because they want to make sure they have the elements of a crime before they define it. But two bombs go off in New York. Was it a terrorism act? Yes."

Terrorism is an act that targets innocent citizens to coerce or intimidate them, he continued, "and that's what these two bombings are."

It's not known yet for sure if the bomb in New York City was part of an international terrorist attack sponsored or stimulated by a foreign body, Cuomo said, but "today, I believe we're going to find out that it was influenced by foreign forces."

People want the truth so they can know what they're facing and how the threat is being handled, he continued.

"We have more security forces than we've ever had," Cuomo said. "Live your life, go about your business. Don't let the terrorists win. At the end of the day, New Yorkers are tough. We've gone through a lot of tough days and we'll get through this."

Monday morning, the FBI released a poster stating it is searching for Afghanistan-born Ahmad Khan Rahami, in connection with the New York bombing. The FBI said Rahami is now a U.S. citizen.

Cuomo said it was up to the FBI and the joint task force investigating the incidents to release Rahami's name, but "it's fair to say a young man who was of foreign descent and I'm sure the name will be released shortly because they need the support of our law enforcement to try to apprehend him."

Meanwhile, there has been an "unprecedented response by law enforcement, federal, state, and city" in response to the explosion. "We were seamless. We have the subways open, we have the roads open. We are back to business."

The United Nations General Assembly is coming to New York this week, starting on Monday, and Cuomo said he has brought in another "1,000 state police and National Guard. We'll probably have the greatest security presence ever established in this state, and our point is we're going about our life.

"We're living our life, and they are not successful, and they are not intimidating and they are not coercing."

Cuomo said New York has been coordinating its investigation with New Jersey, and he has contacted Gov. Chris Christie.

"There are certain commonalities on the way the bombs are constructed," Cuomo said. "Certain elements are the same. They are not identical but they are similar which would suggest that you could have had a common mastermind in the construction of the bombs.

"And that is a piece of information that I think, it's fair to say has informed the investigation going forward."

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