New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told President Donald Trump that he "better have an army" if he plans on walking down the streets of New York, the New York Post reports.
Cuomo's near threat was in response to Trump's plan to pull federal funds from "lawless" cities including New York.
Cuomo called an emergency press briefing on Wednesday night to blast Trump for the order. The order calls out New York's murder rate, which has increased, and the defunding of the New York Police Department.
"He better have an army if he thinks he's gonna walk down the street in New York. New Yorkers don't want to have anything to do with him," Cuomo said of Trump. "He can't have enough bodyguards to walk through New York City, people don't want to have anything to do with him."
Cuomo noted that he didn't think Trump's five-page memo, which ordered a review of federal funds that could be redirected from New York, Portland, Seattle and Washington, D.C., was legal.
"It is more of the same from him. It's political, it is gratuitous. And it's illegal. But it is another attempt to kill New York City," Cuomo said.
He added that Trump has "been actively trying to kill New York City since he's been elected."
Cuomo said he thinks Trump's attack on New York is personal and doesn't have anything to do with the number of shootings and murders that have taken place in the city.
"I think it's because he is from New York City and New York City rejected him, always," Cuomo said. "He was dismissed as a clown in New York City, those who know him best like him least."
He said nobody in New York took Trump seriously and he was "just a tabloid cartoon."
Cuomo then blamed the president's "negligence" in handling the coronavirus as the reason New York suffered the highest death toll from the virus.
Before he wrapped up the briefing, the newspaper reports that Cuomo attempted to walk back his comments that threatened Trump.
"My comment about the president and bodyguards in New York City, all I'm saying is that he is persona non grata in New York City," Cuomo said. "And I think he knows that. And he'll never come back to New York, because New Yorkers will never forget how gratuitously mean he has been to New Yorkers and how many times he's tried to kill the city that gave him his start and birthed him. That's what I meant about the bodyguards."
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