The Daily - The Ruthless Rise and Lonely Decline of Andrew Cuomo

Episode Date: March 19, 2021

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is known as a hard-charging, ruthless political operator.But his power has always come from two sources: legislators’ fear of crossing him and his popularity among the electorate.After recent scandals over bullying allegations, his administration’s handling of nursing home deaths and accusations of sexual harassment, the fear is gone.But does he still have the support of voters?Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: As he tries to plot a political survival strategy, Andrew Cuomo is an object lesson on the dangers of kicking people on the way up.Nearly all of the Democrats in New York’s congressional delegation, including Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, have said that Mr. Cuomo has lost the ability to govern. But the governor has said that he will not bow to “cancel culture.”For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today. For many people, the story of Andrew Cuomo begins a year ago, with his remarkable rise to national fame as the Democratic governor leading New York through the worst of the pandemic, as the Democratic governor leading New York through the worst of the pandemic and his accelerating fall in the face of allegations of sexual misconduct. But my colleague Shane Goldmacher has another story of Andrew Cuomo

that begins years earlier and helps explain how someone so powerful and popular could find himself alone so fast. It's Friday, March 19th. Shane, where does the story of Andrew Cuomo's governorship begin? In a lot of ways, the story of Andrew Cuomo's governorship begins with the end of another governorship, which is Eliot Spitzer's. Eliot Spitzer was elected in 2006 as a high-flying Democrat, seen as potentially a presidential candidate. He was the sheriff of Wall Street. He was very popular of Wall Street. He was very

popular among Democratic voters. But less than two years into his term as governor. Over the course of my public life, I have insisted, I believe correctly, that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct. He collapsed in scandal over a prostitution ring. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor. And then... I hope all of New York will join my prayers for my friend David Patterson as he embarks on his new mission.

A subsequent governor scandal of his lieutenant governor, David Patterson, who became governor, opened the door for Andrew Cuomo in 2010 to run. My friends, I think this upcoming election in November is probably the most important election for the state in my lifetime. And run as a candidate who promised to clean up Albany and the messiness that had been there for so many years himself. To put it simply, New York State is in trouble. It's time the people of the Empire State strike back, and that's what today is about. So just to explain, Shane, who is Andrew Cuomo

at this moment when he launches this campaign for governor? Well, one of the most important things to know about Andrew Cuomo is that he's the son of Mario Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York in the 1980s, who was a liberal icon, a beloved figure on the left who had emerged as an ideological foil for Ronald Reagan Republicanism. But while Mario Cuomo was this lofty figure, Andrew Cuomo was sort of known as his heavy, as the political guy who got things done for his father. And the legend of Andrew Cuomo actually begins even before his father's governorship in a 1977 run for mayor that his dad

did, in which there were reportedly signs that went up in Queens, where they were from, saying, vote for Cuomo, not the homo. They put up signs on Queens Boulevard. It was the whole boulevard. It was shocking. Now, how do you deal with something like that? Well, I'll tell you how I dealt with it. It is shocking.

And this was a reference to his opponent in that primary, Ed Koch, who was long rumored to be gay. My reaction was to say, it's none of your business. Something that Ed Koch denied. But I always held it against him.

I also held it against his son, Andy Cuomo. Right, and just to put that into context, in 1977, putting up a poster claiming that a candidate for mayor is gay in a conservative Italian neighborhood of Queens, which is what the accusation is that Andrew Cuomo did, that would have been a distinctly provocative thing to do.

Right, and Cuomo denies this. Ed Koch went on to beat his father in that primary, by the way. But for so many people, this is the story of how Andrew Cuomo begins in New York politics. And Shane, how does the story of Andrew Cuomo continue? So in 1982, Andrew Cuomo runs his father's campaign for governor and rubs some people even on that campaign the wrong way. When his father becomes governor, Andrew quickly gets a reputation as his enforcer.

In fact, the nickname he earns during his dad's governorship from some people, critics, was the Prince of Darkness. Michael, I looked back in our archives to see when's the first time we called Andrew Cuomo ruthless in a story. And it was a quote in 1986 from a senior person in his dad's administration. 1986, he's not even 30 years old yet. The quote says, Andrew believes in winning, that winning is its reward. He lives and plays the game accordingly.

He plays the game of politics at the cutting edge. He's very charming, and that masks an ability to be ruthless. Sometimes it was hard for people to pinpoint exactly what Andrew Cuomo was behind and not behind. But he was seen as this sort of hidden force from his rivals for negative stories that popped up in the press if they were crossing the Cuomo administration. He eventually sets out on his own, separate from his father, although never separate from the Cuomo name, gets involved in housing, and eventually joins the Clinton administration in the housing department and rises to become the housing secretary in the late 1990s. There he begins to

carve out his own national reputation and began laying the groundwork of what would become his own run for governor in 2002, challenging George Fataki, who'd beaten his father in 1994. Which does not feel like an accident. Which does not feel like an accident at all. He sets out in that 2002 campaign, and it doesn't go well almost from the start. One of the first stumbles he has out of the block is an insult that he launches at Pataki after September 11th. He says there was only one real leader, and it was Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City, and that George Pataki was just holding Rudy Giuliani's coat. And this comment goes really poorly for Andrew Cuomo,

that New Yorkers and others saw this moment as a moment of unity, and here was these sort of sharp elbows coming in, and it wasn't taken well, and it set the tone for a campaign that Andrew Cuomo never finished. He ended up withdrawing from that 2002 Democratic primary, even before the voters went to the polls. that 2002 Democratic primary, even before the voters went to the polls. So here was a case where Andrew Cuomo's instinctive ruthlessness backfires. It's seen as tone deaf by voters in New York.

It does. And when he leaves this race, he really hits a political low point. He's out of public office. He's soon to be divorced. And he begins setting out on something of a contrition tour, which is really different from the rest of his political career. And he goes around to political power brokers, labor unions, and others in the state and tries to reset his reputation and plans a political rehabilitation in 2006 when he runs for attorney general, the post that Eliot Spitzer was vacating for his own run for governor. And Cuomo wins in 2006 and suddenly is in one of the most powerful positions in New York politics.

And perfectly positioned for the moment that Eliot Spitzer collapses as governor. That's right. for the moment that Eliot Spitzer collapses as governor. That's right. Okay, so let's talk about how Andrew Cuomo's style starts to show up once he is in the office of the governor. Well, we've talked about what the legend of Andrew Cuomo was in the 1970s and the 1980s. And I think after 2010, once he's governor,

this legend really becomes reality for people up and down New York politics. People who worked for him, people who crossed him, and his allies alike were subjected to angry phone calls, sometimes yelling sessions. At one point, there was a wedding that two former administration officials had. And at one of the toasts, somebody says, who in this room's been yelled at or bullied by Andrew Cuomo? And people's hands went up across the entire room.

He used this bullying for his own political gain, but also for some big public policy issues. And I think one of the first ones was pushing gay marriage in his first year as governor. And this was an unusual fight to pick, not just because of the issue at the time, and New York was one of the first states to take it on, but because New York had a Republican-controlled

state Senate at that time, and he set out to push a major social liberal issue through a Republican-controlled legislature. And Michael, as I recall, you covered some of this. Yeah, I did. I was up in Albany for the entire gay marriage fight, and it did feel that it was 100% the Andrew Cuomo show. It literally began with a meeting in the Capitol in which Governor Cuomo told gay rights advocates, the only way we do this is my way, not your way. He saw them as bickering, infighting activists. He didn't trust them to get the job done. And once it began, it was entirely

the Cuomo way. He called the leaders of the New York Catholic Church and told them what he was going to do and his expectations for them, knowing their deep-seated opposition. And he ends up coaxing all of these Republican senators who were totally fearful of voting for gay marriage by telling them that he would have their backs and he would protect them against any blowback in their districts. And they ultimately voted for gay marriage and it passed. But he didn't protect them all. There were political consequences,

and one of those Republican senators lost his next election in large part over this. And this is the story of Andrew Cuomo. He pushes through his agenda firmly and fiercely. And at the end of the day, if you help him or you oppose him, you're not guaranteed of his support in the future. And what's the next chapter in the Cuomo story? So after the next election in 2012, the Democrats in Albany actually win a majority of the state Senate, but they don't actually take power. And the reason is there's a small breakaway faction

of Democrats who go and give power instead to the Republicans in a really unusual power-sharing agreement in which the Republicans get to keep control of the state legislature in the state Senate, even though the Democrats have a numeric majority. And Andrew Cuomo benefits from this arrangement and is widely seen as encouraging it. And why would the Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, bless Democratic senators defecting to the Republican side of the legislature? It doesn't make sense on its face, but it did make sense for Andrew Cuomo It doesn't make sense on its face, but it did make sense for Andrew Cuomo because it kept him as the centerpiece of all decision making in Albany. Now, if Democrats controlled the entire legislature, they could decide amongst themselves what bills they wanted to pass and then put them on Andrew Cuomo's desk.

And he'd have to say no if it was too progressive or yes to the things he wanted. If there's a Republican Senate and a Democratic Assembly, well, those two sides had to negotiate. And Andrew Cuomo, who in so many ways governed as a centrist at this time, was the guy in the very middle making the decisions. And so this breakaway faction of Democrats that left Andrew Cuomo even more powerful than he would otherwise be, this is really the beginning of the unraveling of Andrew Cuomo's relationship with the left. Right. And tell us that story. As I recall it, it's a years-long unraveling. Well, there's a small third party in New York called the Working Families Party, which has really been a thorn in Andrew Cuomo's side. And in 2014, the Working Families Party begins to recruit challengers to these breakaway Democrats and plays a role in recruiting a

challenger to Andrew Cuomo. Now, Andrew Cuomo obviously is not looking forward to a primary challenge from the left. And so he creates a third political party of his own called the Women's Equality Party, which has an acronym oddly familiar or oddly close to the Working Families Party, the WEP versus the WFP, which is lost on no one, is a source of potential confusion for voters. Right, because voters will go into the ballot and they'll have to choose between the WFP, the Working Families Party,

and Cuomo's party, the Women's Equality Party, WEP. Correct. And of course, the person Andrew Cuomo's running against that year is a woman. And the Women's Equality Party endorses Andrew Cuomo. As parties you create often do. Typically, yes. And again, this happens in 2018, four years later when Andrew Cuomo's up for re-election again,

the political landscape in New York has changed. Donald Trump is president, and the left of the Democratic Party, which is what the Working Families Party represents, is really newly emboldened. And they decide to take on Andrew Cuomo directly this time. The old boys club in Albany might have a lot of money. They might have a lot of arrogance. They recruit Cynthia Nixon to run against him, an endorser. But in the end, we must remember that they only have as much power as we the people give them. I think it's notable to think about who chose to run against him in the first place, which is someone who had no ties to New York politics professionally, an actress. People in New York politics were largely afraid to challenge him.

Now, it was going to be a huge uphill battle. He was a popular incumbent. But it also was born of people's fear that he would end their political career if they chose to dare challenge him. My experience has taught me that there is only one way to deal with a bully. You have to stand up to him. And from her very first public appearances, taught me that there is only one way to deal with a bully. You have to stand up to him. And from her very first public appearances,

Cynthia Nixon focused her campaign on Andrew Cuomo's ruthlessness and bullying. We've all seen it. Andrew the bully. He bullies other elected officials. He bullies anyone who criticizes him. At times, she tried to turn old tactics against him. So Nixon, who's gay, produced some campaign materials that said vote for the homo, not for Cuomo. It reminds me of the behavior we see from Donald Trump every day.

And for Andrew Cuomo, this is basically a declaration of war. And war means setting out to destroy the Working Families Party. And one of the first steps he takes is arranging for labor unions that are allied with him to withdraw their funding from the WFP. And eventually, some of the biggest labor unions supporting the party pull out just before they endorse Cynthia Nixon. Hmm. So the next thing that happens is that Andrew Cuomo beats Cynthia Nixon,

and he wins by a lot. And that leaves the Working Families Party in a really awkward position. They have to decide whether to back Andrew Cuomo, the guy who just tried to gut them during the primary, or not endorse him and de facto help the Republicans. So a few weeks ago, a couple of my colleagues at The Times, Jesse McKinley and Luis Ferreira-Siderny, reported a story of what happened during the negotiations over whether the WFP would endorse Andrew Cuomo. The Working Families Party had started to message to its members that, hey, look, Cuomo's at least

better than the Republicans, right? And at some point in this time, Andrew Cuomo gets on the phone with Bill Lipton, the head of the Working Families Party in New York, and says to him, if you ever say, well, he's better than a Republican again, then I'm going to say you're better than a child rapist. Wow. Yeah, so when people talk about what does Andrew Cuomo sound like

or what are the things he says, this is one of those examples. And I should say that when we reported this, the governor's office denied that he made that threat. But in this case, we obtained a recording of the conversation. So we know that Cuomo said this word for word. If you ever say, well, he's better than a Republican again,

I'm going to say you're better than a child rapist. How about that? Governor, I want to, I apologize, but I got to clarify one thing. You're free to say whatever you want, Governor. But I just want to be clear. Our line is going to be that we have differences with you, but our differences with Republicans are far greater. That's what we're going to continue to say, because that is, you know, we don't have 100% agreement. And quite frankly, Governor, we're very comfortable with you saying the same thing.

You know, you probably think many of our positions. You don't have to agree with us. I think you're better than child rapists. I just want you to know. Ultimately, the Working Families Party decides to endorse Andrew Cuomo. But that's not the end of the story. After he wins re-election, he then sets out to change the ballot rules to make it harder for third parties, like the Working Families Party,

to keep their line on the ballot. This is an existential threat to the influence of a third party like the WFP. And really, this is a perfect example of how Andrew Cuomo operates. Ultimately, they decided to back him, and he still set out to punish them. So that brings us up to the fairly recent past, Shane. Andrew Cuomo has gotten himself re-elected governor a number of times and has held on to power for years, which is fairly unusual for a governor this many terms. And I'm curious if you see that as because of the way he wields power or despite it or what?

Yes. I think that his popularity and his political strength has come in part from the fact that he's instilled fear in his political rivals, including fellow Democrats. But a lot of it has come because he's pushed through broadly popular policies in a liberal state. We started with gay marriage, but he's also done gun control, raised the minimum wage, and started a slew of major infrastructure projects in places like airports and train stations that so many New

Yorkers actually see and feel. And for Andrew Cuomo, that argument that his bullying is in service of you, the New York public, has almost compounded with his accomplishments to make him even more fearsome, not just because of his tactics, but because of his popularity. So these two forms of power that he wields, they are not unrelated. His aggressive style causes those who might challenge him to fear him. But it has also resulted in both legislative and infrastructure accomplishments that have earned him real voter popularity, which reinforces the fear to anyone who might challenge him. And again, this is all before the pandemic, where this all really comes together, where the state legislature grants him even greater emergency powers.

Providing information to people during this time, I think, is vitally important. Positive information, factual information. And he emerges as a public figure who instills confidence in so many people who are frustrated by the kind of meandering press conferences and information coming from the White House. It's an incredibly dark topic, an incredibly horrible topic, and it's incredibly interesting. That's why everybody is, it's, they're going crazy.

They can't get enough of it. And Andrew Cuomo is a reassuring figure saying, I have my hand on the steering wheel. This is what I'm doing. And he wields his power probably to the greatest effect of any time during his political career. People who are on voluntary quarantine are issued specific rules.

And there are specific legal provisions for price gouging in an emergency situation. I went through this during Superstorm Sandy. And I think for Andrew Cuomo, so much of his understanding of how politics works is based on responding to crises. And just to go back briefly to that 2002 campaign, he saw the power that Rudy Giuliani gained from being the leader in a post-9-11 world. And for Andrew Cuomo, at this moment, this was the time for him to be that leader. You know what love is on Thanksgiving? I love you so much, and I'm so thankful for you, that I'm not going to see you.

These briefings did, to some extent, go to his head, according to people who were close to him. He began asking staffers what networks carried him live and for how long. And there were expectations that they would begin to document this for him so he could find out just how many minutes that day MSNBC or CNN had carried his broadcast. find out just how many minutes that day MSNBC or CNN had carried his broadcast. And Andrew Cuomo really does begin to relish this attention. Thank you for coming back to the show. Mom told me I had to.

The nighttime appearances on his brother's primetime show on CNN. You know, I've seen you referred to a little bit recently as the love gov, and I'm wondering if that's bleeding into your demeanor at all, making you a little softer. And I think, according to people close to him... I've always been a soft guy. I am the love gov. I'm a cool dude in a loose mood. You know that. I just say, let it go. Just go with the flow, baby. He felt almost indestructible at that moment. Listen to you. You got an answer for anything. You're feeling pretty good about yourself these days, aren't you? He really began to buy into this hype. It genuinely has been very inspiring and refreshing to see a leader like Cuomo.

I think he's been informative. I think he's been informed. Hashtag President Cuomo has been trending on Twitter. And I just want to say on behalf of just me, but my family, but New Yorkers, bigger than that, the world, thank you for your leadership. It's honestly gone global. And now the world's watching you. You're now on the cover of Rolling Stone, which is reserved for rock stars. And in a sense, what they're saying is our governor in New York is a rock star. This is all happening, Howard. Look, I don't understand it either, because from my point of view,

I am doing the exact thing I have always done. But as they say, the higher you fly, the more risk you have of falling. We'll be right back. So Shane, you were just saying that Cuomo is flying high. But of course, it turns out that the first sign of trouble for him is what had appeared to be the source of his strength over these past many months, which was his handling of the pandemic.

In particular, his handling of nursing homes. Yes. Earlier this year, there was a New York attorney general's report that said the Cuomo administration had undercounted deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent. The story's going to have a lot of reverberations here. Shocking new report on the nursing home scandal in New York involving deaths caused by COVID-19. Brian, the news is not favorable here. And while that was bad politically, the controversy over New York's nursing home deaths has taken another turn now with a stunning admission. It got even worse

when one of the governor's top aides told state lawmakers, the secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, privately apologized during a video call with state Democratic leaders that the administration had intentionally withheld nursing home data from them. NBC News has now confirmed the FBI and a US attorney are investigating the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's handling of data on nursing home COVID deaths. And then. They admitted to potentially obstructing justice by hiding information. One of the assembly members, Ron Kim, went public with an aggressive critique of how the Cuomo administration had handled the situation.

They just need to own up to some of the mistakes that were made. And soon after, he got a phone call from Andrew Cuomo. I haven't seen his anger. I haven't seen his wrath. And he will, he's been biting his tongue, but he will go out tomorrow and destroy my political career, my, you know, everything. He would say how bad of a person I am to everyone in public. But it was just the yelling. This is not the first time that a state legislator has been critical of Andrew Cuomo. that a state legislator has been critical of Andrew Cuomo. But after he became the hero of COVID, suddenly those criticisms had an audience.

He says that Governor Cuomo called him and threatened to, quote unquote, destroy him. Welcome to the show, sir. Very nice to have you here today. This accusation of what the governor said, which the governor's denied, goes viral. Ron Kim ends up on The View. No, I mean, it's stunning. It's stunning.

So let me just give everyone... Suddenly it feels like there's a crack in the Cuomo universe. This person who has been doing pretty much the same stuff since he became governor is suddenly being held publicly accountable because of his reputation

developed during the pandemic. And it felt like after Ron Kim, everything has changed. Yeah. Afterwards, we didn't just have these familiar allegations of bullying of lawmakers. We had an entirely different set of allegations that Andrew Cuomo has been sexually harassing and inappropriately touching women. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been sexually harassing and inappropriately touching women. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo accused of sexual harassment by a former aide. First came a former aide who said that Andrew Cuomo had suggested playing strip poker

and that he had once kissed her on the lips in the office. Lindsey Boylan claims Cuomo made inappropriate comments about her appearance for years and that many others witnessed it. Then came the story of another aide who worked for him last year. The governor asked me if I was sensitive to intimacy. In his office? Yes. During the workday.

And she said he spoke to her in a way that made her deeply uncomfortable. She alleges the governor started asking her about her love life and then became fixated, repeating over and over again her history as a sexual assault survivor. So he goes, you were raped. You were raped. You were raped and abused and assaulted. And when she went public, it really accelerated. A third accused are telling the New York Times that Governor Cuomo grabbed her face and asked if he could kiss her

just moments after they met at a wedding in 2019. Another aide came out from his time when he was HUD secretary. She says what happened to her is part of a pattern in how she alleges the governor treats some women in the workplace. An unnamed person has now accused him of groping her. By far the most severe account we've heard so far.

And on and on. Touched her lower back and kissed her hand in 2013. And says Cuomo hugged her. And she says she could physically feel he was sexually aroused. There are now a half dozen women who have made these allegations. And as these allegations have piled up, so have the investigations. The state assembly has launched an impeachment inquiry looking not just into the allegations of sexual harassment,

but also the nursing home situation. And probably most gravely, the state attorney general's office has launched an independent investigation with subpoena power to look into the sexual harassment allegations from these women. This morning, almost all of the state's Democratic congresspeople are calling on Cuomo to go. And given all this, he's begun to hemorrhage support. Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners, as well as the people of New York. Especially from his fellow Democratic politicians. The governor has lost the confidence of his governing partners

and of many New Yorkers, and he should step down. And what exactly do you think accounts for those very quick calls for him to resign? Is it the severity of the allegations, or is it also everything you've described that came before this? It's definitely the severity of the allegations and the number of the allegations. But I do think it's really hard to decouple

how people feel about Andrew Cuomo, the person and the politician, from how they've reacted to this particular scandal. He has not found a lot of friends among the state legislators whose arms he's twisted for the last decade. He is extremely isolated, even within his own party at this point. Right. And I think for a lot of New Yorkers watching this, Shane, there's this real sense of deja vu as we think back to what happened to Eliot Spitzer 13 years ago in that scandal and in that news conference that created the opening for Andrew Cuomo's rise to the governorship. Yes. And you have Andrew Cuomo holding a press conference.

I want New Yorkers to hear from me directly on this. Almost 13 years to the day after Eliot Spitzer did, offering an apology of his own. I now understand that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable.

It was unintentional, and I truly and deeply apologize for it. What you have here is Andrew Cuomo finding himself in the exact same position that he'd promised to avoid back when he launched his campaign promising to clean up Albany. Here he is, like Spitzer, the latest example of the ongoing mess in Albany. I certainly never, ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone or cause anyone any pain. That is the last thing I would ever want to do. Is there any reason to believe that this will end differently for Andrew Cuomo than it did for Eliot Spitzer, who, as we know, pretty quickly resigned. I think it's going to end very differently.

It's just not clear what the final outcome will be. As we talked about before, Andrew Cuomo's power in the state really came from two different things. The fear of crossing him among everyone in the political class, and then the support of the electorate. Now that fear is clearly gone. He still is hoping, or maybe even believing,

he has the support of the voters. That all those briefings that everyone watched last year are going to have a greater durability than these scandals, these simultaneous scandals that are engulfing his administration. There was this great profile of him, the New Yorker, last year in which Andrew Cuomo, in classic Andrew Cuomo fashion,

first spoke with the reporter only off the record and eventually spoke on background with an agreement that his quotes would only be used if he gave his approval. And the reporter for the New Yorker let Andrew Cuomo describe his rationale for doing this, and I found it to be so revealing. And Andrew Cuomo said, quote, I did 400 hours of briefings.

The people can come up with their own opinions of me. They do and they did. They know me better than you know me. And by the way, they do. They literally do. You bring baggage, he told the reporter. They know me better than you know me. And by the way, they do. They literally do. You bring baggage, he told the reporter. They have no baggage. They know me. They know my kids. They know my mother. They know my dog. They came to their own conclusions about me. They don't need your opinion.

And for Andrew Cuomo, he was talking about this reporter, but I think it's the same kind of message he's delivering to the political class of New York. He's saying, yes, you want me to go, but I don't think the people are ready for me to leave just yet. Thank you, Shane. We really appreciate it. Thanks, Michael. On Thursday,

a new statewide poll conducted by Quinnipiac University found that nearly half of New Yorkers do not think Andrew Cuomo should resign as governor. That number was even higher among New York Democrats. 67% of them said he should not resign.

But the poll found little appetite for a fourth term of Cuomo as governor. Two-thirds of New Yorkers do not want him to seek re-election. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. For many Asian Americans, Tuesday's shocking events felt like the inevitable culmination of a year in which there were nearly 3,800 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate incidents. reported incidents of anti-Asian hate incidents. During a hearing on violence and discrimination against Asian Americans held by the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Democratic lawmakers, many of them Asian American themselves, warned that the country had reached a crisis point

and that the murder of six Asian American women in Georgia revealed the need for strong government action. The hate, the bias, and the attacks that we've seen against the Asian American community are unacceptable, and they must be stopped. At the hearing, Democratic lawmakers accused former President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress of fanning that hate by using inflammatory rhetoric about the coronavirus and the pandemic for much of the past year. Last year, we only heard it at the highest levels of government.

Those people used racist slurs like China virus to spread xenophobia and cast blame on innocent communities. It was all too familiar. to spread xenophobia and cast blame on innocent communities. It was all too familiar. Comments like these only build upon the legacy of racism, anti-Asian sentiment, and insensitivity that seeks to divide our nation. Today's episode was produced by Elise Spiegel, Rachel Quester, and Leslie Davis. It was edited by Lisa Tobin and engineered by Brad Fisher. That's it for The Daily.

I'm Michael Barbaro. See you on Monday.