Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) suggested Friday that the New York hush money case against former President Trump was only brought forward because of his name and White House bid.
Cuomo, in an interview Friday on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” argued that the case should have “never” been brought forward.
“If his name was not Donald Trump and if he wasn’t running for president … I’m the former AG of in New York, [and] I’m telling you that case would’ve never been brought.”
“That’s what is offensive to people, and it should be because if there’s anything left, it’s belief in the justice system,” he added.
Trump was found guilty late last month on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to a payment to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign to buy her silence over an alleged past affair. Trump, who denies the affair, has pledged to appeal the case.
The case was brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who has been repeatedly accused by Trump and his allies of unfairly targeting him as the presumptive GOP prepares for a rematch against President Biden in November.
Trump’s guilty verdict was unanimous among the 12 jurors, though allies of the former president have tried to pour cold water on its legitimacy, pointing to what they believe was a biased judge and jury selection process.
Cuomo was elected as New York’s attorney general in 2007 and went on to serve as the state’s governor for 11 years. The former governor resigned from office in 2021 after an investigation into sexual harassment allegations and backlash over his COVID-19 pandemic polices. Cuomo has denied the accusations.
The former governor seemingly agreed that an issue exists within the justice system. He warned the Manhattan district attorney’s office against using the system to play politics.
“And you want to talk about a threat to democracy: When you have this country believing you’re playing politics with the justice system and you’re trying to put people in jail or convict them for political reasons, then we have a real problem,” Cuomo said Friday.
Trump currently has a razor-thin lead of 0.6 percentage points over President Biden, per The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s national polling index.