Former White House press secretary for George Bush, Ari Fleischer, predicted Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo would attempt to “ride out” his scandals.
During Thursday’s broadcast of “Outnumbered,” Fleischer argued that Cuomo — who faced investigations regarding his policies requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 positive patients as well as multiple accusations of sexual harassment — was likely to adopt the strategy Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam used during his blackface scandal and just stay put until the controversies blow over. (RELATED: TIMELINE: How Andrew Cuomo Went From America’s ‘Love Gov’ To Fending Off Calls For His Resignation In Less Than A Year)
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Some Democrats, such as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, have called on Cuomo to resign. Others, such as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, called for an investigation into the sexual harassment accusations, but brushed off questions about whether she believed Cuomo should resign.
“Asking every female elected in our state when a person should resign or not resign, really isn’t the conversation we should be having,” Gillibrand said in the clip played on Fox.
“Well, I know it is a conversation they don’t want to have, Ari,” Faulkner said.
“The hypocrisy!” Fleischer said. “Just remember this the next time a Republican gets accused of something. Will the Democrats give them the same courtesy? Will the press, which is covering this but not with anywhere near the fierceness or the intensity and number of minutes, the stakeouts everywhere everybody goes. The only question in town.”
Fleischer noted that the media pressure was one of the reasons many in similar situations ultimately chose to resign.
“You know these things only go two ways. If somebody has a moral compass and they did it, they tend to end up resigning,” Fleischer continued. “If they are just stubborn as can be like the Governor of Virginia, N0rtham, after his black face scandal, they can ride it out if they’re a Democrat. So I suspect Governor Cuomo’s got the Northam model in mind and he’s just gonna ride this out because he stubborn and he won’t admit to wrongdoing, no matter how high the evidence piles up.”