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Donald Trump has suggested incompetence from Andrew Cuomo cost thousands of lives to COVID-19 in care homes amid a scathing take down after the Democratic governor said the president is unwelcome in New York City.
Cuomo, in remarks to reporters Wednesday, said that Trump "better have an army" if he intended to return to the city, suggesting he "can't have enough bodyguards" to do so.
He went on to say he did not mean this literally, adding: "My comment about the President's bodyguards in New York City, all I'm saying is that he is persona non grata in New York City and I think he knows that."
The pair have long sparred with each other, both criticizing the others actions amid the coronavirus crisis.
Trump on Thursday morning made his latest attack against Cuomo, focusing upon his record on coronavirus.
"Governors [sic] Andrew Cuomo of New York has the worst record on death and China Virus," he tweeted.
"11,000 people alone died in Nursing Homes because of his incompetence!"
He went on in a subsequent tweet: "@NYGovCuomo should get his puppet New York prosecutors, who have been illegally after me and my family for years, to investigate his incompetent handling of the China Virus, and all of the deaths caused by this incompetence. It is at minimum a Nursing Home Scandal - 11,000 DEAD!"
.@NYGovCuomo should get his puppet New York prosecutors, who have been illegally after me and my family for years, to investigate his incompetent handling of the China Virus, and all of the deaths caused by this incompetence. It is at minimum a Nursing Home Scandal - 11,000 DEAD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2020
His comments would appear to relate to Associated Press analysis from last month, which suggested the true number of care home deaths in New York could be around 11,000. However, the state's official death toll for coronavirus-linked care home deaths at the time of the analysis was around 6,600.
The 11,000 number, the analysis suggested, would be a figure for if the proportion of fatalities in such settings linked to COVID-19 matched up to a similar average percentage for other states. Trump has previously referenced the number when targeting Cuomo.
The Democratic governor faced criticism for the action taken in regards to care homes, after an order which led to recovering coronavirus patients being sent to the facilities.
New York state has seen more than 400,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. It had the fourth highest number of confirmed cases of any state across the nation as of September 2.
In a conference call on Thursday, Cuomo said: "The president has been an abysmal failure in the war against COVID and that's on the facts."
He said the federal government was negligent in protecting New Yorkers and Americans, discussing travel from Europe. Cuomo suggested COVID-19 came more to New York via Europe, stating travel from there was blocked too late, which led to the heightened cases in New York.
"These are federal agencies who have admitted that the virus came to New York from Europe and they blew it," he said.
"If this was an actual war he [Trump] could be court marshaled for dereliction of duty."
Melissa DeRosa, secretary to Gov. Cuomo, tweeted in rebuke of Trump's comments: "185K US Citizens Dead & counting
"1K US citizens/day dying--6 months into this
"The rest of the world (& NY btw) has COVID under control -while the US spirals
"Federal Incompetence + Politicalization of public health got us here, but by all means, spend the day tweeting."
Trump and Cuomo's latest clash has come after Trump ordered areas he branded potential "anarchist jurisdictions" be reviewed, with suggestions they could have federal funding withdrawn.
New York City was one of the municipalities mentioned, which prompted a backlash from Cuomo, who questioned the legality of the proposals from Trump and his power to withdraw funds in the manner he suggested.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for further comment.
