With Meghan McCain long gone from the table, The View hosts reverted back to their old ways in defending disgraced ex-governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. After reports came out showing that the defiant Democrat is considering returning to politics after he was ousted out of office due to a sexual harassment scandal and an under-covered nursing home scandal, his fans at ABC’s political talk show rallied for his return.
Co-host Joy Behar opened the show seeming hopeful over the possibility. “Cuomo has always denied any allegations against him and he was never found guilty of a crime, to be fair. But can he come back from this scandal? Because he kinda lost a lot of his mojo in the public eye, even if he was never convicted,” she posed.
Fellow co-host Sunny Hostin defended the disgraced Democrat, claiming he was still supported by New Yorkers. She even tried to diminish his sexual harassment scandal:
I don't know that he lost a lot of support from New Yorkers. I think if you ask the majority of New Yorkers they feel that he did a good job, as governor, especially at handling the pandemic especially when the Trump administration was not handling it well on a federal level.
Um, you know the other thing he said during his interview with I think with Bloomberg -- he said that Tisha James, was this was sort of a political prosecution. I think there is something there. Where there's some smoke, there's fire. She was interested in running for governor. She didn't raise enough money, she didn’t reach the 5 million dollar threshold to get the support of the DNC and the Brooklyn DNC, or the Democratic party. I just think it does appear to be a little politically motivated. She was running for governor, but that was very short-lived. There's something to be said about that. I mean if Trump can have dozens of accusers and become the president of the United States, I think all bets are off at this point.
That's when right-leaning conservative guest co-host Alyssa Farah, who now works for CNN but used to work in the Trump administration, stopped the Cuomo campaigning dead in its tracks:
Listen, Sunny, you're absolutely right that men in power abusing power to pursue their sexual desires is party agnostic, Republicans have done it, Democrats have. But the problem with Cuomo is not just these very credible accusations against him...[B]ut he also did an abominable handling of COVID.10,000 senior citizens died in nursing home while he was writing a book that he profited off of. By the way, looking at ethics, he was using government resources to help research and write that book. If there's one thing we learned about the Cuomos it’s these are ego maniacs...
Hostin and Behar bristled at Farah’s response but Ana Navarro also expressed skepticism over Cuomo returning to office. The fellow CNN Republican said she was over the Cuomos, also blaming disgraced ex-anchor Chris Cuomo for the ouster of the cable channel's former president Jeff Zucker. “Look this week, I'm particularly Cuomoed out,” she complained, giving a laundry list of Democrat activists who had to resign after Cuomo before hinting to the trauma at CNN over Zucker. “With this many millions of people can't you find somebody that doesn't have the level of luggage that this guy has?,” she asked her co-hosts.
This time, Behar joined Hostin in the pity party for Cuomo. “Oh they all have luggage! Tell me a politician practically–Besides Obama almost every politician has some kind of luggage!” she cried. Hostin backed her up by deflecting blame again. “The former president had over two dozen [sexual harassment allegations]. Two dozen!” she exclaimed.
Later, Hostin remarkably conceded that Cuomo’s nursing home scandal would be the biggest deterrent to him running for office again. But Behar was defiant in defending him. “But the nursing homes–the nursing homes across the country suffered and New York was one of the first hit in the early COVID days,” she grumbled. Her co-hosts pointed out that he “covered it up” while Navarro added that he was “writing a book on leadership when this happened.”
Finally Behar had enough. “You want perfection from your leaders, you're not going to get it!,” she complained. But not too soon afterwards, Hostin came to her aid again. They both argued that Cuomo would be better than Florida Republican Ron DeSantis, raising long debunked lies against him. “Look at governor Death-Santis. I mean he's hiding the real number of COVID deaths. That’s been reported,” Hostin claimed. Behar piped up: “That’s even worse to me!” Her co-host agreed: “I think it is worse. But he’s very popular in Florida.”
The liberal duo defended Cuomo once more as the segment wrapped with everyone talking over each other. Hostin swooned for Cuomo’s leadership while arguing with Farah: “[E]very single day he was giving New Yorkers the information we needed.” And Behar repeated another media myth: “While Trump was telling us to inject bleach!”
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Read the transcript below:
The View
2/8/2022
11:02 AM EST
JOY BEHAR: Five months after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned after sexual harassment allegations, there are reports he is strongly considering running for politics, maybe even running for Attorney General against the woman who took him down, Letitia James. Cuomo has always denied any allegations against him and he was never found guilty of a crime, to be cle–fair But can he come back from this scandal? Because he kinda lost a lot of his mojo in the public eye, even if he was never convicted.
SUNNY HOSTIN: I don't know that he lost a lot of support from New Yorkers. I think if you ask the majority of New Yorkers they feel that he did a good job, as governor, especially at handling the pandemic especially when the Trump administration was not handling it well on a federal level.
Um, you know the other thing he said during his interview with I think with Bloomberg -- he said that Tisha James, was this was sort of a political prosecution. I think there is something there. Where there's some smoke, there's fire. She was interested in running for governor. She didn't raise enough money, she didn’t reach the 5 million dollar threshold to get the support of the DNC and the Brooklyn DNC, or the Democratic party. I just think it does appear to be a little politically motivated. She was running for governor, but that was very short-lived. There's something to be said about that. I mean if Trump can have dozens of accusers and become the president of the United States, I think all bets are off at this point.
ALYSSA FARAH: Listen, Sunny, you're absolutely right that men in power abusing power to pursue their sexual desires is party agnostic, Republicans have done it, Democrats have.
But the problem with Cuomo is not just these very credible accusations against him that were contemporaneously confirmed by other women who came forward–
HOSTIN: No criminal prosecution.
FARAH: No criminal prosecution That's fair. But he also did an abominable handling of COVID.
10,000 senior citizens died in nursing home while he was writing a book that he profited off of. By the way, looking at ethics, he was using government resources to help research and write that book.
If there's one thing we learned about the Cuomos it’s, these are ego maniacs. And because of that–
JOY BEHAR: Both of them are ego maniacs?
FARAH: That's what I know of both of them. I think he will pursue office again. He thinks he absolutely thinks the best. He's wanted. There's a lane there. I hope there's not.
ANA NAVARRO: He told Bloomberg too many people do run for office because it's about them. It's about their ego and need. Frankly it feels like a lot of self-reflection there. Look this week, I'm particularly Cuomoed out. I think the fallout from the Andrew Cuomo resignation, allegations has been horrific. We saw the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David lost his job. Tina Chen at Time's Up lost her job. Time's Up the organization was dissolved. We saw Chris Cuomo lost his job. Then the devastation that’s happening at CNN, for the resignation of Jeff Zucker, who I think for us, the talent, has been very difficult to do with, again because of a Cuomo. As a Floridian, and we have our share of problems, my question to New Yorkers is With this many millions of people can't you find somebody that doesn't have the level of luggage that this guy has?
BEHAR: Oh they all have luggage! Tell me a politician practically–Besides Obama almost every politician has some kind of luggage!
NAVARRO: Not every has credible allegations of sexual harassment.
HOSTIN: The former president had over two dozen. Two dozen!
[ Cross-talk]
…
11:06 AM EST
SARA HAINES: […]What you were saying about the nursing homes, my problem with how he handled that is people make mistakes. He made a call when the president the former president wasn't making calls. In fact he said out loud, I'll leave this up to the governors even though I’m president, I’m leaving this up to the governors. Governor Cuomo stepped up. He made some, looking bad, bad decisions and lives were lost. My problem was the cover-up. If he had said we hadn't seen this before, this was a bad call, this was on me, and done something–but the bullying of Congress- -- remember the local politician that was here. He bullied him. He went after people. That showed me who he was. And that was just a rampant abuse of power.
HOSTIN: Anything that will stand in the way of Andrew Cuomo running for office, it would be the nursing home scandal.
BEHAR: But the nursing homes–the nursing homes across the country suffered and New York was one of the first hit in the early COVID days.
HOSTIN: He covered it up.
BEHAR: He covered it up.
NAVARRO: He covered it up Aa the same time he was writing a book on leadership while this was happening.
BEHAR: You want perfection from your leaders, you're not going to get it.
HAINES: No, but apologize and own it.
NAVARRO: I don't think it's too much to ask for wanting a governor who hasn't had 11 accusations of sexual harassment.
BEHAR: Well his father was pretty perfect.
NAVARRO: Well his father is not the one running.
HOSTIN: Look at Governor Death-Santis. I mean he's hiding the real number of COVID deaths. That’s been reported–
BEHAR: That’s even worse to me.
HOSTIN: I think it is worse. But he’s very popular in Florida.
NAVARRO: I was in Florida the entire time this was happening. I thought we had such a vacuum of leadership that I sat for Andrew Cuomo's press conferences every 11:00 A.M. Because I felt he filled that vacuum of leadership. But with all these revelations workplace, it’s also the toxic workplace, the bullying in Albany, it's a bridge too far. I like the guy. I thought Chris Cuomo was my friend. But there is way too much toxicity around this entire thing and it feels like a wrath and a vendetta, and it’s up to New Yorkers, but If I was a New Yorker, I wouldn't vote for him.
FARAH: He gave a good press conference. He felt like the leader we didn't have.
HOSTIN: He gave great information!
FARAH: The problem is the facts weren't there.
HOSTIN: What do you mean the facts weren't there?
FARAH: On top of it–10,000 people died in the nursing home.
[Cross-talk]
HOSTIN: But every single day he was giving New Yorkers the information we needed.
BEHAR: While Trump was telling us to inject bleach.
[Talking over each other]
FARAH: -But to go on and write a book about it. And to say–By the way, we just celebrated 900,000 lives lost to COVID. That is devastating. Writing a book in the midst of a pandemic how greatly you handled it -- that’s just egomaniacal.
BEHAR: Do you blame him as much as you blame Republicans or not?
FARAH: I blame many Republicans too. I think that there are across the board–
BEHAR: DeSantis?
HOSTIN: How about Trump? How about Pence?
FARAH: I certainly think there's much Trump deserves blame for early on in the pandemic.
BEHAR: What did he do right?
FARAH: I’ve said that before–If he had not politicized "Operation warp speed," getting the vaccine to market. But then he didn't go on TV say get vaccinated. He's saying it now. He politicized masks which was the easiest early interventions we had. That to me, were the biggest deals.
HOSTIN: I think he's responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths. Including the death of my in-laws.
BEHAR: [scoffs] What president wouldn't have encouraged "Operation Warp Speed?”
FARAH: Right but the One thing I want to say this is a perfectly novel virus, we've now had more deaths under Joe Biden than President Trump. And I don’t blame Joe Biden for that.
BEHAR: Blame the people who won't get vaccinated for that! We have the cure!
NAVARRO: Joe Biden has not been purposefully politicizing it and misinforming for the purpose of making it a political point.
BEHAR: People don’t wear masks, they won’t get vaccinated, and then they blame him for not fixing it. It’s ridiculous.
