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Andrew Cuomo: “We didn't have basic equipment ready, respirators, PPE.”

Featuring: Andrew Cuomo, Democratic | Former Governor of New York

Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479

Published October 21, 2025 | Video Starts at 1:09:52

I did briefings every morning where I would tell New Yorkers what I knew, but it was horrific. Doctors didn't know what to do. Hospitals didn't know what to do. We didn't have basic equipment ready, respirators, PPE. Every week, the medical professionals would come up with a new opinion on what to do. It was really a horrific situation, but. At least you won an Emmy. (1:09:52–1:09:59)

CLAIM

Asserts that New York lacked basic medical equipment like respirators and PPE during the initial COVID-19 outbreak.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Andrew Cuomo

“You have more anti Semitic incidents in New York City than any city in the United States.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 24:50-24:57
“Now it takes four years to get a building permit in New York City.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 33:45-33:50
“We have the smallest police force now in modern political history because we catered to this far left.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 40:55-41:02
“They took a billion dollars out of the police budget, reduced the number of police.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 41:04-41:10
“I closed more prisons than any governor in history because we brought down crime and we had alternatives to incarceration.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 42:59-43:06
“80,000 people die here, 1.2 million in the country, and it was the nursing homes, because Covid preyed on the immune, compromised the…”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:10:14-1:10:27
“We have... one of the highest attrition rates ever.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 02:08-41:19
“Right now you have three people in the race, so you're splitting the vote. Mamdani is the lead. I'm second. There's a Republican candidate…”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 03:24-03:34
“Mayor Adams dropped out because he was. He didn't want to be a spoiler in the race.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 04:08-04:15
“Mamdani is a socialist. They call themselves Democratic socialists. But he's a socialist. And there's a national socialist organization and…”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 04:36-04:49
“Government should control the means of production. All right. Not private sector companies. They're against private ownership of land.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 05:33-05:45
“You have a middle class in this country that feels trapped.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 09:13-09:19
“You have a young generation that feels trapped. Right. That they can't find a way to break through.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 09:18-09:27
“If you are middle class, it is very, very hard to live in this city. Rents, number one.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 09:55-10:02
“Government can't figure out how to fill a pothole. Now they're gonna go into the grocery store business.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 12:44-12:50
“It's a $115 billion budget.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 15:09-15:12
“New York City is a national target and an international target.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 15:33-15:39
“He would raise taxes to the highest in the United States of America.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 20:16-20:21
“16%. Just state and local before you get to the federal government right now.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 20:21-20:28
“At this current moment now the max is about 11.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 20:42-20:46
“Post Covid, you have an exodus from cities anyway.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 20:53-20:57
“You're managing the largest police force in the United States, one of the highest crime rates.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 21:29-21:34
“Part of the socialist thinking, by the way, they deemphasize the need for police and law and order.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 21:49-21:58
“Their DSA platform says reduce police down to zero. No new jails, release people from prisons.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 22:34-22:47
“He is very much pro Gaza. He has been very outspoken against Israel in the situation.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 26:05-26:16
“Why don't we have housing? Because we don't build housing. Why don't we build housing? Because government is slow and incompetent.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 26:54-27:04
“He was governor for 11 years.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 31:02-31:05
“He built LGA. New LaGuardia Airport, new Kennedy Airport, Second Avenue Subway, Moynihan train, hall roads, bridges.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 31:08-31:21
“Raised the minimum wage.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 31:21-31:23
“First state to pass marriage equality.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 31:23-31:26
“You have to build hundreds of thousands of units of housing very quickly.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 33:02-33:07
“Nobody built more things in New York State as governor than I did in modern history.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 34:22-34:28
“I want to hire 5,000 more police officers.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 40:44-40:48
“I actually reduced the prison population in the state of New York.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 42:55-42:59
“There's all sorts of litigation because the number of assaults, beatings, are horrendous at Rikers.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 43:23-43:33
“As governor, I said 10 years ago [Rikers Island] should be closed.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 43:32-43:36
“Rikers, as we know it, has to be closed.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 43:33-43:36
“Crime goes up, more people leave.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 46:08-46:11
“New York City, it would be one of the greatest irony because we are the financial capital of the world and New York is going to be…”
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“Trump takes over New York and he says it, he says it. And he'll look right in that camera and he'll say, this is a 33 year old, never ran a…”
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“I think we're at a pivot point in New York City. I think a lot of cities across the country, by the way, are in a pivot point. You start to…”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 54:24-54:45
“Listen to people from Brooklyn who say hire more cops, build more affordable housing, clean up the streets.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 55:09-55:18
“We were the first big state to pass something called marriage equality that allowed same sex people to marry.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 59:48-59:55
“Highest minimum wage in the United States, crazy liberal idea.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:01:39-1:01:43
“After I left, they approved applications in New York City, and you'll have three [casinos] in New York City.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:03:19-1:03:19
“Theoretically, they [the casinos] will generate revenue, the big revenue generators.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:03:26-1:03:31
“New York had it [COVID-19] first and worst, and it just exploded.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:09:27-1:09:34
“It got into the nursing homes by the staff.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:10:30-1:10:33
“We had it first and worst.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:11:59-1:12:02
“Democrats and Republicans followed them, believed them, and were very grateful.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:12:13-1:12:21
“It was not politicized at all.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:12:32-1:12:35
“Government says you must take a vaccine that now is triggering for people and conspiracy theories arise.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:12:52-1:13:02
“There will be another contagion.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:14:16-1:14:19
“There was Ebola. Right. There's a whole string of viruses and they keep getting more and more virulent.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:14:22-1:14:28
“There will be another Covid and it will be worse.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:14:28-1:14:34
“Society will be more distrustful of what their government says, which is going to increase the spread of the virus.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:14:34-1:14:44
“He had the highest rated show on CNN.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:17:34-1:17:37
“I had the highest rated show on CNN, if you want to get technical, because his highest rating was when I was the guest on his show.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:17:39-1:17:49
“Remember in New York, you lived through 9/11.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:21:36-1:21:39
“That's why I'm running for mayor.”
Andrew Cuomo on Beating Mamdani for New York Mayor, Donald Trump BEEF, Losing Charlie Kirk: 479 | Uploaded October 21, 2025 | 1:22:36-1:22:38