Andrew Cuomo faces attacks from all sides as New York City Democrats hold a raucous mayoral debate
A casual viewer could be forgiven for mistaking Democrats' first New York City mayoral debate for the roast of Andrew Cuomo.
All eight of his primary opponents took turns throwing verbal daggers at the former New York governor on Wednesday evening, who arrived on the debate stage at 30 Rockefeller Plaza with multiple suitcases of baggage to go with his status as the polling frontrunner.
Cuomo has consistently led polls of the nine-candidate field, leveraging his name recognition as a longtime public official in New York and the scion of a storied political family. He resigned the governorship in 2021 amid multiple sexual misconduct allegations and an investigation into those claims, but he is now attempting a comeback in New York City, where Democratic Mayor Eric Adams is running for re-election as an independent.
Cuomo's frontrunner status in the Democratic primary made him a constant target Wednesday night at the debate hosted by NBC 4 New York, Telemundo 47 and Politico. When Cuomo sidestepped a question about a 2021 report from New York's state attorney general accusing him of undercounting nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, his opponents laughed in his face and jeered him.
When Cuomo cited 'the state of the Democratic Party' when asked to name his biggest regret in his political career, Adrienne Adams, speaker of the New York City Council, pounced.
'No regrets when it comes to cutting child care?' Adams asked. 'No regrets when it comes to slow walking PPE and vaccinations in the season of COVID to Black and brown communities? Really, no regrets?'
And when Cuomo was asked about allegations of sexual harassment and responded by attacking his opponents for calling for the defunding of police, former state Assemblyman Michael Blake turned to the cameras to speak directly to the women of New York.
'Every woman watching tonight. He was just given a chance to actually address the clear claims that were stated and ignored it,' said Blake. Cuomo would later repeat his denial of the allegations that mushroomed into an investigation spearheaded by state Attorney General Letitia James, which found that Cuomo had harassed 11 women and subjected some of them to unwanted touching and groping.
Each candidate took a different tack attacking the 67-year-old former governor. His most viable opponent, according to recent polls, is democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who cast Cuomo as bought and paid for by billionaires.
'The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in D.C.,' said the 33-year-old state legislator.
After Cuomo dodged difficult questions about his controversies, Mamdani said the frontrunner is 'allergic to any accountability or acknowledgement of a mistake.'
Cuomo did not hang back, instead trying to give as good as he was getting when he was attacked. And Mamdani, the youngest candidate on stage, also received his own slew of barbs. After confidently proclaiming 'I am Donald Trump's worst nightmare,' Cuomo replied, 'Donald Trump would go through Mr. Mamdani me like a hot knife through butter.'
'He's been in government 27 minutes. He passed three bills. That's all he's done,' Cuomo said, contrasting his own experience to his opponent, who is less than half of his age.
Jessica Ramos got a jab in Mamdani when asked about her own biggest regret. 'I regret not running for mayor in 2021,' said Ramos, a state senator.
'I had been in the Senate for two years. I'd already passed over a dozen bills. I thought I needed more experience, but turns out, you just need to make good videos,' she said, poking fun at Mamdani's social media strategy, which has propelled his candidacy.
Issues, including the city's housing crisis and public safety, took a back seat to bickering, which saw debate moderators struggling to control the nine candidates speaking over one another and jousting for airtime ahead of the June 24 primary.
In addition to Cuomo and Mamdani, who has burst onto the New York City political scene on a progressive platform, candidates jockeyed for position in the city's unpredictable ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to choose multiple candidates and rank them on their ballots. The stage also included the current and former city comptrollers, Brad Lander and Scott Springer; state Sens. Ramos and Zellnor Myrie; Blake; and former hedge fund executive Whitney Tilson.
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Reuters
42 minutes ago
- Reuters
Morning Bid: Trump-Musk bust-up smolders
LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) - What matters in U.S. and global markets today Donald Trump's hotly anticipated meetings with the leaders of the world's two other biggest economies ended up being sideshows compared to his online bust-up with billionaire backer Elon Musk. It's Friday, so today I'll provide a quick overview of what's happening in global markets and then offer you some weekend reading suggestions away from the headlines. Today's Market Minute * White House aides scheduled a call between Donald Trump and Elon Musk for Friday, Politico reported, after a huge public spat that saw threats fly over government contracts and ended with the world's richest man suggesting the U.S. president should be impeached. * U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping confronted weeks of brewing trade tensions and a battle over critical minerals in a rare leader-to-leader call on Thursday that left key issues to further talks. * China has signalled for more than 15 years that it was looking to weaponise areas of the global supply chain, a strategy modelled on longstanding American export controls Beijing views as aimed at stalling its rise. The scramble in recent weeks to secure export licences for rare earths shows China has devised a better, more precisely targeted weapon for the trade war. * By any measure, the recent resilience of U.S. stocks is remarkable, with Wall Street powering through numerous headwinds to erase all its tariff-fueled losses and move into positive territory for the year. Reuters columnist Jamie McGeever explains why the rally may still have some juice left in it. * There are some tentative early signs that weak thermal coal prices are starting to boost import demand among Asia's heavyweight buyers China and India. Read Reuters Columnist Clyde Russell to find out more. Trump-Musk bust-up smolders For markets trying to navigate everything from creeping signs of labor market weakness to the latest European Central Bank easing, the spat between the U.S. president and the world's richest man proved more than a distraction. It remains to be seen if it overshadows the May payrolls report later on Friday. The extraordinary sparring match drew in other major political and business figures and included potentially seismic accusations and threats. In turn, the share price of Musk's Tesla .TSLA plummeted almost 20% at one point, dragging Wall Street stock indexes and crypto tokens deep into the red. The public feud appeared to cool off somewhat overnight and allowed stock futures to regain some lost ground. But the fact that the spat overshadowed the other major events of the day was another marker of this administration's unpredictability. The substance of the row was over Trump's "one big beautiful" fiscal bill that Musk thinks is a "disgusting abomination" due to the amount of spending. The bill, which has yet to be passed by the Senate, is expected to add $2.4 trillion to the U.S. debt over the next decade, based on CBO estimates. The vast bulk of this will likely be incurred over the next four years. In the background, the call between Trump and China's President Xi Jinping delivered no breakthroughs in the trade row apart from warmer words and an agreement to resume talks. The Oval Office meeting with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz was relatively positive about trade and diplomatic issues. Earlier in the day, the ECB cut rates again as expected and suggested that there may be a pause at its next meeting and that it could be near the end of its easing cycle now that 'real' inflation-adjusted rates are back near zero. The euro hit a six-week high on Thursday regardless, although it gave back those daily gains today. Rising weekly U.S. jobless claims, meantime, cast a shadow over today's release of the May employment report. Consensus forecasts are for a slowdown in payroll growth to 130,000. Treasury yields , which ebbed and flowed all day on the conflicting signals from the trade meetings and stock gyrations, are back hovering at the week's lows ahead of the jobs report. Even though Federal Reserve officials continue to signal caution about the uncertain outlook ahead, markets are now priced for a resumption of Fed cuts by September. Into the already confusing mix, the Treasury released its annual report on potential currency manipulation overseas, adding Switzerland and Ireland to its watchlist, which already includes China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam. The list likely carries more heft than usual amid multiple tense trade negotiations. Markets assume the U.S. may pressure other countries to let their currencies appreciate versus the dollar as part of deals to avert severe tariffs being re-imposed next month. The Swiss National Bank responded on Friday by saying it would intervene in currency markets where necessary to keep inflation on track. Intervention to cap a super-strong franc has been a critical monetary tool used over the past decade and may need to be tapped again now that Swiss inflation has returned negative just as the SNB's key interest rate is set to return to zero in June. Elsewhere, China's yuan slipped against the dollar while falling to a near two-year low versus its major trading partners on Friday as the Trump-Xi call fell short of many expectations. Stock markets overseas were mixed on Friday as Wall Street remained on edge and the U.S. jobs report loomed. In the euro zone, first-quarter GDP was revised higher to show twice the growth originally estimated: 0.6% quarter-on-quarter, leading to an annual rate of 1.5%. India's central bank cut key rates by a larger-than-expected 50 basis points to 5.5%, its steepest cut in five years. It also slashed its cash reserve ratio - funds that banks are required to hold - by 100 bps to 3% in a surprise move aimed at boosting lending and speeding up policy transmission. In single stocks, Tesla shares recovered around 5% in Frankfurt on Friday, having closed down 14% in New York yesterday amid the Trump-Musk spat. It lost about $150 billion in market value yesterday, which caused the erstwhile member of the 'Magnificent Seven' megacaps to drop to ninth in the list of most-valuable firms behind Broadcom and Berkshire Hathaway. Broadcom's shares (AVGO.O), opens new tab, however, fell 4% in extended trading overnight as its forecast-beating earnings seemed to underwhelm the Street. In Bank of America's weekly tally of fund flows, U.S. stocks saw outflows of $7.5 billion, the third week of exits, while European shares saw inflows of $2.6 billion, the eighth week of inflows. Weekend reading suggestions * 'BLUE BONDS': European countries should seize the moment to boost the size and liquidity of jointly-issued euro sovereign debt, and a solution could be to replace a proportion of the stock of national bonds with senior Eurobonds, or 'blue bonds'., opens new tab So says a 'working document' from Peterson Institute senior fellow and former IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard in a paper jointly written with Citadel's Angel Ubide. * NUCLEAR BLIND SPOTS: United Nations nuclear watchdogs appear to have lost track of some critical elements of Iran's nuclear activities since U.S. President Donald Trump ditched a 2015 deal that imposed strict restrictions and close supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Reuters Francois Murphy and John Irish report on key blind spots that include not knowing how many centrifuges Iran possesses or where the machines and their parts are produced and stored. * OCEAN ECONOMY: Trade in the global 'ocean economy', opens new tab hit as much as $2.2 trillion in 2023, about 7% of total world trade, but this trade is increasingly threatened by climate change and environmental problems, the United Nations trade and development arm UNCTAD showed in a report this week. The ocean economy grew faster than the world economy at large in the five years to 2020 and an estimated 100 million jobs depend on it. * 'TRUMP DOCTRINE': The emerging foreign policy under President Donald Trump resembles a 'look the other way' doctrine, opens new tab or a 'none of our business' doctrine, argues former George W. Bush State Department official Richard Haass on Project Syndicate. "The U.S. sought to change the world, annoying some and inspiring others. Those days are gone, in some ways for better, but mostly for worse. The US has changed. It is coming to resemble many of the countries and governments it once criticized." * MAGNETIC FEW: A small team in China's Ministry of Commerce decides the fate of the global auto industry, one rare earth magnet export permit at a time. China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a key component in electric vehicle motors, and it added them to an export control list in April as part of its trade war with the United States. Reuters' Laurie Chen and Lewis Jackson show how it falls to the Bureau of Industrial Security and Import and Export Control, part of China's Ministry of Commerce, to review export permits for the rare earth magnets, vital for car motors, wind turbines and even U.S. F-35 fighter jets. * FINANCE AND AI: Artificial intelligence advances in the financial sector, opens new tab offer enhanced data analysis, risk management and capital allocation, but there are problems too, according to a paper on CEPR's VoxEU website. As AI systems become more widespread, they introduce challenges for regulators tasked with balancing the benefits of innovation with the need for financial stability, market integrity, consumer protection and fair competition. * DRONE ATTACK: Ukraine's 'Operation Spider's Web', opens new tab last weekend used smuggled drones to attack bomber aircraft deep inside Russia, and the 'remarkable event' could affect the future of conflict, argues Council on Foreign Relations fellow Michael Horowitz. The attack "clearly shows that even targets deep in a country's territory could now be at risk". * IMF EUROPE: The case for closer European economic integration, opens new tab has become more compelling as external challenges multiply, according to Alfred Kammer, director of the International Monetary Fund's European Department. Stressing the need for the completion of the single market, Kammer said capital markets integration has been too slow and that cross-border flows have been frustrated by persistent fragmentation. "If history is a guide, Europe can turn adversity to advantage." * ALPINE TRUSTS: Liechtenstein is examining tightening control of scores of Russian-linked trusts abandoned by their managers under pressure from Washington. Reuters' John O'Donnell and Oliver Hirt cite sources in reporting that the country, one of the world's smallest and richest, is home to thousands of low-tax trusts, hundreds with links to Russians. Chart of the day Supply chain stress ticked up in May, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Thursday. The bank noted that its Global Supply Chain Pressure Index for May rose to 0.19 from -0.28 in April, only the second time it stood in positive territory this year and the highest reading since the 0.20 seen in August of last year. Although the index remains subdued compared to the post-pandemic surge, growing concerns about the impact of the tariff war - particularly the impact of China's restrictions on rare earth and minerals exports on the global auto industry - will ensure policymakers keep a close eye on these pressures for any signs of re-emerging inflation. Today's events to watch * U.S. May employment report (8:30 AM EDT), April consumer credit (3:00 PM EDT); Canada May employment report (8:30 AM EDT) Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, opens new tab, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
7 senators to watch as Republicans make changes to Trump's big bill
WASHINGTON — As Senate Republican leaders push to a massive bill for President Donald Trump's agenda by July 4, they are juggling a host of competing demands. Some senators are genuine threats to vote against the legislation, while others are expected to support it in the end after using their demands to shape it. Several of them have complicated political considerations. The Republicans who are speaking out most loudly point to a variety of ways the House-passed bill may change in the Senate, as party leaders seek to ease enough of their concerns. With all Democrats expected to vote against the package, Republicans will need at least 50 votes to pass it, as Vice President JD Vance could break a tie. Here are seven key senators to watch. Rand Paul Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is the only Republican senator who has voted against this legislation every step of the way. He has blasted the spike in military spending, the huge increase in deficits and, in particular, the $5 trillion debt limit hike. Paul does support a key part of the package — an extension of the Trump's 2017 tax cuts — but he wants to offset it with trillions of dollars in additional spending cuts, which the GOP has no hope of finding consensus on. Paul typically doesn't play games with his red lines. Barring an uncharacteristic about face, expect him to vote against the bill. Susan Collins Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is the sole surviving GOP senator to represent a state that Democrats consistently win at the presidential level. And she faces re-election this year. Her trajectory has been revealing, from supporting the initial budget resolution to voting against the revised version. A key reason for her opposition? Concerns that the Medicaid cuts would harm low-income and elderly constituents. She also expressed reservations about going after waste and fraud in Medicare, as GOP leaders have begun to consider. In addition, Collins and others like Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, would firmly oppose overruling the parliamentarian, the Senate's in-house referee who settles rule disputes, if she disqualifies some policies. Collins voted for the party's 2017 tax law, but she has been willing to vote against major GOP bills in the past. Party leaders will need to take her demands seriously in order to win her vote. Lisa Murkowski When Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted for the budget blueprint in April that kickstarted the process of writing the legislation, she quickly followed it up with a broad set of grievances that will need to be addressed, or she'll be 'unable to support' the final product. Among other things, she took issue with Medicaid cuts and an accounting trick her party is using to obscure the cost of the tax cuts. Two months later, her concerns persist. Asked Thursday by NBC News what she wants to change in the emerging bill, Murkowski replied dryly, 'Oh, I'll give you a list.' Murkowski has criticized the phaseout and repeal of clean energy tax credits that benefit her state, writing a letter in April with three of her colleagues — Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Curtis — highlighting the importance of America's energy independence, which they argued could be weakened as a result of this bill. Murkowski has shown an independent streak and a willingness to take political arrows when standing her ground. Mike Crapo Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and will help craft some of the biggest and most contentious pieces of the bill — including the tax cuts and Medicaid cuts. Despite his soft-spoken and non-confrontational style, Crapo won't be able to make everybody happy. And any changes he makes in the Senate would have to be palatable to the wafer-thin House Republican majority, which engaged in painstaking negotiations before passing its version of the bill by a one-vote margin. One example of the disconnect is the expanded $40,000 cap on state and local tax deductions, to placate a group of blue-state House Republicans. But there are no GOP senators representing blue states where that is a big issue. Crapo said "there's not a strong mood in the Senate Republican caucus right now" to expand SALT. The bill represents his biggest test since taking the powerful gavel. Thom Tillis Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he wants to adjust the phaseouts of the clean energy tax credits with a more 'targeted' approach to protect U.S. businesses that are already invested in existing projects. He said there's 'general consensus that the House proposed language will be modified.' Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito, agreed, telling NBC News some phaseouts will likely be pushed back. A member of the Finance Committee, Tillis has sounded generally positive about the direction of the bill, making him a likely 'yes' vote. But he's skeptical that the Senate will meet the Independence Day deadline: 'There's a lot of things that have to go perfectly right to get all that done and be out by July 4.' Tillis faces a tough political balancing act: He's up for re-election next year in a state that Democrats will be targeting; but first he needs to get through a Republican primary, which means staying on Trump's good side. Ron Johnson Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has railed against the bill and its estimated $2.4 trillion contribution to the deficit, insisting he can't vote for it as written. He has slammed the idea of a mega-bill, calling for breaking it up and limiting the debt ceiling hike. Trump asked him to be 'less negative' during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Johnson said. 'I think we had a good, lively discussion between the two of us,' Johnson told NBC News. 'He obviously would like me to be a little less negative, a little more positive, which I'm happy to do.' Johnson said he isn't trying to make Trump and GOP leaders' jobs harder. And the senator zig-zagged his way to 'yes' on the 2017 tax law after initially coming out against it, so party leaders have reason to be optimistic that he won't sink this legislation. Josh Hawley Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has been the Senate GOP's most vocal opponent of cutting Medicaid "benefits' — and he's been specific about which parts of the House bill he's worried about, citing the Medicaid provider tax and cost-sharing provisions. Notably, Hawley said he's fine with coverage losses resulting from Medicaid work requirements and expanded proof-of-eligibility provisions. Those make up the bulk of the House bill's savings. Hawley has also expressed reservations about including any provisions in the bill related to Medicare, which Republicans recently said they would discuss related to savings connected to so-called 'waste, fraud, and abuse.' Hawley called that 'a terrible idea,' telling reporters Thursday, 'If you don't ever want to win an election again, just go fiddle around with people's Medicare that they've worked hard for, paid into.'
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump aides ‘to broker peace talks' with Elon Musk after feud
Update: Date: 2025-06-06T07:45:00.000Z Title: Donald Trump Content: US president told Politico, 'Oh it's OK,' and, 'It's going very well, never done better,' when asked about his public breakup with billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the news outlet reported on Thursday. White House aides have scheduled a call on Friday with Musk to broker a peace, Politico reported. On Thursday, Trump and Musk escalated their disagreement about the US budget bill into a big public argument on social media. When asked about Musk's criticism of his 'Big, Beautiful Bill', the US president told reporters: Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will any more. Trump also said he was 'very disappointed in Elon'. In return, Musk published a flurry of posts that stepped up his feud with the president and went on to claim that without him Trump would have 'lost the election' before bemoaning what he called 'such ingratitude'. Meanwhile, a district judge in Boston has blocked the Trump administration's ban on Harvard's international students from entering the United States after the Ivy League university argued the move was illegal. Harvard had asked the judge, Allison Burrough, to block the ban, pending further litigation, arguing Trump had violated federal law by failing to back up his claims that the students posed a threat to national security. More on both of these stories in a moment, but first, here are some other key developments: Musk also suggested Trump should be impeached and that JD Vance should replace Trump, warning that Trump's global tariffs would 'cause a recession in the second half of this year' and claimed Trump was in the Jeffrey Epstein files. The White House described the Epstein assertions as an 'unfortunate episode', in a statement to CNN. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon, a longtime Trump ally and Elon Musk critic, suggested there were grounds to deport the tech billionaire, who has US citizenship. Bannon told the New York Times: 'They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately.' Poland's foreign minister poked fun at Musk late on Thursday, returning to a social media spat from March after the Tesla and SpaceX boss spectacularly fell out with Trump. Warsaw's top diplomat Radoslaw Sikorski found himself embroiled in an extraordinarily public clash with Musk and US secretary of state Marco Rubio in March after he said Ukraine may need an alternative to the Starlink satellite service. Trump's pick to be the next US surgeon general has repeatedly said the nation's medical, health and food systems are corrupted by special interests and people out to make a profit at the expense of Americans' health. Yet as Casey Means has criticised scientists, medical schools and regulators for taking money from the food and pharmaceutical industries, she has promoted dozens of health and wellness products – including specialty basil seed supplements, a blood testing service and a prepared meal delivery service – in ways that put money in her own pocket. A review by The Associated Press found Means, who has carved out a niche in the wellness industry, set up deals with an array of businesses.
