CNN’s Harwood: ‘Bit of a Cheap Shot’ to Say Cuomo Profited on Back of Dead New Yorkers, But ‘Fair’ to Question His COVID Response

On Friday’s “CNN Newsroom,” CNN White House Correspondent John Harwood said that it’s “a bit of a cheap shot” to say New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) profited off the backs of dead New Yorkers with his large book deal, but it is “fair” to “question the quality of his coronavirus response,” and question if he got distracted from fighting coronavirus by writing the book.

Harwood said, “Well, Victor, in fairness to Cuomo, suggesting that he was doing this on the back of dead New Yorkers is a bit of a cheap shot. It’s not as if Gov. Cuomo set out to injure any New Yorkers and profit from it.”

He continued, “What is fair, though, is to question the quality of his coronavirus response, whether he made the right decisions, both early in the pandemic, as well as later on. And it’s also fair to raise the question of whether he was a little — fell a little bit too much in love with his own celebrity and got distracted from the fight by an enterprise like writing a book for a very large paycheck. Now, he says he’s going to give some of that money away. But, nevertheless, there’s reason to question why Gov. Cuomo should be signing a contract for a $5 million book while he’s in the middle of dealing with a pandemic.”

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