Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is demanding the U.S. Department of Justice explain the FBI “raid” at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
“DOJ must immediately explain the reason for its raid & it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation & legitimacy of January 6 investigations,” Cuomo wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
“Raid” is the same word that Trump used to describe the FBI’s execution of a search warrant Monday at Trump’s Florida home. The FBI and Justice Department have not commented on the search, which is part of a federal investigation into whether Trump took classified documents from the White House after leaving office in January 2021.
The statement from Cuomo, a Democrat, was somewhat surprising after years of feuding with Trump, a Republican. While in office, Trump claimed New Yorkers are leaving the state “like never before,” refused to allow New Yorkers to enroll in Global Entry and other “trusted traveler” programs, and threatened to cut off federal funds to his hometown over rising crime; Cuomo accused Trump of inciting hate and doing “nothing but tweet” when it comes to gun control, and also irked the president when he signed a law preventing presidential pardons for state crimes; and they both criticized each other over how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cuomo once even said he wanted to punch Trump for calling his brother, then-CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, “Fredo.” The TV host famously said the reference to Michael Corleone’s brother in “The Godfather” is “like the N-word” to Italians and Italian-Americans, and Andrew Cuomo defended his younger brother.
“If I wasn’t governor of New York, I would have decked him. Period,” Cuomo told Howard Stern in 2020. “I mean he was attacking me, he was attacking my family, he was anti-Italian. Every nasty thing.”
In a second tweet posted later Tuesday morning, Cuomo appeared to clarify that he wasn’t defending Trump.
“DOJ must disclose the bona fide nature of the August 8 action or else the republicans will use it to Discredit the Jan 6 investigation, which would be a terrible disservice to the good work of the house committee in exposing The Trump administration violations,” Cuomo tweeted.
Cuomo resigned as governor last August after an investigation overseen by New York state Attorney General Letitia James concluded he sexually harassed 11 women in the workplace, which he denied. He was also criticized for the state’s undercounting of Covid nursing home deaths and ordered to pay back $5.1 million in profits for a book he wrote about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump is facing at least two DOJ investigations, including over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his potential mishandling of classified information. The National Archives and Records Administration said Trump took boxes of White House records to Mar-a-Lago after he left office in January, including some documents that had been torn up and taped back together — a violation of the Presidential Records Act, which requires by law that they be kept for the historical record.
Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, told the Associated Press that the search was related to the records probe, escalating the case. Agents were also looking to see if Trump had additional presidential records or any classified documents at the estate.
The search came hours after photos obtained by The New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman showed paper documents allegedly flushed down a toilet by Trump at the presidential residence and on an overseas trip during his time in the White House. Ripped-up wads of paper were seen in the toilet, including one with U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s last name clearly seen in what appears to be Trump’s handwriting in Sharpie ink.
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