Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, criticized investigations into former President Donald Trump, calling them politically motivated and a “cancer in our body politic.”
Cuomo, a former attorney general, told host John Catsimatidis in an interview on WABC 770 that he expects Trump will be indicted in Manhattan next week.
“The expression, for prosecutors, is you can indict a ham sandwich because the prosecutor controls the entire indictment process,” Cuomo said.
Trump himself has said he expects to be indicted and arrested in a probe that he has denounced as a “fairy tale” and a “witch hunt.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating Trump for his company’s classification of a $130,000 reimbursement to his former personal attorney Michael Cohen over a payment allegedly made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to stop her from disclosing an alleged affair with the former president.
Trump, who has denied having an affair with Daniels and insists he’s the victim of extortion, has labeled the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as “corrupt” and “highly political.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not responded to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.
‘It’s All Politics’
Cuomo said that he doesn’t understand why Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is “putting such an emphasis” on the case against Trump, which he argued will stoke division and be viewed as a political hack job by an increasingly jaded populace.
“You have a cynical public, they don’t believe anyone. And when you start to see these prosecutors bringing political cases, it just affirms everybody’s cynicism,” Cuomo said.
“I don’t believe any of this. I don’t believe a Democratic prosecutor just happens to be attacking a Republican,” he continued.
“I think it’s all politics,” Cuomo added. “It feeds the cynicism and that’s the cancer in our body politic right now.”
Trump, who has called for protests over his possible indictment, initially said he expected to be indicted earlier this week but Bragg has so far not made his move.
Bragg wrote in an internal memo obtained by media outlets that attempts to “intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York” would not be tolerated.
Cuomo’s remarks come as House Republicans earlier this week asked for information and testimony into Bragg’s investigation and, like the former governor, described the probe as politically motivated.
House Republicans led by Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), and Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) wrote in a letter to Bragg that his “decision to pursue such a politically motivated prosecution” requires scrutiny by Congress about how public safety funds are being used by local law enforcement agencies.
The GOP lawmakers wrote that, in their view, Bragg is “about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority” in the form of a potential Trump indictment, which they said “comes after years of your office searching for a basis—any basis—on which to bring charges” against the former president and current candidate for the White House in 2024.
If Trump is indeed arrested, it would be a first for a current or former president.
Bragg, meanwhile, has fired back at the House Republicans seeking to probe his case against Trump.
“Your letter dated March 20, 2023 (the ‘Letter’), in contrast, is an [unprecedented] inquiry into a pending local prosecution,” Bragg’s office wrote (pdf) to House Judiciary Republicans in a letter.
Further, Bragg’s office wrote that the GOP’s letter “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day, and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry.”
If Bragg’s office were to comply with the request, it would “interfere with law enforcement,” and the GOP letter represents an “unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty,” states the letter, which was written by Bragg’s general counsel, Leslie B. Dubeck, and dated March 23.
A spokesperson for Trump told The Epoch Times last weekend that the former president had received no special information about a possible indictment and suggested Trump was reacting to publicly available reporting.
“There has been no notification, other than illegal leaks,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Epoch Times via email.
“President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the weaponization of our injustice system,” he added, remarking on Trump’s labeling the probe as a witch hunt.
