"Lawfare": Andrew Cuomo rep takes aim at Trump amid reports he's under DOJ investigation

Representatives for Andrew Cuomo, a New York City mayoral race front-runner, on Tuesday questioned the timing of a reported Trump Department of Justice investigation into the former Democratic N.Y. governor.Why it matters: The New York Times first reported that the investigation into Cuomo over decisions he made as governor during the COVID pandemic began about a month ago, after the DOJ moved to have the criminal corruption case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams dismissed. "That puts the Trump administration in the unusual position of having ended a criminal case against the leader of the nation's largest city — Mr. Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent — and opened one into his chief rival, Mr. Cuomo, who is leading the Democratic primary field in the polls, in the span of a few months," the NYT noted.What they're saying: "We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now?" said Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, in a statement shared with outlets including Axios."The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against," he added.State of play: Cuomo came under fire during the early stages of the pandemic for his handling of COVID in nursing homes and House Republicans in a criminal referral last year accused him of violating the law by allegedly making false statements during congressional testimony on the matter. The NYT reports that U.S. attorney's office in D.C. began the investigation into Cuomo in response to this when Ed Martin was running the office before he was replaced by former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, whom the NYC mayor candidate beat to become N.Y. state attorney general in 2006.Pirro was scathing in her criticism of Cuomo's handling of the pandemic on her show "Justice with Judge Jeanine," notably saying in one segment after he was accused of covering up nursing home deaths in 2021: "You cannot escape the consequences of your intentional and reckless acts."Azzopardi said in his emailed statement Tuesday that Cuomo "testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political."A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

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