Andrew Cuomo appears to shower Donald Trump with praise in a video clip

In a recent White House press briefing, President Donald Trump showed a video clip in which New York Governor Andrew Cuomo appeared to be praising his administration’s effort in combating the coronavirus pandemic. The surprising thing is that just two days ago, Cuomo has been criticizing Trump for his refusal to help on COVID-19 testing.

In the first clip, Cuomo can be seen praising the Trump administration. “What the federal government did, working with states ... was a phenomenal accomplishment,” the New York the governor said, according to The Guardian. “These were just extraordinary efforts and acts of mobilization, and the federal government stepped up and was a great partner, and I’m the first to say it. We needed help and they were there.”

Donald Trump said that his staff left out the good part of the video. “They left out the good part,” Trump said, according to The Hill. “Good job, fellas. They did a better job on ventilators.”

Trump hinted that Cuomo might have said something more that was not included in the clip. “Andrew had something else to say that was really nice, but we won’t go through that,” he said. “You want to put the rest of it up, or do you not have it? I just think it’s so good for people because it’s bipartisan.”

“This is not about Democrats, Republicans,” Trump added. “This is about a thing that hit our country, the likes of which has never happened to us before.”

However, The Guardian pointed out that “selectively edited videos” are misleading. Just two days before the clips were shown by Trump, Cuomo criticized the Trump administration for not helping them enough.

“First of all, if he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work, right,” the New York Governor he told reporters on Friday. “Second, let’s keep emotion and politics out of this and personal ego if we can because this is about the people and our job and let’s try to focus on that.”

Cuomo also said that Trump did not help the state with coronavirus testing. “The president doesn’t want to help on testing,” he added. “I said 11 times, I said the one issue we need help with is testing. He said 11 times: ‘I don’t want to get involved in testing, it’s too complicated, it’s too hard.’ I know it’s too complicated and too hard. That’s why we need help. I can’t do an international supply chain.”

Trump’s action was criticized by the former director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub who views it as a publicity stunt. “Beyond being another taxpayer-funded campaign ad, this video clip also makes Trump look exceedingly weak,” he tweeted. “The video casts Cuomo as Trump’s boss giving him a performance appraisal. (If only!).”