New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo met with President Donald Trump at the White House Tuesday to discuss the coronavirus response and testing.
Cuomo described the meeting to MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace and revealed that New York City no longer needs USNS Comfort, the Navy hospital ship that’s been docked in Manhattan for less than a month.
“We talked about the issues. We had a broader conversation about the coronavirus ect.,” Gov. Cuomo told Wallace.
“He wanted to know what was working in New York, what was not working in New York, what our challenges ahead were, what we needed from the federal government, how we can see the state and federal government working together,” Cuomo continued.
“We talked about what the federal government did do during what I call phase one, when we were ramping up trying to develop hospital capacity. We took our state convention center, the so-called Javid Center– and the Army Corp of Engineers did a fantastic job putting in 2,500 beds,” the New York Governor explained.
“The president sent up a Navy ship, the Comfort, which was a hospital ship, which by the way was very good to have in case we had overflow. I said we don’t really need the Comfort anymore, it did give us comfort. But we don’t need it anymore. If they need to deploy it somewhere else, they should take it,” Cuomo added. Video Below
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s remarks:
Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo: through his support, President @realDonaldTrump gave “us comfort” during the coronavirus crisis in NYhttps://t.co/bv8A6EIcms pic.twitter.com/ubmZYxui3n
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 21, 2020
During Tuesday’s White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing, President Donald Trump said that he “asked Andrew if we could bring the Comfort back to its base in Virginia, so we could have it for other locations.”
“[Cuomo] said we would be able to do that. … We’ll be bringing the ship back at the earliest time, and we’ll get it ready for its next mission,” the president said. “It was an honor.”
President @realDonaldTrump and his administration spared no expense to get New Yorkers the care they need.
The USNS Comfort, which was sent to help NY's #Coronavirus response, will soon return to Virginia and be available for other locations, as NY's cases have leveled off! pic.twitter.com/iTMHO2uR14
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) April 21, 2020
(Related: Pres Trump Salutes The USNS Comfort As It Sets Off To Assist Coronavirus ‘Hot Spot’, New York)
