Andrew Cuomo: 'Defund the Police' Are '3 Dumbest Words Ever Uttered'

Throwing President Joe Biden and "cancel culture" Democrats under the bus, former New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo said "defund the police" was the dumbest political campaign slogan "ever uttered."

"We have a real crime problem in this nation — 'well, after George Floyd everybody hates police' — yes, you need better police and better trained police, but 'defund the police' are the three dumbest words ever uttered by the Democratic Party," Cuomo told Friday's "Real Time With Bill Maher."

Saying he would "probably" be primarying Biden right now if he was not forced out of office by Democrats by sexual harassment allegations and "cancel culture," Cuomo was sounding a lot like his longtime foil former President Donald Trump, urging for law and order, smarter immigration policy, and rejecting "fear-driven politics."

"They have to answer to voters," Cuomo said of Democrats, in particular those who worked to get him out as governor.

"On the way to the studio today, Bill, we're passing these tent cities for homeless people. I think we at the studio set are like, Is this a science-fiction movie?

"People are living this."

Denouncing tent cities and long warning of the dangers of being a sanctuary city or state for illegal migrants have been the focal point of Trump's presidential campaigns for almost a decade.

"The moderate Democrats are afraid of the far left," Cuomo told Maher. "So when you say sexual harassment, right away they are ready to jump, and that can be manipulated by the way.

"This cancel culture, it's a loaded gun. And they can use it against anyone, anytime, even for their self interest."

Cuomo resigned after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment and rejected running to reclaim the office in 2022 because he did not want to subject his daughters to political muckraking, one of his top aides said in a book being released Tuesday.

"We had a vendor lined up to print petitions and had assembled a volunteer army and a paid canvass operation that was set to go," former chief aide Melissa DeRosa wrote in her political memoir, "What's Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics and Crisis."

Such a run would have pitted Cuomo against his successor and former lieutenant governor, fellow Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul.

DeRosa said Cuomo "could not stomach" how state government was being run after his resignation. But despite support from relatives and aides willing to come out with "guns blazing," she wrote, Cuomo considered how a run would impact his three daughters, who had clearly "had enough of the press and the ugly politics."

"The prospect of reliving that trauma that soon was too much to bear," DeRosa said.

Hochul wound up winning the election, defeating former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.

DeRosa was known for appearing at the governor's side during his daily, televised COVID-19 pandemic briefings and became one of Cuomo's most vocal defenders during the sexual harassment scandal that forced him out of office in August 2021.

She defends him and the administration in the book, too, questioning the credibility of some of the accusations, saying "everyday interactions were being weaponized" and claiming some of the attacks on him were politically motivated.

DeRosa is particularly critical of state Attorney General Letitia James, the Democrat who released the report that forced Cuomo's ouster. It was crafted by outside lawyers which concluded Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women.

Cuomo has denied those allegations. In one passage, DeRosa claimed James initially tried to reassure her about the investigation, saying people had described a key accuser as "not credible."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.