'He better have an army': Cuomo takes a swipe at Trump amid the president's threats to defund 'lawless' Democratic cities like New York

• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday said President Donald Trump would need to bring not just bodyguards but "an army" if he planned to walk through New York City.
• Cuomo's comments came after Trump signed a memo threatening to slash funding to several Democratic-led cities — which he dubbed "anarchist jurisdictions" — including New York City and Portland.
• The governor called out the legality of such a move, saying, "There is a Constitution and there are laws — nothing that he knows anything about."
• Trump hit back at Cuomo on Thursday, criticizing his coronavirus response and blaming him for 11,000 deaths in New York's nursing homes.

Hostility between New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump bubbled over this week, with the two Queens natives lashing out at each other about crime and the coronavirus.

Trump signed a White House memo on Wednesday threatening to slash federal funding to Democratic-led cities that permit "lawlessness," singling out New York City, Portland, and Washington, DC.

The order instructs Trump administration officials, including Attorney General William Barr and acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, to identify which metropolitan areas should be deemed "anarchist jurisdictions" and find "authorities available to withhold funds."

Cuomo responded with a press conference and had some stern words for Trump.

"Forget bodyguards," Cuomo told reporters. "He better have an army if he thinks he's going to walk down the street in New York. New Yorkers don't want to have anything to do with him and he knows it. He couldn't step foot in New York City."

The memo itself is a political statement, Cuomo added, because making any such move would be "illegal."

"He's not a king. He thinks he's a king, but he's not," Cuomo said. "There is a Constitution and there are laws — nothing that he knows anything about. The federal budget is appropriated by law."

Cuomo also said the president was negligent in responding to the coronavirus pandemic, adding that the Trump administration's actions were responsible for the severe outbreak that devastated New York.

"The best thing he did for New York City was leave," Cuomo said, referring to Trump's decision to declare himself a resident of Palm Beach, Florida.

On Thursday morning, Trump responded, criticizing Cuomo's COVID-19 response as lacking.

Cuomo "should get his puppet New York prosecutors, who have been illegally after me and my family for years, to investigate his incompetent handling of the China Virus, and all of the deaths caused by this incompetence," Trump tweeted. "It is at minimum a Nursing Home Scandal - 11,000 DEAD!"

The governor's directive to send "medically stable" coronavirus patients to nursing homes has been mired in controversy, but it remains unclear whether Cuomo's decision directly caused an uptick in deaths and cases, ProPublica reported.

• Read more:
• Trump threatens to cut funding to so-called 'anarchist' cities like Portland and NYC if they refuse to let him send federal forces to confront protesters
• Trump suggests people in North Carolina should vote twice to test mail-in voting, but casting multiple ballots in an election is illegal
• Melania Trump used private email accounts to conduct official business in the White House, her former adviser says