Cuomo Tells Tracy Smith of Trump’s Diagnosis: “I Think This Says to Everyone, This Is Real. You Can Get It. Even the President of the United States Can Get It.”

(L-R) Mariah, Cara and Michaela Kennedy Cuomo and Governor Andrew Cuomo

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo became a nationwide phenomenon with his daily COVID-19 briefings at the height of the pandemic. Now, Cuomo and his three daughters open up about their life together during the coronavirus outbreak, the stress on the governor, his new book, learning President Donald Trump had COVID-19 and more in their first joint television interview with Tracy Smith for CBS SUNDAY MORNING to be broadcast Sunday, Oct. 11 (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network.

“Sometimes he, he would come home, and you could see it on him,” says Cara Kennedy Cuomo. “And you would hear – sort of this big deep breath that he takes. And then you would know that he is stressed.”

Just as the COVID shutdowns began, Cuomo’s adult daughters, Michaela and twins Mariah and Cara, moved back home with the governor, giving them an inside look at what their father went through in steering New York through this period. The daughters say that people across the world began asking the governor’s team for advice. They told their dad he needed to do more.

Those conversations resulted in the new book American Crisis – Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, out next week. Cuomo outlines what lessons he learned in dealing with the pandemic, and also why he believes President Donald Trump and the federal government failed in their response.

Cuomo says he’s not taking a victory lap with the book and that there’s more work to do.

“Oh, there’s no victory here,” Cuomo says. “The game isn’t over. This is halftime in the game. Let’s learn the lesson from the first half of the game and play a better second half. But we have to play a whole second half of this game. And there’s going to be another virus, another infection and another bacteria. And we can’t make the mistakes we made this time.”

Cuomo and his daughters talk with Smith about being together now, a second wave of COVID and seeing his mother in person for the first time since the pandemic began. His daughters also weigh in on whether the governor, who repeatedly says he’ll be governor as long as New York voters want him around, would make a run for the White House.

Michaela Kennedy Cuomo says she likes her father in New York, and that he likes it there.

“But, as someone who wishes that I had someone I could vote for who would be more inspiring and someone who seems more competent or just, like, anyone in Washington who seems competent, empathetic – would make me feel a lot better,” she says. “And so if that were Dad, I’d be a really grateful and proud American. And, I guess, a busier daughter.”

Cuomo tells Smith he was shocked to learn President Trump had gotten COVID-19 and calls it a wake-up call for the country.

“I think this says to everyone, this is real. You can get it. Even the president of the United States can get it,” Cuomo says. “And I also hope it’s a moment where this nation just puts aside the ugly politics that has become the way of this country, you know? …This is just a moment for humanity and love and compassion. And I wish him the best. And I wish his family the best. And I hope – I’m sure they’re living with a lot of anxiety. And let’s remember that, at the end of the day, we’re all people trying to do our best. And we can disagree, but let’s, let’s just be kinder to one another. And I think this is a moment that says that also.”

CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

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