Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo is a Guest on CNN's Out Front with Erin Burnett

Earlier tonight, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was a guest on CNN's Out Front With Erin Burnett to discuss New York's ongoing effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

AUDIO of the Governor's interview is available here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's interview is available:

Erin Burnett: We do now have calling in now the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, and I wanted to give you a chance, Governor, to respond. I saw your press conference today with several other governors as you're trying to coordinate your plan for reopening and dealing with the coronavirus. Don't know if you just heard everything the President said but there were a couple of moments when he took this on. He specifically said the President of the United States calls the shots and he has total authority to decide over New York or any other state. Do you agree?

Governor Cuomo: Well, I don't agree, Erin. Thank you for having me, by the way. I don't agree with the President's legal analysis. The President doesn't have total authority. We have a Constitution. We don't have a king. We have an elected President. That's what our founding fathers did when they wrote the Constitution and the Constitution clearly says the powers that are not specifically listed for the federal government are reserve to the states and the balance between federal and state authority was central to the Constitution. It's one of the great balances of power and the Constitution has served his nation very well for a long time. Again, they didn't want a king. Otherwise we would have had King George Washington. We didn't. We had President George Washington elected by the people.

Having said that, the President also said that the CDC was going to issue guidelines. Now guidelines are not mandates. Guidelines are what they did on closing down the economy. Remember the federal government did not close down the economy. The President's right. He did a travel ban with China. That was not closing down the economy. Closing down the economy is what the states did at different times in different ways. The CDC issued guidelines. Most states well beyond the CDC guidelines and guidelines are just guidelines. Guidelines are do this if you like. But it's not a coordinated, national approach and it's clearly not the federal government enacting it.

So either you're doing a federal takeover or you're doing guidelines which the states can follow if they want to follow. He seems to be saying both so I don't really know.

Erin Burnett: So when the Vice President said, because they asked him do you believe this holds up constitutionally, the President's point, that he and only he can call the shots for the states, Pence said that, yes, he believes that's true because of this national emergency declaration situation we're under. Does that hold any water with you, Governor Cuomo?

Governor Cuomo: Legally, no. You don't become king because there's a national emergency. Now, you could argue that a federal government has enhanced power because of a federal emergency, but again, Erin, that's not what they did. The tough decisions were the closing down of the economy. The sort of reopening is more of an artful, science-based process. But the closing down, which is where the President could have exercised this theory of total control, he didn't do it. He left it all to the states and we had this whole hodgepodge of actions over a period of time. I think, frankly, if we had a clearer national direction earlier on, we probably would have had a more orderly shutdown. No, even in a federal emergency it doesn't abrogate the Constitution. That's what you would have to say here. The Constitution of the United States goes out the window because we have a federal emergency. That is not the law of the land. Period.

Erin Burnett: What are you prepared to do if he comes out with - and he refused to give a date today - but a much more aggressive opening? I know today during your press conference you laid out for example, how you wanted to work with nearby states. Well if one wants to open the bars and the other doesn't, you were going to work together. But if the President of the United States comes out and lays out a plan that you think is not responsible and not right for New York, would you tell New Yorkers to ignore what he is saying and overrule it and say listen to me as a governor this is what we will do?

Governor Cuomo: If they came out with this hypothetical, if the President came out with a plan that I believed was irresponsible and could jeopardize the public health of the people of the State of New York, I would oppose it legally. Period. The coalition we put together is not all Democrats. I know the Washington way is to quietly --

Erin Burnett: Yeah he just said that.

Governor Cuomo: Yeah that's not true. The State of Massachusetts, last time I checked, they have a great governor in Massachusetts, Governor Baker, who happens to be a Republican. It's not a partisan, it's not politics. We all stayed away from that. The President should stay away from that. Don't start that divisiveness with the partisanship. That would do himself a disservice. He likes to say, "I worked with Democratic governors, Republican governors." Even his own video, it said bi-partisan Democrat, Republican. Keep it there. Don't get partisan.

The governors would like nothing more than an engaged federal government where we know what the federal government does and what the states do. By the way, the federal government has to do it's role too. On this issue of testing, I'm telling you that's going to become a major issue. The state's do not have the capacity to do large scale tests. You can't get large scale diagnostic tests and that's going to be a key to any reopening plan.

Erin Burnett: So he also said that he sent the ship here to New York Harbor and he said that he did everything you wanted with Javits Center, but the reason that he was bringing those things up was to show that he worked with you, giving you what you wanted, but you didn't need it. His words, I believe, are "The Javits Center is empty." Now that's not obviously quite true, but what's your response to him on that. It's pretty clear he's saying you ask for things you do not need.

Governor Cuomo: Look, facts matter, okay? I don't even think the president should be defensive on this. The truth is the CDC's original estimate was in the millions of people infected, the CDC. That's him. The White House Coronavirus Task Force said in the millions of people. That's him. That did not come to be. But as a governor you prepare for the worst, hope for the best. If you read the CDC guidelines, if you read the white house coronavirus task force in the state of New York you could need over 100,000 beds. Those were also the projections of the organization funded by Gates and Cornell University and Columbia University and McKinsey. They were all projecting in the State of New York up to 140,000 beds needed. We only have 50,000 beds. So, yes, to prepare for the numbers that both the federal government and the experts said it could be, we needed additional beds. And the President is also right that the army corps of engineers did a great job inbuilding emergency facilities, and I did call him and ask him for expedited assistance with the army corps of engineers, and he did provide it. He shouldn't be defensive about that. And the government initiatives and policies did reduce the number of people infected, caveat, so far. We just have to make sure we don't go backwards. So, he's right there, and he did work cooperatively with this state and other states, and that's why I don't understand why you would pivot at this point to this aggressive, hostile suggestion of a total authority of the federal government and abandon the partnership cooperation he started by praising.

Erin Burnett: Governor Cuomo, I appreciate your time. Good to talk to you again.

Governor Cuomo: Thanks for having me, Erin.