Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he would remain governor even if he was offered a Cabinet position in the next administration.
An anonymously-sourced report claimed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has Cuomo as a possibility for his attorney general if he wins the upcoming election.
“I would say, ‘You are an old friend, you are a good friend. You’re going to win this election. You’re going to be the president. I’ll help you anyway I can,’” Cuomo said on NBC’s “Today” show on Monday, when asked about the report.
“I’m a New Yorker. I said I would serve as governor and those rumors ... those are only from people who want to get me out of New York. I don’t know why, but that’s where that’s coming from,” he said. “I have no interest in going into Washington. I said when this COVID situation started, just so I had total credibility with the people of the state, I’m not running for president, I’m not running for vice president, I don’t want to go to Washington. I just am giving you the straight advice as your governor and that’s where I am.”
Biden hasn’t made public the people he would consider for Cabinet positions if he gets elected.
Cuomo served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in President Bill Clinton’s administration.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” in June, Cuomo had said he wouldn’t be interested in a Cabinet position in a potential Biden administration.
“I support Joe Biden for president, and I believe he’s going to be the next president. I am not running for anything. I am governor of New York and that’s all I want to be,” he said at the time.
“I was in a Cabinet, I was in Bill Clinton’s Cabinet—been there, done that ... I don’t want to go to Washington. They couldn’t drag me, they couldn’t force me. I only represent the people of the state, I have no agenda besides theirs.”
Other names floated as potential Biden Cabinet members include Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who are reportedly being considered for the head of the Interior Department.
