- The Justice Department designated NYC, Portland and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions” under guidelines issued by President Trump earlier this month
- Trump’s Sept. 2 memo directs federal agencies to minimize funding for designated cities
- Federal grants account for billions of dollars of NYC’s annual budget, and the city has threatened to sue over any move to defund it
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo minced no words in responding to the DOJ assessment.
“I understand the politics, but when you try to manipulate and distort government agencies to play politics, which is what the Trump administration has done from day one … this is more of the same,” Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters. “The president can’t supersede the law and say I’m going to make those funds basically discretionary funds, which is what he would have to do.”
“If they actually do this, we will challenge it legally, and they will lose once again,” he added.
