Cuomo tells ‘The View’ a Mamdani win would be ‘gift’ for Trump, lead to NYC takeover
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo told “The View” on Monday it would be a “gift” to President Donald Trump if Zohran Mamdani wins the election in November and becomes New York City’s next mayor.
Cuomo said he’s the “last person” Trump wants to see as mayor, citing their relationship while he was governor of New York. “We fought on a daily basis,” Cuomo said.
He alleged that a Mamdani win would lead to a federal takeover of New York City and then Trump would use Mamdani as an example during other elections about the dangers of electing a far-left politician.
Trump “will take a picture of Mamdani and run around the country and say, here’s what happened to the Democrats,” Cuomo said. “Mamdani is a gift for him … because it’s the excuse he needs to take over New York, which he said he will do.”
In a recent interview with “The View,” Mamdani said New York should be prepared to push back against Trump.
“This is just one of the many threats that Donald Trump makes. Every day he wakes up, he makes another threat, a lot of the times about the city that he actually comes from,” Mamdani said. “[Trump] wants to do a whole lot of things with this city, and we’re going to fight him every step of the way, as long as it is something that comes at the expense of this city.”
Cuomo denied allegations from Mamdani and other critics that he’s Trump’s pick in the race. Cuomo also denied reporting in the New York Times that he had recently discussed the race on a call with Trump.
New York City’s mayoral race is down to three candidates, including Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, after Mayor Eric Adams recently dropped out of the race. He said the race is down to a democratic socialist in Mamdani and himself, a true Democrat.
“What’s really happening is there’s a civil war within the Democratic Party going on, and the Democratic Party is looking for its identity. And there are two factions. You have the democratic socialists, and then you have the Democrats, they have a very extreme view that they’re pursuing, which is different than the Democratic Party,” Cuomo said Monday on “The View.”
After Adams announced he was dropping out of the mayor’s race, Cuomo gave him kudos and said his withdrawal indeed shakes up the race. He said that New Yorkers should be “afraid” of a win by Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
“I believe Mayor Adams is 100% sincere. I applaud his selflessness. You know, we often wonder, is it about us, or is it about a greater calling? And I think what Mayor Adams said today speaks volumes,” Cuomo said at the time. “He said, I’m going to put my personal ambition aside for the good of the city, because he’s afraid of the result if Mr. Mamdani would have [sic] win the election, and we should all be afraid of the result.”
And Adams no longer campaigning makes a difference, Cuomo said: “It’s not just about the polling. You know, the mayor was – is the incumbent mayor, so he is a potent force in the campaign; if he is not actively campaigning, that changes the entire dynamic of the race.”
Even still, Cuomo is running an uphill campaign after Mamdani delivered an upset win during the June Democratic primary. The former governor has been trailing the Democratic nominee in most polls and Mamdani has racked up major endorsements, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Cuomo has faced scrutiny during his mayoral campaign following his exit from the governor’s office four years ago as he faced mounting sexual harassment allegations.
During his appearance on The View, Cuomo said he now acts much more cautiously due to the “very painful” allegations.
“I learned a lesson, a painful lesson, which is to be much more cautious about everything you say, any joke, any comment,” Cuomo said Monday. “I won’t kiss a person on the cheek unless they initiate a kiss. So they taught me a lesson, just to be super cautious, because there is a sensitivity that has evolved that is real. If people feel it, it’s true, and it has to be respected.”
Cuomo made apologies back in 2021 when the allegations surfaced, but has since insisted he did nothing wrong, despite a state attorney general probe alleging he harassed 11 women. He was never charged with any wrongdoing,
Mamdani and other opponents have contended that Cuomo is still unfit to serve in office.
The former governor lost the Democratic primary after three rounds of ranked choice voting by nearly 130,000 votes. Cuomo pressed on and announced shortly after the defeat that he would continue to run as an independent candidate.
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s executive order strapping a six-figure fee to the H1-B visa has created confusion for tech firms and the tens of thousands of foreign employees that the companies have depended on for their growth, according to immigration and business experts.
Trump and his officials touted the recent order to add a $100,000 fee for every H1-B application as one that would help create more job opportunities for Americans. This visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.
However, the president’s move will make it difficult for tech firms to expand U.S. operations or incentivize highly talented foreign workers to choose America as the place they launch their next big idea, Stuart Anderson, the executive director of non-partisan think tank National Foundation for American Policy, told ABC News.
“More than half of the billion-dollar start-ups have at least one immigrant co-founder,” Anderson said. “And those firms lead to thousands of jobs for Americans.”
Anderson, who served as the executive associate commissioner at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service under President George W. Bush, acknowledged that the H1-B program was in need of reform, particularly when it came to mega corporations dominating the visa’s lottery system. However, he said the current administration’s approach does more harm to the program than good.
He and other analysts noted that even if the $100,000 fee is reversed, some damage to the tech economy may have already been done as entrepreneurs and prospective employees rethink their options.
“If you cut off highly skilled people from coming into the country, you’re going to cut off chances of having a dominant economy,” Anderson said.
How H1-B works The H1-B visa program was created as part of the 1990 immigration bill and allowed foreign prospective employees with college and graduate degrees in select fields such as computer sciences, engineering and medical research to legally live and work in America.
The law allows for 65,000 H1-B visas a year, which lasts for three to six years, for applicants with bachelor’s degrees and an additional 20,000 a year for workers with higher-level degrees. Academic institutions are exempt from this cap.
Applicants can renew their visa when it expires with the approval of their employer.
A study released in March by Pew Research found that there were roughly 400,000 applications for the H1-B visa, the majority of which were for renewals.
In addition to paying for the visa’s fees, which are around $5,000 for filing costs, companies must follow strict rules in order for the visa to be approved, according to Greg Morrisett, the dean and vice provost of Cornell Tech.
“A company that files for an H1 has to provide an assertion that they hire for the same salaries as it does for an American citizen,” he said.
Morrisett said that many tech firms — such as Microsoft, Facebook and Google –have benefited from the program by hiring engineers and programmers from places like India, China and South Korea. He noted that these workers played essential roles in developing their products and successes.
Several major tech CEOs — including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai — are foreign-born and were on H1-B visas after they finished their college and graduate studies in America.
“I think the U.S has led in technology and engineering because of the federal government’s investments and universities attracted the best minds and gave them the ability to thrive,” Morrisett said.
Despite its success, the program has come under criticism from conservative groups who argue that it takes jobs away from American-born workers.
Other critics argue that the visa lottery favors larger corporations, who have more money and resources to pay the filing fees and help process the applications, compared to smaller companies and startups.
Morrisett said the additional $100,000 fee will create a bigger push for the major corporations to get the H1-B talent.
“It’s devastating for the start-up world. The big tech companies can weather the storm but a lot of start-up companies simply don’t have the money,” he said.
The top companies with H1-B workers during the 2025 fiscal year were Amazon, with over 10,000 employees on the visa, followed by Tata Consulting Services, which has about 5,505, and Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, which each have around 5,100, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Jeremy Robbins, the executive director of nonprofit advocacy group the American Immigration Council, told ABC News that smaller start-up firms are crucial for the tech industry’s growth. Every major tech company started off as a smaller mom and pop start-up that blossomed due to the right developer or engineer who cracked the code to bring an app or tech product across the finish line.
“Putting on a flat fee that privileges large companies over small ones, or incentivizes talent to go overseas or incentivizes companies to set up shop overseas, is not an answer,” he said.
Robbins acknowledged that some of the H1-B’s provisions needed tweaking. Some, such as the cap, are frozen in the economic landscape of the early ’90s, he noted. At the time, the country was in recession and falling behind in the tech boom.
“You want to think about how to do that and protect American workers. You would want to treat it differently from a boom time than during a recession,” he said.
Robbins said that Trump’s executive order on the H1-B “cut off the hand to treat a small pain in the finger.”
Trump’s EO creates confusion, fear On Sept. 19, Trump signed the order adding $100,000 to the fees associated with the H1-B visa. He and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the order was to promote American jobs.
“That’s the point of immigration: Hire Americans, and make sure the people coming in are the top, top people,” Lutnick told reporters at the time. “Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country.”
When asked if the executive order’s new fee covered first-time H1 applicants or all applicants once it kicked in on Sept. 21, Lutnick responded, “Renewals, first time.”
“The company needs to decide… is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000 a year payment to the government? Or they should head home and go hire an American,” he added.
The actual order, however, had different guidance and the discrepancy led to the frantic letters, according to the experts. The order said that the fee was a one-time charge that would only cover first-time applicants, which led to many companies sending frantic letters to their H1-B employees urging them not to leave the country, according to the American Immigration Council’s Robbins.
He told ABC News that his organization received reports of H1 visa holders who were overseas frantically booking flights to return to the U.S. during the weekend because they and their employers had no concrete information about their legal status.
“It’s thrown everyone into a disarray, and there are still questions as to how this will affect companies and their employees,” he said.
Representatives for Meta, Amazon, Apple and Google did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment. Representatives from Microsoft declined to comment.
Robbins said that there will likely be legal challenges to the executive order. Federal law allows USCIS to collect fees only for the purpose of processing, since the agency is totally funded by fees, and the president’s power to change immigration law is murky, according to Robbins.
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the president’s travel ban was constitutional since he based it off national security concerns. However, two years later, a California federal court blocked a Trump executive order that limited the approval of H1-B visas during the pandemic.
“Stay tuned,” Robbins said when asked about more details about legal challenges.
Ripple effects Whether or not Trump reverses his order either voluntarily or through the courts, the experts said that the American economy — especially the tech industry — will feel the effects of the move for years to come.
Morrisett said that he’s already heard concerns from Cornell Tech’s international students about their future job prospects in America in the wake of the order.
“When a student comes to study here, they get exposed to the tech ecosystem, they have a great idea, they want to create a company, and the start-ups have the tools to make that happen,” he said. “Now there are fewer incentives for them to stay in the country and foster that idea if they don’t have that visa.”
Morrisett added that the H1-B order, combined with the administration’s other actions to limit immigration such as Trump’s travel ban, increased deportation efforts and anti-immigration rhetoric, has tarnished America’s luster in the eyes of current and prospective foreign engineers.
“It is all compounding to the message, ‘We don’t want you in the United States,'” he said. “These are some of the smartest people in the world and they’re saying, ‘OK. We’ll go somewhere else.'”
Anderson said the talent won’t be the only group looking to more welcoming pastures. He noted that companies will be inclined to expand their presence internationally, countering Trump’s goal to strengthen America’s tech footprint.
“Even the smallest firms have international offices and if they want to get that skilled talent, they will go wherever they need to retain them,” Anderson said.
Robbins reiterated that there is definitely a need for reforms for the county’s immigration policies, including the H1-B program, but said leaders must recognize that the visa has been one of the most successful initiatives to expand the country’s tech industry and should not be hampered.
“Putting on a flat fee that privileges large companies over small ones, or incentivizes talent to go overseas or incentivizes companies to set up shop overseas, is not an answer,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump announced that he is “going out” with police and military in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to oversee the surge in federal law enforcement and National Guard, who are responding to what he says is a crime emergency in the district.
“I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and, with the military, of course. So we’re going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They’ve done a fantastic job,” Trump told radio host Todd Starnes on Thursday.
The president mobilized the National Guard one week ago to assist the police, claiming crime was out of control.
The plan came a day after Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller visited the National Guard at Union Station, where they were drowned out with boos from protesters.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — High-profile races are unfolding across the country on Tuesday, including New York City’s mayoral election and governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia.
In California, voters will consider a ballot measure that puts forth a redrawn congressional map that could net Democrats five House seats.
The elections come with high-stakes for both Democrats and Republicans, and will provide a picture of how Americans feel about President Donald Trump’s first nine months in office.
Here’s how the news is developing.
44 minutes ago
NYC 2025 vote surpasses 2021 total, halfway through the day
As of 3 p.m. ET, roughly 1.4 million New York voters have cast a ballot in this year’s elections, with six hours before polls close, the city’s Board of Elections said.
Roughly 1.1 million voters cast a ballot in the 2021 election, according to city BOE data.
Of the 1.4 million cast so far in 2025, 716,625 votes, about 49%, were cast on Tuesday, while the remaining were cast at early voting polling sites.
2 hours and 9 minutes ago
‘Another baseless claim,’ California officials dismiss Trump
The California secretary of state slammed President Donald Trump over his unfounded claims about the state’s election.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a statement that Trump’s comments appeared to be “another baseless claim”– and urged voters to head to the polls.
“California voters will not be deceived by someone who consistently makes desperate, unsubstantiated attempts to dissuade Americans from participating in our democracy,” she said.
Additionally, a spokesperson for the state’s attorney general said that Trump is “continuing to spread lies,” adding that elections in California are “fair, safe, and secure.”
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin
2 hours and 28 minutes ago
Trump says California redistricting vote is under ‘criminal review’
After President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post that California’s Proposition 50 should be under “very serious legal and criminal review,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House is “looking into” providing “executive action.”
“The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country, and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we’ve seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system. It’s absolutely true that there’s fraud in California elections. It’s just a fact,” Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.
Leavitt’s comments come after Trump laid into the proposal — where Californians are deciding if the state will adopt a new Democratic-friendly congressional map in response to mid-decade redistricting in Texas — calling it a “GIANT SCAM.”
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED. All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.
2 hours and 49 minutes ago
Trump has made his thoughts on NYC mayoral election ‘quite clear,’ White House says White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump has made his thoughts on the New York City mayoral election “quite clear.”
“The president is a New Yorker, and he loves New York. He has made his thoughts on this election quite clear,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt also addressed Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s comments accusing the Trump administration of attempting to “intimidate voters with baseless allegations of voter fraud,” saying his comments are “based on zero evidence.”
“I think this is just another example of how the Democratic Party unfortunately stands for nothing. All they stand against is President Donald Trump, and I think it’s quite sad to see that we have someone at the top of the ticket on election day today saying such things about the president, when he obviously had nothing to do with those threats,” Leavitt said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Mamdani addressed reports of voter intimidation in New Jersey, saying these incident are “incredibly concerning.”
“I think that it is an illustration of the attacks we’re seeing in our democracy,” he continued, accusing the Trump administration of adopting a “general approach” of attempting to “intimidate voters with baseless allegations of voter fraud as a means of trying to repress the voice of Americans across this country,” Mamdani said.
Trump endorsed Cuomo on Monday in a social media post. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job,” Trump wrote.
3 hours and 50 minutes ago
Trump and Newsom square off on Prop 50
President Donald Trump and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom are sparring over the vote on Proposition 50, the ballot proposition where Californians are deciding if the state will adopt a new Democratic-friendly congressional map in response to mid-decade redistricting in Texas.
On social media, Trump laid into the proposal as a “GIANT SCAM” and that voting process itself is “rigged.”
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED. All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote.
Newsom hit back on X: “The ramblings of an old man that knows he’s about to LOSE.”
Democrats feel particularly bullish about their chances in California tonight.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
3 hours and 58 minutes ago
GOP groups attack Mamdani, attempt to link him to broader Democratic Party
As voters head to the polls, various Republican groups have released statements and memos attacking New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, as the Republican Party continues to tie the self-described democratic socialist to the broader Democratic Party as a way to paint Democrats as radical and out of touch.
The messaging, while not new, reflects how the Republican Party hopes to use Mamdani as an albatross against Democrats.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, in a memo released on Tuesday morning framing Republicans as having more momentum one year out to the 2026 midterms, claimed that Democrats are fully on board with “the socialist agenda.”
“Democrats are now fully embracing the socialist agenda, with Hakeem Jeffries endorsing radical socialist Zohran Mamdani just last week,” the committee wrote, calling this “electoral poison for Democrats” because Democrats view socialism more negatively than capitalism.
Additionally, the National Republican Senatorial Committee — the campaign arm of Senate Republicans — sent out a flurry of at least seven memos early Tuesday tying Democratic primary candidates in key Senate races to Mamdani.
In a press release on Monday, the Republican National Convention grouped Mamdani with the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia, saying they “are all cut from the same far-left cloth.”
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim, Brittany Shepherd and Emily Chang
12:05 PM EST
Cuomo says Trump ‘does not support me’ but ‘opposes Zohran Mamdani’
While casting his vote for himself on Tuesday morning, independent candidate for mayor of New York City and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said President Donald Trump does not support him but “opposes Zohran Mamdani.”
“The president does not support me. The president opposes Zohran Mamdani,” Cuomo said when asked if he accepts Trump’s recent endorsement.
Cuomo was also asked what’s at stake nationally in this election, to which he told reporters, “I think what you’re seeing is a civil war in the Democratic Party that has been growing for a while.”
The former governor said Trump believes Mamdani is an “existential threat” and that the “momentum is on our side.”
-ABC News’ Halle Troadec
11:27 AM EST
Vance urges support for New Jersey GOP gubernatorial candidate Ciattarelli as race tightens
Vice President JD Vance urged voters in New Jersey to cast their vote for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, as the race tightens between Ciattarelli and the Democrats’ pick, former Navy helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill.
“Get out there and vote for Jack if you live in NJ. New Jersey is such a great state but it’s suffered too long under crap leadership,” Vance wrote on Tuesday.
According to a Quinnipiac poll, Ciattarelli is lagging Sherill only by single digits in the race, with Sherill leading Ciatttarelli by 8 points in the full ballot matchup.
Former President Barack Obama has previously endorsed Sherill, saying her “integrity, grit and commitment to service are what we need right now in our leaders.”
In addition to being backed by Vance, Ciattarelli also boasts the support of President Donald Trump.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
11:10 AM EST
Implications of NYC’s mayoral race stretch beyond the Big Apple
While New Yorkers are focused on solving key issues of affordability and public safety, the implications of the mayoral race could stretch beyond the five boroughs.
This local off-year election has garnered national attention and is considered representative of political headwinds ahead of the 2026 midterms. Candidates are zeroed in on navigating the impacts of President Donald Trump’s second term, and Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy has shed light on how the Democratic Party has struggled to balance its progressive and moderate sides.
-ABC News’ Emily Chang
10:49 AM EST
Cuomo votes, calls Trump ‘pragmatic’ for encouraging Republicans to back him
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appeared to cast his ballot at a polling place on the East Side of Manhattan on Tuesday morning, called President Donald Trump “pragmatic” for encouraging Republican voters to support him in the New York City mayoral election, instead of the GOP nominee, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, to blunt a victory for Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
“President Trump is pragmatic. He is telling them the reality of the situation, which is, if you do not vote, Mamdani is going to win. Who is Mamdani? I don’t know, but he’s a Democratic socialist that brings socialism to New York City. New York City will not thrive with a socialist economy,” Cuomo, who is running as an independent, said on Fox News on Tuesday. “So Republicans, you have to get up and come out and vote. Even if you’re not voting for a Republican, you’re voting to save New York City.”
Cuomo went on to say that Mamdani’s campaign promises to lower costs and expand government resources — by freezing the rent temporarily on rent stabilized units, providing government-run grocery stores and free city busses — is “all BS.”
“It’s not up to the mayor. It’s up to the state. State said they’re not going to do it. It’s all BS, it’s all campaign rhetoric. None of it will change anybody’s life,” Cuomo argued.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
10:37 AM EST
Mikie Sherrill says there’s ‘no credible’ threats to New Jersey voting
Accompanied by her husband and children, New Jersey’s Democratic nominee for governor Mikie Sherrill appeared at a Montclair voting center to cast her ballot and address the press.
Sherrill sought to assure voters that it is currently safe to cast ballots throughout the state, after multiple polling places temporarily closed in northern New Jersey after precincts fielded emailed bomb threats later deemed to be not credible, prompting election officials to direct some voters to other polling places.
“We’ve checked out all the bomb threats. There are no credible ones yet. Law enforcement is working overtime to keep our elections safe, so I don’t see any threat to voting,” Sherrill said. She called the scare an “attempt to suppress the vote.”
-ABC News’ Emily Chang and Lucien Bruggeman
10:24 AM EST
Mamdani casts his ballot: ‘We are on the brink of making history’
Just moments after casting his ballot on the morning of Election Day, New York City mayoral Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani proudly branded an “I voted” sticker and emphasized his vision to “usher in a new era in this city.”
“Today is Election Day. It is a day that we have been dreaming of for more than a year,” he began. “We are on the brink of making history in our city, on the brink of saying goodbye to a politics of the past.”
Mamdani emphasized his platform centered on affordability, touting his plan to “transform the most expensive city of the United States of America into one that’s affordable for each and every person that calls it home.”
Asked by ABC News’ Aaron Katersky on what he would say to New Yorkers concerned that President Donald Trump will follow through on his threats, Mamdani reiterated his resolve to stand up to Trump and argued that the president’s words sometimes hold no weight.
“I look forward to representing those New Yorkers, and look forward to fighting for every single dollar this city is owed. What we see in the language of Donald Trump is a premise, as if it is his decision on whether or not to fund the city the very money that this city is owed … That means using the courts, that means using the bully pulpit, that means ensuring that we actually follow the letter of the law,” he said.
Mamdani is facing off against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who is running as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, along with some other independent and third-party candidates.
-ABC News’ Emily Chang
10:13 AM EST
Voters head to polls in 1st major elections of Trump 2.0
It’s Election Day in America, and voters across the country are heading to the polls in statewide and local elections.
It’s the first major election cycle since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The results from Tuesday’s races will give voters an opportunity to weigh in on the state of the country and their communities.
Trump joined election eve tele-rallies supporting Republican candidates in Virginia and New Jersey, where he focused on energy costs and crime. He also threw out an eleventh-hour endorsement in New York City’s mayoral election, urging voters to support Andrew Cuomo over Zohran Mamdani.
