New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has fired back at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo following revelations in an article by The New Yorker that detailed how the governor had a dart board made up with de Blasio's face on it.
During Friday's Covid-19 briefing, a reporter from CNN asked the mayor about the dartboard allegation, contained in the piece by Ronan Farrow, which is said to exist at the governor's mansion.
Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment back in December, told the magazine she spotted the childish game in the pool house at the governor's mansion in Albany.
'I couldn't believe how brazen that was,' Boylan, who worked for Cuomo's team from March 2015 to October 2018, recalled.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked how he felt that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo allegedly putting his face on a dart board at his home. The mayor responded with a barb of his own
When reporter Mark Morales asked if the mayor had any reactions to the claim, de Blasion fired back with an insult of his own over the size of Cuomo's hands.
'Well I'll tell you the first thing I thought, we know that Governor Cuomo, like Donald Trump, has been obsessed with the size of his hands,' he began. 'So I thought, with those big, big hands, how could he possibly hold those tiny, tiny darts?'
Then the mayor suddenly switched gears and became more serious calling the whole thing 'juvenile.'
'It's just like frat house humor,' de Blasio said. 'It's not something you would like to see from someone who has seriously leadership responsibilities, but it is what it is.''
A spokesperson for Cuomo declined to comment to The New Yorker on the dartboard's existence. Neither the governor's nor the mayor's office immediately returned DailyMail.com's request for comment Friday.
iIt's no secret there's been no loved lost between the governor and the mayor for many years.
Morales followed up and questioned if the mayor would expand on his personal experience asked the mayor if he could expand on his experiences with the governor, or on anything to do with the current allegations that have surfaced in recent weeks.
'I'm not going to add anything specific that I have not said already,' de Blasio responded. 'I just think that we see this consistent pattern and what it really needs to be understood as is something that has an impact on the lives of millions of New Yorkers.'
The mayor then criticized Cuomo's handling of nursing home residents during the pandemic, 'and the cover up of the truth.' De Blasio said the decisions made 'affected people's lives. People's lives were lost. Families have lost a loved one.'
'These women that have come forward, I admire them, and we should respect them, were put through hell and mistreated, and are now speaking up,' he added. 'And then what happened — a tax payer funded effort by the governor's office to try and smear the women who acted as whistleblowers.'
De Blasio said that Cuomo's behavior appeared to be getting 'worse and worse.'
While Cuomo once called de Blasio 'a friend in the deepest sense of the word', the relationship between the two men has increasingly soured ever since the mayor took office in 2014.
Tensions reached breaking point in the last year as they sparred repeatedly throughout the coronavirus pandemic via their competing daily press conferences on everything from lockdowns, schools, the vaccine rollout and - this week - fitness classes.
Andrew Cuomo had a dartboard with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's face on it at a pool party at his Executive Mansion, according to a former aide and accuser of the New York governor. Pictured looking not so friendly in 2017
De Blasio last week joined calls for Cuomo to resign saying 'he can no longer serve as governor' amid the 'disgusting' allegations from multiple women who have accused the governor of sexual harassment.
Seven women - five of which are former aides - have now come forward to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior.
Boylan told The New Yorker this week Cuomo said he would 'mount her' during one 2018 incident after his pet dog Captain jumped up near her.
She has previously accused the governor of unwanted advances including an unsolicited kiss on the lips and him suggesting they play a game of strip poker. The governor has denied these allegations.
Meanwhile, the most damning accusation to date comes from an anonymous woman who claims he called her to his Executive Mansion last year, reached under her blouse and fondled her.
The governor has said he 'never touched anyone inappropriately' and 'never made any inappropriate advances' and is refusing to go.
An investigation was launched by Attorney General Letitia James' office and calls are mounting for Cuomo to resign with an impeachment investigation launched by state Democrats and top New York lawmakers including Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer demanding he stand down.
Cuomo's top adversary de Blasio also waded into the saga last week as he publicly called for Cuomo's resignation in his press briefing Thursday after the sixth accuser spoke out.
The mayor branded the allegations 'disgusting' and said Cuomo was no longer able to serve the state.
'The latest report, and the fact that we can talk about how many people have been come forward with accusations. It's not one, it's not two, it's not three, it's not four, it's not five – it's six women who have come forward,' he said.
'It's deeply troubling, the specific allegation that the governor called an employee of his - someone who he had power over - he called them to a place and then sexually assaulted her is absolutely unacceptable.
'It's is disgusting to me. He can no longer serve as governor. It's as simple as that.'
A seventh accuser - reporter Jessica Bakeman - came forward after the de Blasio's comments.
Lindsey Boylan (pictured), the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment back in December, told The New Yorker she spotted the childish game in the pool house at the governor's mansion in Albany
The Executive Mansion where the dartboard was reportedly seen. Neither offices for Cuomo nor de Blasio have responded to the claims
De Blasio continued that, over the last few weeks, 'so many troubling things' have emerged about Cuomo, amid the controversy surrounding the nursing home COVID-19 deaths scandal and alleged cover-up.
'We still don't have the truth about that,' he said. 'And their families need and deserve to know the truth.
'We know one thing: We know there was a purposeful cover-up and that alone I unacceptable and disqualifying.
'These six women have come forward with these powerful and painful stories – and particularly this most recent report is just disqualifying. He just can't serve as governor anymore,' de Blasio concluded.
But Cuomo insisted he will not to resign and the two were back at loggerheads with each other again this week over the reopening of indoor fitness classes in New York City.
On Tuesday, fitness class owners protested outside City Hall demanding de Blasio allowed them to reopen group classes after being shut for a year now.
Gyms reopened in September but indoor group fitness classes have been banned since March.
But de Blasio stood firm saying: 'I've had this conversation with the health team and they remain very consistent saying 'not yet.'
The next day, Cuomo overruled de Blasio announcing classes can reopen at 33 percent capacity Monday.
No detail was given over when the party with the offending game took place but it's no secret there's been no loved lost between the governor and the mayor for many years. The two men in 2013 before their relationship soured
'On reopening, indoor fitness classes will be reopening that's primarily in New York City on Monday, March 22. Gyms were open, but indoor fitness classes were not open,' Cuomo said.
'And that caused a certain amount of consternation. They will open Monday, March 22.'
This fueled an irate response from the mayor who questioned whether this was done for 'political reasons'.
'I want to ask the question – is it done because the data and science is telling us, or is it done for political reasons?' De Blasio fumed Thursday.
'Obviously, hell seems to be making most of these decisions because of the governor's political needs,' the mayor said.
This marks just the latest in a long line of spats between the duo as they navigated the pandemic.
The feuding started from the offset over whether the city should be plunged into lockdown or not last March as cases surged nationwide.
De Blasio told New Yorkers to prepare for a 'shelter in place' order only for Cuomo to fire back that the power rested with him and he would not issue an order - before announcing a differently worded 'stay-at-home' order instead.
The mayor was so infuriated by the situation, he reportedly asked City Hall counsel if he could remove Cuomo from office.
Happier days in February 2014: That year, de Blasio took office as mayor and Cuomo called him 'a friend in the deepest sense of the word'
The two men worked together when de Blasio was appointed regional director for the Housing and Urban Development for New York and New Jersey in 1997 meaning he reported directly into Cuomo who was Bill Clinton's Housing and Urban Development secretary. In 2013
Nothing came of it but the incident became a symptom of what was to come - months of New Yorkers tuning in to rival daily press conferences where de Blasio said one thing only for Cuomo to overrule it moments later in his.
In April, as the city was grappling as the global virus epicenter of the world, they sparred over the reopening of schools.
De Blasio said schools would stay shut for the full school year only to be rebuffed and reminded by Cuomo that it was only his 'opinion' before the governor repeated the same rules anyway.
As the city and state entered a second wave in the fall, they clashed again over the best response.
De Blasio announced in October he was closing schools and business again across nine neighborhoods in the city.
Cuomo weighed in saying he hadn't agreed to the move before announcing his own plan the next day which involved shutting schools one day earlier but leaving businesses open.
The vaccine program became another bone of contention with de Blasio repeatedly saying the state was slowing its ability to administer shots down.
But the pair's arch rivalry far predates COVID-19 with their relationship rapidly deteriorating after de Blasio was appointed mayor in 2014.
The pair clashed again this week over the reopening of indoor fitness classes in New York City. On Tuesday, fitness class owners demonstrated outside City Hall demanding de Blasio allowed them to reopen group classes after being shut for a year
The two men had worked together in the past when de Blasio was appointed regional director for the Housing and Urban Development for New York and New Jersey in 1997 meaning he reported directly into Cuomo who was Bill Clinton's Housing and Urban Development secretary.
In 2002, de Blasio even backed Cuomo's first failed run for New York governor.
So when de Blasio was elected mayor to Cuomo's governor, they put on a united front with a joint press conference where they gushed about their longstanding friendship.
'We use the word 'friend' in politics often and sometimes casually,' Cuomo said at the time.
'But the new mayor of New York truly is a friend in the deepest sense of the word.'
But tensions quickly mounted one year later when Cuomo angered de Blasio when he gave him just 15 minutes notice that he was shuttering the New York City subway due to a snowstorm.
That June, a Cuomo aide branded de Blasio as 'bumbling and incompetent with de Blasio firing back that 'if someone disagrees with [Cuomo] openly, some kind of revenge or vendetta follows.'
They have since fought over almost everything since then including: raising income tax on wealthy New Yorkers, education plans, homelessness, public housing, funding mass transit, the deployment of state troopers and even a white-tailed deer on the loose in the city.
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