Former NY Gov Andrew Cuomo says cases against Trump 'would never have been brought' if he weren't running for president

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told Bill Maher earlier this week that the falsified business records case brought by DA Alvin Bragg as well as the AG Letitia James fraud case against Donald Trump "should have never been brought" and that they were only brought against Trump because he is running for president.  

Cuomo appeared on Maher's show on Friday with Rep. Adam Kinzinger and told the host and audience that the New York cases against Trump "should have never been brought." 

Cuomo lamented that the cases in New York 66 percent of residents thought that the justice system had become politicized. "The two trials in New York—New Yorkers said, 66 percent said the justice system is politicized. And there's nobody who likes Trump in New York." He then said that the country may be thinking that the government is "playing politics with the justice system" and that it was a "threat to democracy." 

Maher, then speaking to Cuomo as well as Kinzinger, said, “The trial in New York, the one he [Trump] got convicted for, was the greatest fundraising bonanza ever. He was lagging behind Biden, and now he's pulled quite a bit ahead. That trial was the greatest reason people had to send their checks for $5, $10, $25, whatever dollars to Donald Trump." He then said that repercussions from the trial would be worse than handing a guilty verdict to Trump.  

"So I was always with you [Andrew Cuomo] on the one in New York, the hush money trial. I don't think they should have brought that one," Maher added.  

Cuomo responded, “That case, [and] the attorney general's case in New York, frankly, should have never been brought. If his name was not Donald Trump and if he wasn't running for president. I'm the former AG in New York. I'm telling you, that case would have never been brought. And that's what is offensive to people. And it should be! Because if there's anything left it's belief in the justice system." 

The case against Trump from Bragg was brought in response to Trump allegedly reimbursing his lawyer, Michael Cohen, in order for Cohen to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels over an alleged affair with Trump before the 2016 election. Bragg made the argument that the payments being marked as "legal expenses" constituted a falsified business record from Trump. Although that is usually a misdemeanor in New York and the statute of limitations had passed in the case, Bragg alleged that they could be made felonies but did not specify an underlying criminal action that would make them felonies.  

In the case with New York AG Letitia James, she alleged that Trump "consistently misrepresented and inflated the value of his assets" in real estate in New York. Although there was no victim of fraud in the case, James previously ordered Trump to pay $464 million in damages to the state of New York. His bond was then reduced to $175 million. Trump and his team have recently filed a motion to dismiss Judge Arthur Engoron from the case.