Trump rips de Blasio, praises Cuomo over NYC coronavirus response: ‘I’m dealing with the governor’

President Trump took a swipe at Mayor de Blasio and praised Gov. Cuomo on Friday over their respective responses to New York City’s spiraling coronavirus crisis, likely ruffling some feathers in his hometown’s hard-knuckled political circles.

Speaking during a White House briefing, Trump was asked for a response to de Blasio’s comments a day earlier that the president was betraying the Big Apple by not deploying the U.S. Army to build emergency medical facilities to house coronavirus patients.

“I’m not dealing with him. I’m dealing with the governor,” the Queens-born commander-in-chief said. “The governor agrees with me, and I agree with him.”

The president added he’s “very much in sync” with Cuomo.
 

A City Hall spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment and neither did a spokesman for the governor.

Trump’s wading into Empire State politics comes amid heightened tensions between de Blasio and Cuomo over the virus.

De Blasio began calling for a “shelter in place” order for the city earlier this week, saying he wanted all New Yorkers to stay home in a drastic bid to slow down the spread of the respiratory infection.

But Cuomo, whose consent would be necessary for such an order, insisted for days that no such mandate was necessary because it would only scare people.

Nonetheless, the governor announced a 100% reduction of New York’s non-essential workforce on Friday — effectively making good on de Blasio’s request.

At the White House, Trump said Cuomo did the right thing.

“We’re working very closely together,” the president said.

As of Friday, there are more than 7,100 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York, accounting for nearly half of all infections countrywide. More than 5,000 of those cases are in the five boroughs.