| | |  | BY MYAH WARD | Presented by Brilliant | With help from Tyler Weyant BREAKING — New York’s two Democratic senators, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, said Andrew Cuomo, the state’s Democratic governor, should resign. NO GO FOR CUOMO — But Cuomo isn’t budging. After a sixth allegation of sexual misconduct surfaced this week, New York Democrats in Congress and state legislators in Albany called on him today to resign, Cuomo said once again that he has no plans to take their advice. “Let the review proceed. I am not going to resign,” Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters. He added that quitting now would be “bowing to cancel culture.” Nightly chatted with Albany-based New York Playbook writer Anna Gronewold over Slack about what happens next. What stood out to you about Cuomo’s press conference today? I was struck, but not entirely surprised, by how energetic he sounded after weeks of devastating news coverage, especially damning new reports in The New York Times and New York Magazine about a culture of fear, harassment and intimidation in his office. Cuomo came out ready to fight, even throwing slight shade at more than a dozen New York Democrats in Congress who announced in tandem this morning that they wanted him to resign. I didn’t expect him to resign today — I think the poetry of resigning the same day Eliot Spitzer did in 2008 would be almost too much for anyone to bear. But his commitment to waiting until the results of at least two investigations comes out, and the matter-of-fact manner that he stated Covid-19 stats at the beginning of the press conference were a pretty clear stance that he’s not going to let anyone, even broad coalitions of his former political allies, take him out without a fight. Do you think there’s anything that would lead him to resign? So far I’ve been wrong whenever I’ve answered that question, so please don’t put any of your hard-earned money on my answer. But I think if Cuomo decides to step down of his own accord, it would be because he saw definitive numbers that he had lost the majority of voters. Despite the intense coverage, a lot of this is swirling around Twitter, journalists and the political sphere. We'll get new polling soon (and I assume that the Cuomo admin has its own internal numbers) that would show how many average New Yorkers want him to resign. Last numbers we had on that, 55 percent said he should stay in office (March 4).
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A billboard urging New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign is seen near downtown in Albany, N.Y. | Getty Image | If he doesn’t resign, where does this go next? There are currently two investigations into his alleged misconduct, which so far ranges from inappropriate “predatory” behavior to literally groping a woman beneath her shirt. One is from state Attorney General Letitia James. It’s unclear what she is looking for or what she might find, but if the results are particularly damning, it would be irrefutable. Cuomo has consistently said New Yorkers should wait on her findings to establish their opinions of him. The second investigation was authorized yesterday by the Assembly, and is the first step in impeachment. There is broad support in the Legislature to move ahead with that process, but that could take weeks to months. Due process is at times a long and messy process, and depending who you ask that can be good or bad. The only other time a New York governor has been impeached was in 1913. (Read this fun account from Dr. Terry Golway) Things are obviously moving fast. What should we be watching for this weekend? On a granular, kind of wonky level, the Senate and Assembly are supposed to release their one-house budgets in the coming hours or days. The budget process is historically dominated by the governor, partly because of how the New York process works and partly because of how Cuomo has for years been able to strong-arm the legislature to get his way. It’s possible that Cuomo is in a weak enough position that it will embolden the Senate and Assembly’s Democratic majorities to get a little bit riskier with their proposals. They’ve got an enormous upper hand at the moment. On a larger level, no one I’ve spoken with — even Cuomo loyalists — think that these are the last of the allegations to come out. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news and tips at mward@politico.com and rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @myahward and @renurayasam.
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| | A message from Brilliant: Start learning with Brilliant and develop the problem-solving skills needed for a STEM career. Learn More | | | | | CRASH TEST — Almost a decade ago, Jeff Zients was asked to rescue Obamacare's online sign-up system — a task that proved pivotal to the presidency. Now the head of the White House Covid response team has six weeks to roll out another website to help millions of people sign up for coronavirus vaccines and make good on President Joe Biden's pledge to get life back to something close to normal by mid-summer, Joanne Kenen, Adam Cancryn and Darius Tahir write. He’ll have to develop a fully functioning, one-size-fits-all national online appointment system for vaccine-seekers who now are spending hours on end dialing phone numbers or hitting “refresh” on websites trying to get an appointment. With more than enough shots expected for every adult in the U.S. by May 1, Zients will have to design a virtual on-ramp that can handle millions of newly eligible people seeking appointments without crashing. Zients — along with Andy Slavitt, now senior adviser for the White House Covid response team — led and oversaw the 2013 effort to fix the calamitously broken HealthCare.gov. After a very wobbly start, sign-ups exceeded expectations in that first year. The vaccine scheduling effort is in its early stages, and an HHS spokesperson said the department hasn’t yet decided how ambitious it will be. But it will be based on the government’s existing VaccineFinder.org website rather than be built from scratch — a move aimed at making the process more efficient and avoiding some of the pitfalls and complexities that doomed HealthCare.gov’s rollout.
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| | SUBSCRIBE TO “THE RECAST” TO JOIN AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION: Power dynamics are changing. “Influence” is changing. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. “The Recast” is our new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. And POLITICO is recasting how we report on this crucial intersection, bringing you fresh insights, scoops, dispatches from across the country and new voices that challenge “business as usual.” Don’t miss out on this important new newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | — Minneapolis to pay $27M to settle Floyd family lawsuit: The city of Minneapolis today agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from George Floyd’s family over the Black man’s death in police custody, even as jury selection continued in a former officer’s murder trial. — Tariffs not a focus in next week's China talks: The U.S. does not plan to focus on the tariffs and export controls imposed on China when senior officials gather for their first in-person meeting next week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said today. “This is our effort to communicate clearly to the Chinese government how the United States intends to proceed at a strategic level, what we believe our fundamental interests and values are, and what our concerns with their activities are,” Sullivan said during the White House press briefing. — Pro-Biden Super PAC launching ads touting Covid relief package: A surge of TV and digital ads selling the massive Covid recovery package will hit the airwaves next week, just as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris embark on a national tour to explain what they’re delivering to Americans. Unite the Country, a pro-Biden super PAC, has launched a seven-figure TV and digital ad campaign in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia. — Birx lands at Bush Institute after leaving government: Deborah Birx, the former Trump White House coronavirus response coordinator, is joining the George W. Bush Institute as a senior fellow , the organization confirmed today. The role will be Birx’s first since retiring from government earlier this year after more than four decades as a public health official, culminating in her rocky tenure atop the White House task force charged with leading the pandemic response. — N.Y. prosecutor targeting Trump won’t stand for reelection: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who is leading a vast criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump’s business dealings, revealed in an interview published today that he will not seek reelection.
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| | | | | Nightly asked you: What is something you postponed in 2020 that you’re planning on doing in 2021? Your select, lightly edited responses are below: “The family croquet party held each July.” — Dan Green, retired, Benton Harbor, Mich. “Going on our honeymoon ... hopefully! We were supposed to get married in May 2020 with 250 people. Delayed to August with 25 people. We were supposed to go on our honeymoon to South Africa in November 2020; now it is scheduled for this May. We're both vaccinated and hoping we can go!” — Jacob Kleinrock, political consultant, Nashville “Run the Honolulu Marathon.” — Marvin Fein, attorney, Pittsburgh “My mom bought my friend and I tickets to the BTS concert in Dallas in 2020. The concert was postponed and has not been rescheduled. We really hope we can go this year. My mom even said she would go to the concert with me after waiting this long and hearing me gripe about it for a whole year.” — Ella Mathis, 10th grade student, Austin, Texas “Simply no longer wearing a mask when I go out and about. That way I can smile at people with more than my eyes.” — Alice Germond, retired, West Hollywood, Calif. “See my family! We moved to the U.K. from the U.S. in September 2019 — in part to travel more (ha ha). All four of my trips home were cancelled last year, and my husband, four-year-old daughter and I haven’t seen our grandparents, parents, siblings, friends or anyone else since Christmas 2019. We miss them desperately.” — Liz Sidell, business development specialist, Cambridgeshire, U.K. “Celebrate my 75th birthday with a polar plunge in Antarctica.” — Margaret Bonner, retired, Kerhonkson, N.Y. “A fly-in fishing trip to the Canadian Wilderness with my father-in-law and sons … if the border opens in time.” — Ryan Norrell, attorney, Mandan, N.D. “Replacing our broken dishwasher. Doing my own grocery shopping instead of picking the order up at the door or having it delivered. Going out to dinner with friends. Going to an art exhibit. Having my teeth cleaned. Having my hair cut. Having the interior of the house painted.” — Joyce Newman, retired, Carson City, Nev. “Write my book. Yes, it seems entirely asinine that I didn't use my *actual* free time in 2020 for this — but then again, we were surviving a global pandemic?” — Cameron Beach, public affairs, Washington, D.C.
| | GLOBAL OK FOR J&J — The WHO listed the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine for emergency use today, paving the way for the distribution of the single-dose jab to poorer countries. The listing follows the EU’s green light on Thursday and means that countries set to receive vaccines through COVAX, the mechanism for equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines, could use the WHO’s assessment to roll out the Johnson & Johnson jab. However, at the moment, the vaccines are expected to start being rolled out through COVAX in July, with the WHO saying it was working with the company to bring the date forward. COVAX could receive up to 500 million doses, after having signed an agreement in principle with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in December. At the time, it was expected that 100 million doses would be available to COVAX this year, with Gavi having the opportunity to order another 100 million in 2021. The remaining 300 million would be available to order in 2022. BIDEN’S UKRAINE PAIN — From Trump's first impeachment trial to campaign trail attacks against Biden, Ukraine has been at the center of partisan warfare for years. As Natasha Bertrand reports in the latest POLITICO Dispatch, that's making things a bit awkward for Biden as he navigates his foreign policy with the country.
| | | | ‘BIGGEST BFD SINCE FDR’ — Matt Wuerker takes you through the week in political satire and cartoons in the latest Weekend Wrap , including the Covid relief bill, the fallout from Meghan and Harry’s interview and the Dr. Seuss controversy.
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| | FIND OUT THE LATEST WHISPERS FROM THE WEST WING: Add Transition Playbook to your daily reads to find out what's really happening inside the West Wing, who really has the president's ear, and get the latest scoop from inside cabinet departments and agencies. Track the people, policies and emerging power centers of the Biden administration. Don’t miss out. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | QUAD GOALS — A new vaccine partnership agreed between the United States, Japan, India and Australia plans to flood Asian and Pacific island nations with “at least” 1 billion Covid vaccine doses by 2022. There’s of course a political strategy behind the humanitarianism — to outflank Chinese influence across Asia, Global Translations author Ryan Heath writes. The rhetoric is lofty: “It is the Indo-Pacific that will now shape the destiny of our world in the 21st century,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, in a video message launching the partnership. The early focus of the Quad alliance on “positive sum cooperation” and “public goods provision” would be a difficult narrative for China to counter, said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Asia program, who suggested this might provide a model for American alliance-building during the Biden administration. The centerpiece of the Quad Vaccine Partnership is an Indian production drive to deliver the billion extra doses by the end of 2022, building on what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called India’s “formidable vaccine production capacity.” But the Quad is joining the global vaccine diplomacy game late — China and Russia have been striking deals and delivering donated doses to more than 50 countries largely shunned by Western vaccine makers.
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