Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos interviewed Stephen A. Smith of ESPN on his interview of disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who launched a comeback by running for mayor of New York City. Smith was ready to downplay the long trail of scandal and sleaze that had followed Cuomo, and extolled him as a fine leader and capable administrator who withstood the test of time and “knows how to get things done.”
Stephanopoulos summed up that “Cuomo was the governor of New York, forced out, and now trying to make a political comeback as mayor of New York City,” before asking Smith,“what’s your impression?”
Smith enthusiastically replied:
Well, my impression is that… he’s ready… [H]e believes he’s the man for the job. Obviously, he was a three-term governor for the state of New York, and, his mentality is, he knows how to get things done, and there’s a lot in New York City, in his eyes, that needs to get done, particularly affordable housing and primarily — you know — safety in the streets. And he thinks that, anything you want to do that you want to accomplish, it starts first with safety in the streets because if that’s compromised, then everything gets compromised.
“Of course,” Stephanopoulos huffed, “he was forced out after questions about personal conduct. And you asked about whether — what he has to say to voters who question whether they can trust him.”
The screen then cut to Cuomo ostensibly responding to the concerns about his past, deflecting the matter with the words, “If what you are saying is — or if what the voter says is, ‘I'm worried about New York. I think the city’s in trouble. I'm anxious… then — I'm your person.”
Neither Smith nor Stephanopoulos seemed at all interested in the possibility that the hypothetical concerned “voter” might have had a problem voting for a man already ousted from the governorship after a long list of scandals including corruption, persistent allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct (which he initially tried to lie about), and the despicable COVID nursing home affair. And who could forget CNN appearances like this.
Rather, breezing along with a hurried and content-free concession that Cuomo “knows” he will face questions about his sordid track record, and “is going to be ready for them,” Smith effused that “it's about getting things done…He thinks that Eric Adams, to some degree, may be a bit compromised in terms of his ability to get things done, and he doesn't believe that’s any longer a problem for him. So, because of that, I think that’s why he is stepping back in the race (..)”
How noble! In reality one could have grossly read a little more between the lines. If “getting things done” meant callously endangering the lives of helpless senior citizens, the cowardly serial sexual harassment of underlings, and the like, than, yes, Cuomo seemingly would have been “your person.” None of that mattered to Stephanopoulos.
To read the full transcript, click Expand
ABC’s Good Morning America
03/04/2025
7:39 AM[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: STEPHEN A. SMITH ON HIS INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW CUOMO]
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Back now with Stephen A. Smith of ESPN’s First Take and the Stephen A. Smith Show. On the show, you just interviewed former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Welcome, thanks for coming in here.
STEPHEN A. SMITH: Good to see you, George, how are you doing?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Of course, Cuomo was the governor of New York, forced out, and now trying to make a political comeback as mayor of New York City. So what were you — what was your impression?
SMITH: Well, my impression is that he — that he’s ready. You know, he believes he’s the man for the job. Obviously, he was a three-term governor for the state of New York, and, his mentality is, he knows how to get things done, and there’s a lot in New York City, in his eyes, that needs to get done, particularly affordable housing and primarily — you know — safety in the streets. And he thinks that, anything you want to do that you want to accomplish, it starts first with safety in the streets because if that’s compromised, then everything gets compromised. That is —
STEPHANOPOULOS: Of course he was forced —
SMITH: — his mentality.
STEPHANOPOULOS: — he was forced out after questions about personal conduct. And you asked about whether — what he has to say to voters who question whether they can trust him. Let's take a look.
SMITH: Sure.
FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO: If what you are saying is — or if what the voter says is, ‘I'm worried about New York. I think the city’s in trouble. I'm anxious. I'm anxious about the subways. I'm anxious about the crime. I’m anxious about the homeless mentally ill on the streets. I'm anxious that there’s no — affordable housing, I can't afford to live here. I'm getting priced out of New York. I need someone who can actually get something done. I'm tired of these politicians — promise, promise, promise, and then nothing changes. And I want someone who has proven their ability to actually make things happen,’ then — I'm your person.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That’s the first salvo, but he’s going to face those questions throughout the campaign.
SMITH: Yes. And he knows it. And he knows it, and I think he’s going to be ready for them and I think the message he was trying to send is that — it's about getting things done, and- you know, basically, I think it was an in- I won't say it an indirect shot at Eric Adams, but — clearly, you’re about to get on the campaign trail, you’re pointing to some of the problems the mayor has at this particular moment in time, the DOJ stepping in — you know — having — asking for the charges against him to be dismissed. He thinks that Eric Adams, to some degree, may be a bit compromised in terms of his ability to get things done, and he doesn't believe that’s any longer a problem for him. So, because of that, I think that’s why he is stepping back in the race — clearly he’s ahead in the polls already. So we’ll see what happens.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You’ve been stirring up a lot of political speculation —
SMITH: Yeah?
STEPHANOPOULOS: — yourself.
SMITH: [Laughs]
STEPHANOPOULOS: Is — how — how real is this? Are you —
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: STEPHEN A. SMITH TALKS POLITICS AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY]
SMITH: It’s not real at all. I’m incredibly happy being a sports analyst, doing what I do, but I always enjoyed talking about politics, talking about the issues that affect the average American citizen, and the world. And any time anybody asks me a question, I usually have an answer in that regard — I’m not running from it — but I have no desire to run for office. I think it’s an absolute travesty that I'm —
STEPHANOPOULOS: [LAUGHS]
SMITH: — I’m actually in polls for crying out loud, but I think it’s an indictment against the Democratic Party because of some of the things that they’ve done and the way they handled things leading up to the election. It’s an indictment against them. But guys like Andrew Cuomo, Eric Adams, and others being in this race just reminds me, I have my place. They have theirs. I do what I do, and they do politics. I like talking about it—
STEPHANOPOULOS: So that’s Shermsanesque, you’re not going to run?
SMITH: — I’m not — absolutely not, I have no intentions of doing anything like — so I like my life very, very much.
