New York Post, Saturday, November 14, 2020nypost.comELECTION 2020
President Trump received sig-
nificantly more votes in New York
City in the 2020 presidential elec-
tion than he did in his win over
Hillary Clinton in 2016, notching
his largest gains in the Demo-
cratic stronghold of the South
Bronx, according to voting data.
Trump more than doubled the
amount of votes in three state As-
sembly districts in the South
Bronx, according to in-person
voting data compiled by CUNY’s
Center for Urban Research.
The figures, which are incom-
plete as counting of mail-in ballots
continues, show Trump increased
the number of votes he got city-
wide by 76,612. He increased his
totals in The Bronx, Brooklyn,Queens and Staten Island, but saw
a decrease in Manhattan.
Trump earned his greatest num-
ber of votes in one of the city’s
most reliably red areas: the south
shore of Staten Island, according
to the numbers first reported by
the Wall Street Journal.
In Staten Island’s 62nd Assem-
bly district, Trump received44,776 in-person votes, up from
his 2016 total vote count of 40,776.
Trump’s gains in the heavily His-
panic South Bronx are representa-
tive of a GOP push to win Latino
votes, experts said. Trump carried
some 30 percent of Latino voters
statewide in 2020, while President-
elect Joe Biden won 66 percent.
Carl Campanile, Ben FeuerherdBy EBoNy BowdEN
and StEvEN NElSoNPresident Trump on Friday celebrated
the recent breakthrough of a successful
coronavirus vaccine — but said the people
of New York wouldn’t receive it until Gov.
Cuomo got out of the way.
In an address in the White House Rose
Garden, Trump said the federal govern-
ment would distribute the vaccine across
the United States as soon as April but
would not send it to the hard-hit Empire
State because Cuomo doesn’t trust it.
“As soon as April, the vaccine will be
available to the entire general population
with the exception of places like New
York state where, for political reasons, the
governor decided to say — and I don’t
think it’s good politically, I think it’s very
bad from a health standpoint — but he
wants to take his time with a vaccine,”
Trump said.
Cuomo has repeatedly disparaged the
Trump administration’s handling of the
vaccine effort, claiming it was “politi-
cized” and would need to undergo a “re-
view” by his own administration.
On Monday, after Pfizer announced that
its vaccine was more than 90 percent ef-
fective against the disease, Cuomo
claimed Trump’s rollout of the medicine
was “flawed.”
“We can’t let this vaccination plan go
forward the way that Trump and his ad-
ministration is designing it,” Cuomo said.
On Friday, Trump lauded the vaccine’s
development, saying it “far exceeds any
and all expectations” and vowing that it
would be “free of charge” to Americans.
The president also bashed Cuomo’s
doubts about the shot.
“These are coming from the greatest
companies anywhere in the world, the
greatest labs in the world, but he doesn’ttrust the fact that it’s this White House,
this administration,” Trump said.
“So we won’t be delivering it to New
York until we have authorization to do so.
That pains me to say that. This is a very
successful, amazing vaccine at 90 percent
and more. So the governor, Governor Cu-
omo, will have to let us know when he’s
ready for it,” Trump said.
“We can’t be delivering it to a state that
won’t be giving it to its people immedi-
ately, and I know the people of New York
very well, and I know they want it.”
Trump also took a shot at Cuomo’s han-
dling of the devastating coronavirus out-
breaks in the state’s nursing homes.
“I hope he doesn’t handle this as badly
as he’s handled the nursing homes, but
we’re ready to provide it as soon as theylet us know that they’ll actually use it,”
Trump said.
On Wednesday, The Post revealed that
Cuomo had skipped out on 17 governors
meetings with the administration about
the vaccine and spurned a one-on-one
meeting with Health and Human Services
Secretary Alex Azar.
“Operation Warp Speed has always had
one goal: saving lives,” Azar said at the
Rose Garden briefing on Friday, using the
name for the Trump administration’s vac-
cine distribution effort.
“This process has been driven solely by
science and data, so it’s a shame that some
— one example being the governor of
New York — have actually injected poli-
tics into the process and suggested the
possibility of potentially delaying access
to an FDA-authorized vaccine, which is
simply unconscionable.”
Cuomo launched a damage-control tour
of cable news outlets Friday evening, ap-
pearing on CNN and MSNBC.
“As soon as Trump delivers me a dose, I
will be ready to administer it. Period. As
soon as it’s available to New York, I’ll be
ready to administer it,” he said on
MSNBC, despite his threats just days ago.
“The day they distribute the vaccine, we
will be ready to start the distribution. Our
review of the FDA protocol will be simul-
taneous, concurrent with their delivery,
we’re not going to have any lag in time.”
New York Attorney General Letitia
James, meanwhile, vowed to sue the
Trump administration if it delays the de-
livery of a vaccine to the state.
The US recorded more than 150,
new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the
highest number since the virus first took
hold nine months ago.
Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks and
Carl Campanile
[email protected]sneer & a shot: After facing skepti-
cism from Gov. Cuomo, President Trump
declared on Friday that he would not send
the vaccine to New York until Cuomo de-
cides to “let us know when he’s ready for it.”APPrez vote boost in South Bronx
Acting Homeland Security
Secretary Chad Wolf is defying
President Trump’s order to ter-
minate election-cybersecurity
official Christopher Krebs,
multiple sources tell The Post.
On Wednesday, the White
House instructed Wolf to fire
Krebs after Krebs openly dis-
missed claims of voter fraud.
Wolf “gave us a bunch of rea-
sons why he didn’t want to do
it, and he said no,” a senior
White House official said.
“If anything, Chad is carrying
Krebs’ water.”
Krebs has led Homeland Se-
curity’s Cybersecurity and In-
frastructure Security Agency
(CISA) since 2017 and launched
a Web site, Rumor Control, to
debunk claims of voter fraud.
A CISA panel declared on
Thursday that the Nov. 3 elec-
tion “was the most secure in
American history.”
A different administration
official said that “the president
wants to fire” Krebs and “Chad
Wolf is refusing.”
Both officials said they were
certain the termination order
came from Trump.
“It was the president saying,
‘What the heck is this guy do-
ing? He’s giving me grief before
the election, and now he’s say-
ing there’s nothing wrong in
the world?’ ” the White House
official said.
Krebs had irked Trump allies
before. Foes claim Krebs is
close to former DHS Chief of
Staff Miles Taylor, who has
outed himself as “Anonymous,”
the author of a New York
Times op-ed critical of Trump.
“Chad was asked by the pres-
ident to fire Anonymous’ best
friend, and he’s refusing,” the
administration official said.
Taylor did not respond to a
request for comment.
A third person familiar with
the matter noted concern that
Krebs’ senior adviser for elec-
tion security, Matt Masterson,
is an Obama appointee.
A Wolf spokesman said, “All
political appointees serve at
the pleasure of the president.”
Steve NelsonDHS big
rebuffs
Trump’s
ax order