So much for the honeymoon.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James treated President-elect Donald Trump as the enemy in a divisive post-election press conference Wednesday.
A defiant Hochul announced she formed an “Empire State Freedom Initiative” to prepare to fight “policy and regulatory threats” from the incoming Trump administration.
The Democratic governor said she’s prepared to work with Trump, but spent much of her time talking about readying for political and legal war.
“You try to harm New Yorkers or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way,” Hochul told reporters at her Manhattan office.
She spoke of potential spats with Trump over abortion, labor, LGBTQ rights, environmental policy and immigration.
James, meanwhile, said her office had been “preparing” for a potential second Trump administration.
“I am ready to do everything in my power to ensure our state and nation do not go backwards,” she said in a statement. “Together with Governor Hochul, our partners in state and local government, and my colleague attorneys general from throughout the nation, we will work each and every day to defend Americans, no matter what this new administration throws at us. We are ready to fight back again.”
The attorney general’s presence at the press conference was noteworthy and evidence that New York’s top two Democratic leaders are preparing to be on an adversarial, war-look footing with Trump.
James won a $454 million civil fraud judgement against Trump after accusing the business mogul of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to get better loan and insurance terms.
Trump has appealed the massive ruling.
“I am not fearful of Donald Trump. I have not been fearful of Donald Trump,” James told reporters when asked about her case against the former and future president.
Hochul treated Trump’s victory — he won both the electoral and popular vote nationwide and performed more strongly in blue New York than he had in 2020 — like a funeral.
“New Yorkers will persevere over the next four years,” she said.
Hochul said she expected Trump to repeal the $10,000 limit put on state and local tax deductions that he approved during his prior stint as president and continue funding key New York infrastructure projects such as expansion of the Second Avenue subway line and the Hudson river tunnel reconstruction.
Trump’s New York Republican allies blasted Hochul’s press conference as out of bounds and counterproductive for New Yorkers dependent on support from the White House and federal government.
“Hochul is out of her mind,” said state Republican Party chairman Ed Cox.
“This does not help New Yorkers. It’s dumb and bizarre.”
Upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House GOP Conference chairwoman, said, “President Trump performed better in New York than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan. Kathy Hochul has the worst approval ratings for any New York governor in history,” in a statement.
“One of the many reasons why Trump over-performed in New York and across the country was Tish James’ desperate witch hunt and weaponization of the NY AG’s office and the Manhattan district attorney to illegally target Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ political opponents. And he soundly defeated them at the ballot box across the country. I was proud to lead the effort in New York State to fight back against their illegal lawfare,” she said.
Lee Zeldin, the former Long Island congressman who ran as the Republican candidate against Hochul for governor 2022, slammed her for spreading “division and hate.”
“Today should be a day for New York and America to move forward from a hard-fought political campaign. Today could be a great day for Kathy Hochul to reflect on why so many in her party are fleeing their ranks in a historic realignment with the Republican Party,” Zeldin said.
“Hochul needs to better understand why most Americans, unlike Hochul, wake up the day after an election striving for unity instead of division and hate. Whether Kathy Hochul realizes it or not, her partisanship being as toxic the day after an election as it is the day before is why she is so increasingly unpopular with the public, both within her party and with most others.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said it was “inconceivable” that a governor would disregard and disrespect Trump’s electoral mandate — including winning hundreds of thousands of more votes in New York State than he did four years ago.
“Rather than being gracious and trying to work together, Hochul took a defiant, war-like stance against President-elect Trump. This strategy will add to the continued decline of New York,” he said
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