CIVIL WAR - OREGON, CALIFORNIA AND WASHINGTON JOIN 6 EAST COAST STATES TO START UP ECONOMY AFTER TRUMP SAID ONLY HE COULD

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday morning continued to push back against President Donald Trump's assertion that the decision to reopen the economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic was solely the president's to make.



"I don't know what the president is talking about, frankly. We have a Constitution . . . We don't have a king, we have a president," Cuomo said on NBC's "Today" show.


Cuomo briefly appeared on four national TV networks — NBC, CNN, CBS and MSNBC — within about an hour Tuesday morning and sounded a common theme on all of them: a deliberate, phased-in reopening of the economy, while sounding off against Trump's stance of total authority when it comes to doing so. 


On Monday, Cuomo and the governors of six other East Coast states announced they had formed a regional coalition to coordinate when to ease work restrictions to reopen the economy, resisting Trump’s claim that the decision was his to make.



Along with New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware said they are forming the work group, which will consist of health and economic advisers from each state. Later in the day, Massachusetts said it was joining.



Hours later Monday, a similar West Coast coalition emerged, joining California, Oregon and Washington.


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