POLITICO: Cuomo’s seeking a Trump bump

Andrew Cuomo’s counting on President Donald Trump and top Republicans to tell the party faithful to vote for Cuomo for mayor if they want to stop Zohran Mamdani, and not to vote for GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.

“We can minimize (the Sliwa) vote, because he’ll never be a serious candidate,” Cuomo told the crowd at a Hamptons fundraiser Saturday, according to audio obtained by Playbook. “And Trump himself, as well as top Republicans, will say the goal is to stop Mamdani. And you’ll be wasting your vote on Sliwa. So I feel good about that.”

Publicly, Cuomo has shunned the idea of getting any help from Trump. Cuomo said he’d decline an endorsement, and denied a New York Times report that he’d spoken with the president about the race.

But Cuomo seemed hopeful for the president’s help behind closed doors, speaking to the more Trump-friendly crowd gathered at media mogul Jimmy Finkelstein’s home in Southampton. Another co-host, former New York City Council President Andrew Stein, briefed Trump last month on how Cuomo would be competitive in the general election, according to the Times.

An attendee asked Cuomo directly if he or his team was in conversation with the White House about how Trump might influence the race. Cuomo didn’t directly deny it this time.

“Let’s put it this way: I knew the president very well,” Cuomo said. “I believe there’s a big piece of him that actually wants redemption in New York. He feels that he was rejected by New York. We voted for Hillary Clinton. Bill de Blasio took his name off things. So I believe there will be opportunities to actually cooperate with him. I also believe that he’s not going to want to fight with me in New York if he can avoid it.”

Sliwa doesn’t think Trump would nudge the GOP to Cuomo, saying the party can’t get over Cuomo signing the law letting more people out on bail pre-trial and him “smacking fannies and killing grannies.”

“Why don’t we have a debate? And see how many Republicans go with Cuomo,” Sliwa said. “In the streets we have a word for that: a fugazi, a fake.”

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi downplayed Cuomo’s comments as “speculating” about a “hypothetical.”

“We’re not asking for or expecting help from anyone,” he said. “Governor Cuomo is the only chance to beat Mamdani and ensure the greatest city in the world stays the greatest city in the world.”

Cuomo is planning “to rig the election” Mamdani campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement. “Since he’s too afraid to say it to New Yorkers’ faces, we’ll make it clear: Andrew Cuomo IS Donald Trump’s choice for mayor.”

Cuomo also talked about getting Mayor Eric Adams out of the race, so the anti-Mamdani vote isn’t split among them. A Gotham Polling survey for AARP this month showed Mamdani leading with 42 percent in the general, but his top four opponents collectively got 50 percent.

Adams “won’t allow himself” to be “a spoiler,” Cuomo said at the fundraiser. “If that happened, he’d have to move to Florida afterwards” because Adams would be “responsible for Mamdani winning. And he believes Mamdani would be horrendous for the city, and we’ve had that conversation.”

That didn’t sit well with Adams, who eviscerated Cuomo in a statement as “an embarrassing double-digit loser who couldn’t beat a socialist, and his failure created this entire scenario.”

“He should stop lecturing others, drop out of the spotlight, and maybe start by giving his daughter back her apartment,” Adams added. — Jeff Coltin

IT’S TUESDAY. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman.

WHERE’S KATHY? In Albany to attend the demolition of the central warehouse eyesore.

WHERE’S ERIC? Making a sanitation related announcement.