Cuomo walks a fine line between Trump and Hogan on testing

<p>Ahead of their Oval Office meeting, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday seemed to navigate between President Donald Trump and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, two leaders who recently haven't been seeing eye to eye on the rollout of widespread state testing for the coronavirus.</p><p>Cuomo during a regular press briefing, gave kudos to Hogan for obtaining 500,000 coronavirus tests for his state from South Korea.</p><p>"It's not what states are normally responsible for ... He really thought outside the box and was creative,” Cuomo said of Hogan. He added that although it was smart for Hogan to acquire the tests himself, it’s not sustainable for each state to follow suit.</p><p>“But that piece is where the federal government can help us,” Cuomo said. “Let the federal government figure out South Korea, China and international supply issues, rather than have 50 states now figure out how to be like Governor Hogan.”</p><p>Trump on Monday criticized Hogan for turning to South Korea to source the tests, saying the governor "didn’t really understand what was going on” when Vice President Mike Pence earlier put out a call for governors to do more to increase coronavirus testing on their own.</p><p>Cuomo, who said Trump is right in saying that “states should take the lead” on testing, said he has no problem with Trump and says he should "just tell the truth."</p><p>Cuomo is expected to meet with Trump later Tuesday, said that the main thrust of his meeting with President Donald Trump is to discuss the scaling up of testing.</p><p>“The focus of the meeting is testing and specifically how the federal government can work with states,” Cuomo told reporters. His meeting with Trump is set for 4 p.m. Eastern time at the White House.</p>