Former Democratic New York Governor David Paterson on Sunday expressed his concerns about a “cabal in the White House” working against President Trump.
Paterson, who served out the final three years of Eliot Spitzer’s term as governor from March 2008 to December 2010 when he stepped aside for then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, told radio host John Catsimatidis on New York’s AM 970 that the current political climate makes the public as a whole “completely unable” to support a president of either party.
“I think we’ve gotten to a point where we just are completely unable to support the president, no matter who the president is,” Paterson told Catsimatidis, as reported by The Hill.
“What bothers me is that if what was written was true, then there is a cabal in the White House that’s working against the president,” he said. “President Trump got elected, and these other people did not.”
“Which one of these people who says that they’re trying to save the country and trying to save the president from himself … ran for office and got elected?” asked Paterson, who also served as chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee from May 2014 to November 2015.
The New York Times op-ed, written by an anonymous Trump administration official, contends that there were “early whispers within the cabinet” about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office. (RELATED: Lindsey Graham Calls ‘BS’ On New York Times Op-Ed)
“There is a phrase that we used to use [when I was governor] for staff that acted this way, and it’s called ‘we know better,'” said Paterson. “‘Yeah, Governor Paterson, he knows some things, but we know better.’ ‘Yeah, President Trump has done some good things, but then he acts out, and we know better.’”
Paterson noted that the behavior is “dangerous.”
“Democrats need to listen … just because it’s Trump doesn’t mean that we should support this kind of action on the part of appointed governmental officials at the highest levels who are replacing the president’s prerogatives to make decisions with their own opinions. They haven’t been elected to anything.”