Andrew Cuomo calls Preet Bharara a 'scalp hunter,' says probe exonerates him

In a newly published interview, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara a “scalp hunter” and said the former prosecutor’s inability to link him to recent bid-rigging schemes not only clears him but also amounts to the “most credible exoneration in history.”

Bharara, in the same New York magazine story, responded: “I appreciate Andrew Cuomo’s need to spin. But I don’t think he has anything to be proud of in the Buffalo Billion scandals or, frankly, in his record on corruption generally.”

Cuomo, a Democrat, delivered the caustic remarks about Bharara in the magazine’s profile of his effort to defeat Democrat challenger Cynthia Nixon and Republican hopeful Marc Molinaro and win a third term.

In a passage about the bid-rigging scandals that engulfed Cuomo’s “Buffalo Billion” projects — high-profile, high-tech projects that included a solar panel factory — and lucrative projects in Syracuse and the Hudson Valley, the governor reiterates his contention that he had nothing to do with the wrongdoing. Joseph Percoco, his former top aide and campaign manager has been convicted, along with Alain Kaloyeros, the former president of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, and several developers who also were campaign contributors to the governor.

Opponents on the political left and right have been trying to use the convictions against Cuomo in the spirited campaign.

In the article, Cuomo suggests that if Bharara had evidence to target the governor, he would have.

“He’s going after Percoco to get the governor,” Cuomo said, laying out his view of a potential overview of Bharara’s investigations. “That means they had to go through every piece of paper and every email for two years. And that they couldn’t find any connection whatsoever, in many ways it’s the most credible exoneration in history, because Preet was a scalp hunter and that’s all he was. If he had Joe Percoco and every file from Joe Percoco and he can’t find a whisper on me, that is a hell of a thing.”

As U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Bharara spearheaded corruption investigations that ultimately resulted in the convictions of the former leaders of the state Assembly (Sheldon Silver) and State Senate (Dean Skelos), as well as other rank-and-file state legislators.