(Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said a robocall citing President Donald Trump fomented division and violence by directing Orthodox Jews to protest virus-fighting restrictions in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood.
At a news briefing Friday, the governor played a recording of the call. The man on the recording claims he spoke with people in touch with the Trump campaign.
“Come to 13th Avenue and hold big signs – ‘Cuomo killed thousands' -- as many as possible, as big as possible,” the man says. “The Trump campaign is urging us to hold as many and as big signs as possible. Please send this message around. Make it go viral.”
A spokeswoman said the Trump campaign had nothing to do with the protests. “The Trump campaign had no involvement with this call,” said Samantha Zager.
But Cuomo said the president has created an atmosphere of division and hatred that engendered a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer that the FBI exposed on Thursday.
“There's no question but that the president of the U.S. is a divisive force,” Cuomo said. “I also believe his campaign is fomenting the ultra-Orthodox in Brooklyn.”
Protests on Wednesday night brought hundreds of maskless Orthodox Jews into the streets. They set fire to masks, and a journalist for a Jewish publication was assaulted by a group. Many in the crowd carried Trump campaign signs and flags.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday he expected an arrest would be made in the attack.
Cuomo said the rancor in the Borough Park community, which has among the highest infection rates in the city, is dispiriting.
“How ugly, how divisive, how poisonous, how disgusting, how hurtful, how painful, “ he said. “This is the New York that just showed solidarity and unity that is unprecedented. For seven months I've been saying, ‘Let's listen to our better angels.'”
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