Cuomo Touches Down In Dominican Republic

Governor Cuomo Andrew Cuomo touched down in the Dominican Republic today, meeting with President Danilo Medina. To listen to audio of the two leaders press conference click here:

Here are some excerpts from the pool report filed by Erica Orden of The Wall Street Journal about Gov. Cuomo’s visit to the Dominican Republic:

Pool arrived by herself at the Palacio Nacional, the cream-colored statehouse in Santo Domingo that houses the executive branch of the Dominican Republic. … After about 10 minutes, pool was ushered out of the room by a press aide and taken around the corner to observe Mr. Cuomo being given a tour of the building by the president of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina. The tour was already underway when pool joined. Mr. Medina spoke in Spanish. A male translator hovered between Messrs. Cuomo and Medina, translating for each. They took no questions. …

The group walked into a large reception room adorned with chandeliers, large mirrors, floral drapes and ornate moulding.

"What is this used for?" Mr. Cuomo asked. The translator replied that it was "specifically for working dinners."

"Magnificent," Mr. Cuomo replied, then inquired when the palace was built. "Truly magnificent," he said.

"How much of the president's time is spent here, working from here?" Mr. Cuomo asked.

"I come in at 8 o'clock in the morning and I leave at 8 o'clock at night," Mr. Medina said through the translator. "We also spend a lot of time visiting the communities of the country."

Mr. Medina then showed Mr. Cuomo a hallway that contained living quarters, which he said contained a barber shop and a beauty salon, though those weren't visible to pool. "But it's interesting, no president lives here?" Mr. Cuomo said. "No," Mr. Medina replied.

As the group walked to the next location, an exterior staircase overlooking grounds dotted with palm trees, Mr. Cuomo said: "When the president comes to New York, I'd love to show him our Capitol. It is not as impressive a building, but there's much history there, because much of United States history started in New York. We had Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was a very important U.S. president, started as governor of New York; Teddy Roosevelt, started in New York. So a lot of the federal policies started in New York. And it's an interesting perspective on history. But I can't thank him enough for his support." Mr. Cuomo directed the comments at Mr. Medina, who said through the translator: "I will call you and congratulate you."