This Week’s Headlines: Cuomo's tangled up in blue and Comey sits tall

Tangled up in blue

Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday in Manhattan to announce his commitment to help flip New York Republican House seats in the 2018 midterm elections. The move follows the House vote to repeal Obamacare, which seven New York Republicans supported. Cuomo, who promised to raise millions as part of the New York Fights Back initiative, called the state’s GOP House delegation “political pawns of the ultraconservative puppet masters in Washington.” But cynics detect a strategy to court national Democrats ahead of a 2020 presidential run. Cuomo was quiet during the 2012 redistricting when he could have helped usher in more Democrats, and has been fickle in his efforts to turn the state Senate blue in his own capital.

RELATED: Session countdown 2017

Comey sits tall

Anyone who ever watched “The West Wing” paused Thursday to watch former FBI Director James Comey testify about the investigation into connections between Russia and the Trump campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Comey accused the president of lying and trying to undercut the probe, but to the disappointment of those already writing up impeachment paperwork, he didn’t allege any outright crimes. Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara lent support to a fellow fired-by-Trump club member by being in the gallery.

From hero to humble

“I’m not a hero,” Batman famously said – a stance adopted by Puerto Rican nationalist Oscar López Rivera, who planned to march in Sunday’s National Puerto Rican Day Parade but may no longer receive the National Freedom Hero honor. The linguistic maneuvering was aimed at quelling the controversy over his participation, given his links to a deadly bombing campaign, but many politicians and sponsors already opted to skip the parade.