New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D.) snapped at a reporter who questioned his decision to hire former Obama and Clinton political staffers for state agency jobs.
The FBI is investigating Cuomo's administration for its practice of hiring political appointees to work in the Executive Chamber while paying the employees through state agencies to avoid inflating the Executive Chamber budget.
"Why did you hire political people and put them in agencies whose mission has nothing to do with campaigns or anything like that?" a reporter asked Wednesday.
"I don't even know what you're talking about," the governor responded.
"Well, you hired people from the Obama and Clinton campaigns and you put them on the state payroll, but you put them in agencies that the mission of the agencies has nothing to do with campaigns and politics," the reporter said.
"Have you been in Albany?" Cuomo asked.
"Have you covered government? Do people who have political experience get hired by government? Or is this a new fact for you?" he continued after a pause.
Cuomo then motioned for another question.
In March, Cuomo's office announced 27 new hires or promotions of which all but a few were part of the Executive Chamber. In response, speculation of the governor's 2020 ambitions escalated since many of the new hires were former staffers in the Obama administration or worked Hillary Clinton's failed presidential bid.