Morgan McKay is reporting for State of Politics Governor Andrew Cuomo May 20, pushed back against a reporter's questions concerning his $5.1 million book deal, calling those questions “stupid and offensive.” The reporter asked during Cuomo's press briefing in Buffalo, “The allegations out that you made this money on the backs of dead New Yorkers: How do you respond to that?” Cuomo retorted, “That’s stupid; next question." The reporter later followed up asking why it was stupid that family members who lost loved ones during the pandemic were upset over his book deal, Cuomo said he took issue with the question. “I thought your question was stupid and offensive,” Cuomo continued. “I wrote a book saying this is what we should learn from what has happened so far with COVID, because we're not done and it's going to continue. And if we don't learn the lessons, we're going to continue to make the same mistakes. That's why I wrote the book.” Cuomo’s 2020 tax returns showed that he is set to gain a total of roughly $5.1 million from his pandemic book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic," written last year. According to his tax filings, the governor received a first installment of more than $3 million in 2020. After taxes, he donated $500,000 to the United Way and put $1 million into a trust for his three daughters. Currently the Assembly Judiciary committee is investigating whether Cuomo used state resources to write the book. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.