Later, realizing that Cuomo had stepped in it, his press secretary, Dani Lever, scrambled to salvage his disastrous utterance. "The Governor believes America is great and that her full greatness will be fully realized when every man, woman, and child has full equality," she said in a statement. "America has not yet reached its maximum potential." Lever continued: "When the President speaks about making America great again — going back in time — he ignores the pain so many endured and that we suffered from slavery, discrimination, segregation, sexism and marginalized women's contributions. The Governor believes that when everyone is fully included and everyone is contributing to their maximum potential, that is when America will achieve maximum greatness."