New York trooper working as Cuomo’s bodyguard is reassigned after dating governor’s daughter 

A New York state trooper, 35, who worked as one of Andrew Cuomo‘s bodyguards has been reassigned to a post near the Canadian border after the governor learned he had started a relationship with his 25-year-old daughter.

Trooper Dane Pfeiffer struck up a relationship with Cara Kennedy-Cuomo, 25, around seven months ago when he was part of her father’s security detail in Albany and she had moved into the Executive Mansion during the coronavirus pandemic, according to sources.

People familiar with the matter told the New York Post the governor found out the pair were dating soon after and Pfeiffer was removed from his security detail and transferred 160 miles away to a state police station in Plattsburgh.

State police said the trooper requested a ‘voluntary transfer’ on May 24 to join Troop B in northeastern New York however sources claim he was sent away as punishment and ‘to keep him away from the daughter’. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to both New York State Police and Governor Cuomo’s office for comment.

A New York state trooper, 35, who worked as one of Andrew Cuomo’s (pictured) bodyguards has been reassigned to a post near the Canadian border after the governor learned he had started a relationship with his 25-year-old daughter

A law enforcement source said Pfeiffer’s relationship with the governor’s daughter broke ‘the protocol of dignitary protection’, meaning he could no longer serve in Cuomo’s security detail. 

However the trooper’s actions were not classed as misconduct and didn’t go on his record as an official disciplinary matter, they said. 

That said, the governor wasn’t reportedly happy with the two dating and Pfeiffer was sent to the post just 25 miles south of Canada.

‘[Pfeiffer] was transferred to keep him away from the daughter because the governor didn’t like whatever they were doing,’ one source said.

Pfeiffer reportedly lives in Saratoga Springs, meaning he has been slapped with a 260 mile-round commute to Plattsburgh. 

Sources dubbed the trooper’s relocation ‘highway therapy’ – a tactic where officers have lengthy commutes pushed on them as an informal punishment.  

‘[Cuomo] is limited in how much he can screw with him, so highway therapy is one of his few options,’ source told the Post.

Despite the distance, the couple reportedly can’t be kept apart and Pfeiffer often visits the Executive Mansion to take Cara on dates despite her father’s disapproval, a source said.

State police claim the transfer is ‘routine’ and came at the request of the trooper himself. 

Cuomo (center) and Cara (left) in 2018. Sources said the governor found out about his daughter’s relationship with the trooper and Pfeiffer was removed from his security detail and transferred 160 miles away to a state police station in Plattsburgh

Pfeiffer requested the transfer because he wanted ‘to gain more field experience to further his career advancement track to the rank of sergeant,’ a police spokesman told the Post. 

‘Such requests are routine, and it was granted.’ 

Pfeiffer began his career at Troop B on graduating from the State Police Academy in 2015. 

Cuomo has often made jokes about his daughter Mariah’s love interest but has made no mention of Cara being in a relationship.  

Earlier this month he tweeted a photo of him sitting around the dinner table with his three daughters – Cara, her twin Mariah and Michaela, 23.  

‘Sunday dinner – Check. Meatballs – Check. The Boyfriend – ?’ he wrote.

Cuomo has often made jokes about his daughter Mariah’s love interest but has made no mention of Cara being in a relationship. Earlier this month he tweeted a photo of him sitting around the dinner table with his three daughters joking about ‘the boyfriend’ being absent

Cuomo was apparently making a joke about Mariah’s boyfriend Tellef Lundevall, 29, with a spokesman later telling The Post: ‘We like the boyfriend.’ 

Days later, he continued the joke in an appearance on ‘The Late Show.’ 

‘Let’s just say the boyfriend is no longer with us,’ he said before breaking into a laugh.

Back in April, Cuomo said Lundevall was ‘very nice’ before launching into advice to other fathers that they should always say ‘I like the boyfriend’.  

‘The answer on what you think of the boyfriend is always, ‘I like the boyfriend.’ Always,’ he said during one of his daily press conferences when he detoured from coronavirus to what to do when your daughter brings her suitor over for Sunday dinner. 

Mariah Kennedy Cuomo with her boyfriend Tellef Lundevall, 29. Back in April, Cuomo said Lundevall was ‘very nice’ before launching into advice to other fathers that they should always say ‘I like the boyfriend’

‘In this case, I actually like the boyfriend,’ he said. 

He warned of a syndrome called ‘NDS’ if parents put up resistance to their daughters’ choices of partner.   

‘NDS is Natural Defiance Syndrome,’ he said.

‘It’s not documented, but it is a psychological condition where if you say as a father, ‘I don’t like him,’ Natural Defiance Syndrome kicks in and then they like the boyfriend more because he is opposed by the father,’ he said at the time.   

He later reinforced that he likes ‘the boyfriend’ but that his dog Scout ‘does not.’