WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened a criminal investigation into former New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying about his culpability in the deaths of nursing home residents quarantined with COVID-19 patients on his watch.
For months, New York was the hardest hit out of any state by the virus, due in large part to the coronavirus spreading within the state’s nursing homes. Cuomo ordered that nursing homes could not turn away patients diagnosed with COVID-19, despite the fact the virus is most dangerous to the elderly.
At the time, New York Attorney General (and fellow Democrat) Letitia James released a report which found that Cuomo’s administration undercounted COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as half and identified numerous deficiencies in the management of nursing homes themselves, especially inadequate staffing.
Cuomo initially tried to blame nursing home deaths on the first Trump administration by claiming that a federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance forced him to put the infected back in nursing homes. But Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) explained at the time that the CDC actually called for elderly housing decisions to be made on a case-by-case basis, factoring in the “ability of the accepting facility to meet the recommended infection control practices,” such as the “ability to place residents in a designated COVID-19 care unit that is equipped with the resources and (personal protective equipment) to safely prevent the spread of infections.”
Now, the New York Post reports that DOJ has opened an investigation on the GOP-controlled House Oversight & Government Reform Committee’s conclusion that Cuomo (who is now running for mayor of New York City) lied under oath when he denied any knowledge or role in the state nursing home report.
The committee found that Cuomo assistant Stephanie Benson emailed top aides to get out a “report on the facts” to prevent the governor’s nursing home directive from becoming a “great debacle in the history books.” Though Cuomo has publicly denied involvement in creating the report, his former adviser, Jim Malatras, testified that Cuomo made his desires clear to the authors through his aids and handwritten notes and even reviewed and edited the document himself multiple times.
Former New York State Department of Health official Dr. Eleanor Adams told investigators that her department did not independently author the report nor was it peer reviewed. Others testified that the decision to remove out-of-facility deaths from the count came from the New York Executive Chamber, i.e., the governor’s cabinet.
“We have never been informed of any such matter, so why would someone leak it now?” a Cuomo spokesman responded. “The answer is obvious: This is lawfare and election interference plain and simple — something President Trump and his top Department of Justice officials say they are against. Governor Cuomo testified truthfully to the best of his recollection about events from four years earlier, and he offered to address any follow-up questions from the Subcommittee — but from the beginning this was all transparently political.”
“Thank God our fight has not been in vain,” said Voice for Seniors co-founder Vivian Zayas. “We’re just elated this investigation of Cuomo is going forward. It’s a long-overdue victory for the nursing home families and their loved ones.”
