Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo attacks ‘nuclearized’ probe of COVID response ahead of interview on Capitol Hill – New York Post

Politics

By Josh Christenson

Published June 11, 2024

Updated June 11, 2024, 11:48 a.m. ET

Former New York Gov.Andrew Cuomo arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday to answer questionsabout his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemicincluding an infamous order that put infected patients in senior care facilities alongside vulnerable elderly people.

Cuomo entered the ONeill House Office Building a little before 10 a.m., accompanied by his attorneys and addressed reporters outside before sitting downwith members of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

You know, four years ago, the Republican administration accused New York and other Democratic states of mismanaging the COVID situation, specifically mismanaging in nursing homesand they called for a Department of Justice investigation against just four Democratic states, Cuomo said.

Its ironic today that you hear complaints about the weaponization of the justice system, when they nuclearized the justice system against Democratic states, he added, pointing to federal investigations that found no wrongdoing and claiming hisnotorious March 25, 2020, nursing home order had followed the federal guidance.

It defies logic for anyone that you would mandate nursing homes, who were not capable of taking these COVID-positive patients because they didnt have the space to separate them, or they didnt have the PPE to care for them, or the staffing to care for them at that moment, House COVID subcommittee member Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said before the hearing.

What Im seeking, really, is the answers to what led to it: Was there some type of monetary incentive for hospitals versus nursing homes versus the COVID facilities that were later set up? she asked. And we want to know who was responsible for making that decision. And what was the information that they had that led them to that decision?

Even when you had US Navy[USNS]Comfort [hospital] ship and you had South Beach Psychiatric Center on Staten Island, a makeshift hospital that was set up for COVID patients, even when you had the Javits Center set up, they still continued this deadly mandate, Malliotakis stressed.

I think that well have a lot more clarity as to what led to that deadly mandate that thousands of seniors died, she concluded. The difference is that CDC guidance had made a recommendation that certainly was not a mandate.

The Justice Department did not recommend Cuomo for prosecution based on the March 25, 2020, must admit order after looking into the decisionbut reports from the New York Bar Association and Empire Center for PublicPolicydeterminedthatit led to hundreds of additional deaths.

New York Attorney General Letitia James also revealed in January 2021 at the end of an investigation that the Cuomo administration undercountedby more than 50% the number of nursing home deaths.

The Department of Health had initially recorded 8,711 deaths, which was later pushed up to more than 13,000, according to Jamesreport.

The 76-page report surveyed 62 nursing homes that found the state undercounted the fatalities there by an average of 56%.

The following month, his top aideapologized to Democratic lawmakerson a private phone call for withholding the data, saying the administration froze in the face of federal prosecutors who could use it against us.

The aide, Melissa DeRosa, accused the Trump administration ofusing the data asa giant political football beforegoing onto attackotherDemocratic governors like Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

Then-President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Justice to do an investigation into us, DeRosa told the lawmakers. And basically, we froze.

Because then we were in a position where we werent sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us while we werent sure if there was going to be an investigation, she added. That played a very large role into this.

DeRosa will appear in the coming weeks for a separate transcribed interview with the House COVID subcommittee, a spokeswoman for the panel told The Post.

Another committee spokesperson previously revealed that the former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, Howard Zucker, testified to the panel that DeRosa exercised a critical role in preparing and carrying out the states must-admit order.

Her attorney, Gregory Morvillo, has previously denied her involvement.

Melissa played no role in the drafting or implementation of the March 25 guidance, Morvillo said in a December statement following Zuckers testimony.

What we understand Dr. Zucker did say is that Melissa, as secretary to the governor, played a critical role in COVID response, which is true.

More than 80,000 New Yorkers died of COVID-19 from the beginning of the pandemic to May 2023,US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show.

House COVID subcommittee chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) pledged in a statement that former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will be held to account in front of Congress for the deadly pandemic-era nursing home policies issued under his watch.

This transcribed interview before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will delve deeper into the March 25th order than any investigation has before and hopefully provide the answers that so many devastated New Yorkers have been desperately seeking since 2020, Wenstrup said.

The victims families deserve accountability not only for the disastrous must-admit policies, but for thecover up that ensued, he added.

Wenstrup also said the transcribed interview would delve intoa $5 million book dealthat Cuomo inked during the pandemic.

The COVID panel hadthreatened to subpoena Cuomolast year for testimony and latermade good on the threatbefore negotiating a time and place for him to answer lawmakers questions.

It was inappropriate to be worried about a book deal, Malliotakis told The Post. And the other thing was the numbers the numbers that the attorney general found were low-balled to make him continuetolook like he was doing a great job in New York when the death count showed otherwise.

Cuomoresigned in August 2021after a probe by New York State Attorney General Letitia James concluded he had sexually harassed or mistreated 11 women during his time in office.

Since leaving office, the former governor has reportedly been eyeing a political comeback, with insiders telling The Postrecently that he may challenge Eric Adamsfor New York City mayor in 2025.

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Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo attacks 'nuclearized' probe of COVID response ahead of interview on Capitol Hill - New York Post