Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined a chorus of New York lawmakers demanding an investigation into how Governor Andrew Cuomo dealt with asylums during the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York Democrat said in a statement: “I support our state’s return to co-egalitarian governance and defend our local authorities, calling for a thorough investigation into the management of nursing homes by the Cuomo government during COVID-19. Thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers who lost their lives in nursing homes during the pandemic. Their loved ones and the public deserve answers and transparency from their elected leadership, and the Secretary’s comments to the Governor warrant a thorough investigation. ”
Meanwhile, Democrats in the state Senate are moving to strip the governor of his unilateral emergency powers during the pandemic, a notable intra-party rebuke. The measure could be voted on next week.
The FBI and the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York reportedly opened an investigation into how the Cuomo government handled asylums during the pandemic. CNN and the governor’s brother, Chris Cuomo, went to great lengths to minimize and deflect the Democrat’s controversies, while the liberal host conducted friendly talks with the governor plagued by the scandal last year.
New York State Democratic Congressman Ron Kim raised the alarm this week about Cuomo’s behavior, claiming that the governor threatened to “destroy him” in a fight over the state’s nursing home crisis.
BY BLASIO BACKS DEM THAT SAYS THAT HAS BEEN THREATENED BY CUOMO: ‘BULLYING IS NOTHING NEW’
Kim said Cuomo made the threat hours after the New York Post reported that one of the governor’s top advisers admitted during a private call that his government hid data because he feared it could be “used against us” in a federal investigation. In response to last Thursday’s report, Kim said the aide’s comments sounded “as if they admitted they were trying to evade any incriminating evidence”.
Cuomo reportedly asked Kim if he was “an honorable man” and threatened that Kim “would be over” and “destroyed”.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the intimidation “sounds like a classic Andrew Cuomo”. “Many people in New York State have received these calls,” he added. “You know, bullying is nothing new. I believe in Ron Kim, and he is very, very sad,” said de Blasio.
“It is evident that a thorough investigation is needed,” said de Blasio. “We are talking about thousands of people who got lost, our elderly people, our elderly people, families who still don’t know the truth and questions that need to be answered to ensure that nothing like this happens again. It is absolutely necessary that there is a thorough investigation.”
CUOMO RESPONDS TO THE DEMOCRATIC LAWYER WHO COMPLAINS THE GOVERNOR SAID THAT ‘DESTRUCTURES’: ‘MR. KIM IS LYING ‘
“What is lost in the Executive Order of 25/03/20 to send 9,000 COVID patients to nursing homes is that (according to the AG report) the NHs shouted to the governor that half of their employees were sick / at COVID’s home ! ” Kim tweeted later. “And it was then that Gov Cuomo distributed their general legal immunity to them.”
Cuomo’s spokesman Richard Azzopardi denied that the governor had threatened Kim on the call, but said that Kim and Cuomo had “a long and hostile relationship”.
Several others with connections to the governor posted allegations of bullying against Cuomo on social media after Kim talked about her conversation with him.
NY DEM ‘FLOODED’ WITH CUOMO BULLYING STORIES
The revelations came after New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that revealed how the Cuomo government had underreported deaths from asylum coronaviruses. New York was not counting those who contracted Covid-19 in a nursing home, but later died in a hospital as deaths in a nursing home.
New York State Democratic Congresswoman Yuh-Line Niou said on Friday that her inbox was “flooded” with allegations of mistreatment by the governor.
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“I’m not kidding … my text messages, my DMs and my inbox are flooded with [C]uomo stories. Many people have been bullied, mistreated or intimidated by him, “she wrote in a tweet.
Thomas Barrabi and Ronn Blitzer of Fox News contributed to this report.