New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday asked for a “complete account” of the circumstances behind an alleged cover-up by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration of the number of New Yorkers who died in nursing homes in the early years. days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is very worrying. We need to know more. Now we need a full account of what happened,” he said on “The Brian Lehrer Show”.
“Think of the elderly, who are yours [sic] lives were in danger and their families, you know, just desperate to get the help they needed, “he said.” We need to know exactly what happened here. We need to be sure that nothing like this will happen again. “
The New York Post reported for the first time that Cuomo’s aide, Melissa DeRosa, told state Democrats that the government “froze” when the Justice Department began examining nursing home management.
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“Because then we were in a position where we were not sure whether what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we gave you, what we started to say, would be used against us while we were not sure whether there would be an investigation” , she said.
DeRosa’s statement came after the New York attorney general’s office, Letitia James, found that Cuomo’s office underestimated deaths by up to 50 percent. Cuomo had been criticized by an order dated March 25 that required nursing homes to admit infected patients.
De Blasio, who frequently clashed with Cuomo, called the Post’s revelations “a really disturbing report”.
DeRosa tried to reverse his claims on Friday, insisting on a statement that “we were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ”.
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“I was explaining that when we received the DOJ inquiry, we needed to temporarily void the Legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first,” she said.
“We informed the houses of this at the time,” she continued. “We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, so we had to focus our resources immediately on the second wave and the distribution of the vaccine.
But that statement is unlikely to diminish Cuomo. De Blasio is not the only New York Democratic voice calling for action on the revelations. More than a dozen Democratic senators from New York state are calling for Cuomo to be stripped of his emergency powers.
“Without exception, the New York State Constitution requires the legislature to govern as a co-equal branch of government. Although COVID-19 tested the limits of our people and state – and, in the beginning of the pandemic, demanded that the government to restructure decision making to make public health judgments quick and necessary – it is clear that the expanded emergency powers granted to the governor are no longer appropriate, “said a joint statement from state senators.
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Meanwhile, among Republicans, Rep. Lee Zeldin, RN.Y., has called for a federal obstruction of the investigation of justice in the situation of the New York nursing home.
Other New York Republican lawmakers, including Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, demanded that Cuomo and his “senior team” be “immediately prosecuted” at state and federal levels for deaths in nursing homes.
Vandana Rambaran and Michael Ruiz of Fox News contributed to this report.