The impressive admission by Governor Cuomo’s top aide that the government withheld the death toll from the state’s nursing home for fear that the damning numbers “would be used against us” by the feds generated bipartisan calls for a thorough investigation – lawsuit against the governor.
“Governor Cuomo, the governor’s secretary and his senior staff must be prosecuted immediately – both by the New York State Attorney General and the United States Department of Justice,” Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik wrote in a statement.
“This bombastic admission of a cover-up and the secretary’s remarks to the governor indicating the intention to obstruct any federal investigation is a stunning and criminal abuse of power,” continued Stefanik.
“I said from the start that this is more than a nursing home scandal, it is a massive corruption and cover-up scandal at the highest level of the New York state government, involving the governor, the governor’s secretary, the commissioner New York State health team and the governor’s team, ”she wrote.
“Families that have lost loved ones, New Yorkers and all Americans deserve the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Justice, which will be independent and will not be influenced by Governor Cuomo’s desperate political pressure.”
New York Senate minority leader Rob Ortt, a Republican, said in a tweet: “Governor Cuomo and his administration must be investigated from top to bottom and he must be stripped of his emergency powers. Justice needs to be brought to the bereaved families who have been ignored to protect Governor Cuomo and his Democratic allies in the legislature. “
In a separate statement, he said: “Today’s news that Governor Cuomo’s top aide admitted to deliberately withholding information about the deaths of COVID-19 is the latest in a series of disturbing acts of corruption by his government.
“This is clearly a gross obstruction of justice. Rather than apologizing or responding to the thousands of New York families who lost loved ones, the governor’s administration apologized to politicians behind closed doors for the ‘political inconvenience’ that this scandal caused them.
The comments came after The Post revealed that Governor Melissa DeRosa’s secretary said during a video conference with Democratic state leaders that the government rejected a legislative request for the count in August because “at about the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns it into a giant political football, ”according to an audio recording obtained by The Post.
“He starts tweeting that we killed everyone in nursing homes,” said DeRosa. “He starts to go after [New Jersey Gov. Phil] Murphy, start chasing [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, start chasing [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer. “
In addition to attacking Cuomo’s other Democratic governors, she said, Trump “instructs the Justice Department to conduct an investigation on us.”
“And basically, we froze,” DeRosa told lawmakers.
“Because then we were in a position where we weren’t 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 will be an investigation, ”She added.
State prosecutor Letitia James recently announced in a 76-page report that the death toll in the COVID-19 Empire State nursing home may be more than 50 percent higher than officials claimed because the Cuomo administration did not reveal how many of these residents died in hospitals.
The bombing findings could raise the DOH count from 8,711 deaths to more than 13,000, based on a survey of 62 nursing homes that found the state underestimated fatalities by an average of 56 percent.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) Said that Cuomo “has blood on his hands”.
“Cuomo Coverup led to the unnecessary deaths of New Yorkers who everyone knew were at risk. And Fredo and CNN helped him hide it while laughing at it! ” Greene said in a tweet, using former President Trump’s reference to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, based on Fredo Corleone, the ineffective son of “The Godfather”.
The whip of the House minority, Steve Scalise, also reacted on Twitter, writing: “There you go. Cuomo’s aide just admitted that he covered up data from the nursing home so that federal prosecutors couldn’t find it. It’s time for federal investigations. It’s time for lawsuits. It’s time for JUSTICE.”
He added: “The more the truth is revealed, the worse for Cuomo.”
Democrats, including public attorney Jumaane Williams, also attacked the governor, tweeting: “For the continuing supporters of @NYGovCuomo, how is this ok? How is it not #Trump?
“And when FORCED for admission, the most you can get is a shame that we were caught … and not even directly from him or the families. At the same time, he asked the NYs to trust their decisions, ”he added.
State senator Alessandra Biaggi (D-NY) also considered, saying in a tweet: “You just regret that everyone was caught. Because of their decisions, thousands of people died who did not have to die. We are not ‘offended’, Melissa, we are furious – for an extremely good reason. “
State Senator Andrew Gornardes (D-NY) called this “betrayal of public trust”.
“There needs to be full responsibility for what happened, and the legislature needs to reconsider its broad grant of emergency powers to the governor” he said in a tweet.
In a prepared statement, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said: “We explained that the Trump administration was in the midst of a politically motivated effort to blame democratic states for COVID’s deaths and that we were cooperating with the production of federal documents and that was the priority and now that it’s over, we can address the state legislature. ”
“That said, we were working simultaneously to complete the audit of the information they were requesting,” he added.
The DOJ declined to comment.