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OAN Staff Abril Elfi
12:55 PM – Tuesday, December 3, 2024
A House report has found that former New York Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo may have tried to “inappropriately” influence the testimony of a former aide before speaking to a House panel investigating his administration’s COVID-19 policies.
On Monday, a report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic was released, stating that Cuomo “likely gave false statements” about his role in pandemic decision-making.
That includes him being “directly involved” in the March 2020 edict, according to the report, which directed nursing homes to document recovering COVID-19 patients. There are also accusations mentioned in the report regarding how Cuomo allegedly “downplayed pandemic-related resident deaths” in a July 2020 report.
Previously, the House had already released documents that laid out certain allegations in relation to Cuomo’s actions.
Nevertheless, Cuomo and his spokesman labeled the report as a partisan GOP witch hunt.
“This is the same weak gruel the MAGA Republicans on this committee have been peddling for months, if not years,” said Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi.
Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) stated in the report’s opening letter that there was bipartisan consensus on several topics, including “that former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo participated in medical malpractice and publicly covered up the total number of nursing home fatalities in New York.”
The New York Post detailed the report’s findings.
“Cuomo’s name appears 203 times on the 500 page report and over 40 pages focus on the response to the pandemic. The Cuomo administration’s March 25, 2020 directive to admit or readmit recovering COVID-19 patients into nursing homes was “medical malpractice,” “antithetical to known science” and inconsistent with federal guidance — and the Executive Chamber “attempted to cover it up.” Contrary to his denials during House testimony, Cuomo and his top aides and advisers were “directly Involved” in and approved the infamous directive, which was later rescinded following public outcry. Cuomo administration officials testified that the governor ordered the controversial July 6, 2020 state Department of Health report — which was criticized for lowballing nursing home resident deaths from COVID — to combat criticism of the March 25 edict. Cuomo was directly involved in editing the July report and directing people outside the government — such as Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling and Greater NY Hospital CEO Kenneth Raske to review it. In a memo shortly before the report’s release and obtained by the House panel, Dowling offered to help “rewrite” it. Cuomo’s executive chamber decided to remove “out-of-facility” fatalities — such as nursing home residents who died from COVID after falling ill and being transferred to hospitals — from the July report, thus dramatically reducing the total death toll,” The Post reported.
The panel also concluded that “Mr. Andrew Cuomo Likely Gave False Statements to the Select Subcommittee in Violation of 18 U.S.C” which is a federal crime that, if proven, could result in a five-year prison sentence.
In October, the committee noted that it had referred Cuomo’s “criminally false statements” to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for potential prosecution.
Meanwhile, Azzopardi claimed that the House was out to get “perceived political enemies.”
“From the very beginning this has been an abuse of power and a waste of taxpayer money aimed at punishing perceived political enemies – like Dr. [Anthony] Fauci [then Director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases], Governor Cuomo and ‘the deep state’ – that does nothing to make us more prepared for the next pandemic,” he said.
He claimed that federal data showed how New York ranked 39th in terms of per capita nursing home deaths in 2020.
“The DOJ -three times – the Manhattan DA and others looked at the nursing home issue and found no wrongdoing, while the meritless civil lawsuit launched by the very same people who have been working arm and arm with this committee was tossed out of court,” Azzopardi added.
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