House Republicans have referred former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to the Justice Department (DOJ) for criminal charges, alleging he lied to the panel about his knowledge of a state health department report that was used to deflect criticism of his administration’s pandemic-era nursing home policies.
Cuomo told members of the House panel investigating the coronavirus pandemic that he was not involved in the review or drafting of the report and had no knowledge of anyone outside the state health department who reviewed the report before its release in July 2020.
The report blamed staff for bringing the virus inside nursing homes and causing excess COVID-19 deaths, rather than the Cuomo administration’s policies.
But the House panel, led by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), said it found “overwhelming evidence … that proves that Mr. Cuomo reviewed, edited, and even drafted portions” of the report.
“Both witness testimony and new documents serve as evidence that the former Governor made false statements to the Select Subcommittee during our COVID-19 nursing home investigation,” Wenstrup said in a statement. “This deliberate and self-serving attempt to avoid accountability for the thousands of lives lost in New York nursing homes during the pandemic will not stand.”
In his letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland dated Wednesday, Wenstrup called on the DOJ to prosecute Cuomo.
“Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the Select Subcommittee in what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability,” he wrote.
Wenstrup provided copies of emails and documents that appear to show Cuomo knew about the report and helped write early drafts, contradicting assertions that it was independently written by the health department.
“Governor’s edits are attached for your review,” Cuomo’s assistant Farrah Kennedy wrote in a June 2020 email obtained by the committee. The emails purported to show Cuomo inserted language stating “But, like in all fifty states, there were COVID-positive cases.”
During the closed-door interview, subcommittee counsel asked Cuomo if he was “involved in the drafting of [the July 6 Report] in any capacity.” Cuomo said he was not.
The emails were reported by The New York Times in September.
In a statement, a Cuomo spokesperson slammed the committee and said its investigation was only meant to score political points days away from the election.
“This taxpayer-funded farce is an illegal use of Congress’ investigative authority. The committee counsels … knows there is no basis for this pre-election Maga exercise and affirmatively chose to act unethically in order to help their masters score cheap political points,” Rich Azzopardi said.
Azzopardi cited parts of the closed-door testimony and Cuomo’s public hearing in September where he clarified that he did not recall seeing or reviewing the report prior to its issuance, after earlier asserting that he was not involved.
After the committee indicated it had uncovered documents showing that Cuomo reviewed and provided proposed edits ahead of the report’s release, Cuomo’s attorneys sent a letter to Wenstrup and the committee reiterating that the former governor did not recall seeing the report.
“This is a joke – the Governor said he didn’t recall because he didn’t recall,” Azzopardi said.
In response to what he said was the panel’s overreach, Cuomo’s attorney Sarah Sulkowski sent her own letter to the Justice Department on Wednesday, asking it to investigate the committee for misconduct.
The interrogation of Cuomo “far exceeded the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction and appears to have been an improper effort to advantage the interests of private litigants against Governor Cuomo,” Sulkowski wrote.
The panel is investigating Cuomo’s “must admit” order, which said nursing homes could not turn away patients who tested positive for COVID-19, as long as they were medically stable.
The facilities were also prohibited from requiring hospitalized residents to be tested for the virus before their admission or readmission in nursing homes.
The move was made early in the pandemic and was meant to help relieve overburdened hospitals, which were sending patients elsewhere to help free up capacity.
The virus decimated nursing homes in the state, killing more than 15,000 people. Cuomo’s policies have come under state and federal investigation, and former members of his administration are facing waves of civil lawsuits on behalf of those who died.
