A US House committee will refer former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the Department of Justice for making “criminally false statements” about a state audit that undercounted nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Post has learned.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is accusing Cuomo of falsely saying that he was not involved in prompting, drafting or reviewing the July 6, 2020, report, which low-balled the state’s total nursing home COVID death count by 46%, according to a draft of the criminal referral to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
In a tit-for-tat legal exchange, Cuomo filed his own criminal referral against the subcommittee on Wednesday, alleging that it was acting “in violation of the principles of federalism.”
“This interrogation far exceeded the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction and appears to have been an improper effort to advantage the interests of private litigants against Governor Cuomo, warranting investigation by the Department of Justice,” reads a letter also sent by the ex-gov’s attorneys to Garland.
It noted that nowhere in the House resolution authorizing the subcommittee’s COVID investigation was there a mandate “to investigate a State’s internal regulatory advisory concerning nursing-home admissions.”
Cuomo’s legal team also accused subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) of “colluding” with Fox News weather anchor Janice Dean, “whose husband, Sean Newman, is a named plaintiff in a private lawsuit seeking damages from Governor Cuomo and others based on allegations regarding the March 25, 2020 nursing-home advisory.”
Wenstrup (R-Ohio) had been interviewed by the weatherwoman twice on her own podcast to discuss the nursing home debacle and appeared at Cuomo’s Sept. 10 grilling before the subcommittee on Capitol Hill.
“Pay attention to what happens next. Not over by a long shot,” Dean posted on X in a message aimed at Cuomo Oct. 1, the day after her husband’s lawsuit was thrown out by a judge. “But enjoy your short lived celebration. Hope you get your money back.”
Asked whether he drafted, reviewed, discussed or looped in people outside of his administration to “peer-review” the death count report, Cuomo told the House panel during a June 11 transcribed interview that he had not. --->READ MORE HERE
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A House panel is recommending that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo be brought up on criminal charges for providing false statements about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic allege that Cuomo made "false statements" to the panel during his testimony as part of its investigation into how his administration handled nursing home policies during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Mr. Cuomo provided false statements to the select subcommittee and what appears to be a conscious, calculated effort to insulate himself from accountability," Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, the committee's chairman, wrote in the letter accompanying the criminal referral. "The Department of Justice should consider Mr. Cuomo's prior alleged wrongful conduct when evaluating whether to charge him for the false statements."
The panel argues that Cuomo denied being involved in the drafting or reviewing a July 6 report about his pandemic nursing home policy during testimony before the committee earlier this year but said documents show that he was involved. The panel included handwritten notes on a draft copy of the July 6 report that a former executive assistant to Cuomo testified was likely his handwriting.
But Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi blasted the panel's criminal referral and investigation as "a taxpayer-funded farce." He pointed to Cuomo's testimony, saying he couldn't recall if he had reviewed the July 6 report.
"This is a joke - the governor said he didn’t recall because he didn’t recall," Azzopardi said in a statement to news outlets. "The committee lied in their referral just as they have been lying to the public and the press."
In September, the committee grilled Cuomo for hours about a controversial directive issued by his administration in the early days of the pandemic that required nursing homes and long-term care facilities in New York to admit COVID-19-positive patients. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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