Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s much-criticized record on nursing homes in the coronavirus pandemic became a flashpoint during Thursday’s mayoral debate – and he still refused to apologize.
The still-controversial issue arose after Cuomo admitted Thursday that he not only saw a controversial report on nursing home COVID-19 deaths while he was governor, but may have had a hand in doctoring the document.
City Comptroller Lander pounced on the issue by inviting Peter Arbeeny, whose father died from COVID-19 shortly after a rehab stint at a local nursing home, as a guest.
“Andrew, this is Peter Arbeeny,” Lander said to cheers from the crowd.
“His father Norman died because of your disastrous order to send people with COVID into nursing homes. Then, as you admitted this week, you hid the real death toll and lied to families about it for five years,” Lander continued.
“So tonight, will you finally apologize to Peter and other grieving New Yorkers?” he said, pausing for applause.
“Or will you just keep gaslighting them, with more blather about what a great job you claim you did?”
Cuomo tried to dodge by dinging Lander as supposedly being an inauthentic New Yorker. --->READ MORE HERE
Mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo admitted Thursday that he not only saw a controversial report on nursing home COVID deaths while he was governor, but may have doctored the document – a bombshell confession that contradicts his sworn Congressional testimony.
“I did not recall seeing the report at the time. I did see the report, it turns out,” Cuomo told PIX11 News. “I’m sure if I read the report I made language changes.”
The mea culpa comes after the Department of Justice earlier this year reportedly opened a criminal investigation into whether Cuomo lied on Capitol Hill when he adamantly denied that he drafted, reviewed, discussed or consulted on a nursing home report on Empire State nursing home deaths.
Andrew Cuomo addresses the Nursing Home COVID Death: "I did not recall seeing the report at the time. I did see the report, it turns out." pic.twitter.com/3iePMCO8Or
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) June 11, 2025
The controversial report downplayed the consequences of Cuomo’s now-infamous March 25, 2020 directive that forced recovering COVID patients into senior care facilities without mandated testing to see if they could still infect others.
When he revoked the order, thousands of sick New Yorkers had been either admitted or readmitted into nursing homes.
Yet, the state underreported the deaths by nearly 50%.
Emails obtained by a congressional subcommittee show that Cuomo aides discussed his role in drafting the report, and include the former governor’s own handwritten edits.
But during his grilling by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in June 2024, he denied accusations of mishandling the COVID response and pointed to federal guidance as having hampered his administration’s response.
During private questioning by House members, Cuomo claimed he didn’t review a draft of the nursing home before it was released, and didn’t remember editing or speaking about it before it was released on July 7, 2020, according to a transcript.
“I do not recall reviewing,” Cuomo said.
When he was asked if he had edited the report, he said “I don’t recall seeing it.”
Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took issue with the ex-governor’s new stance on Thursday. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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